The Philippines is committed to ratify the United Nations-adopted treaty to ban nuclear weapons and hopes that other nations will do it too to prevent mass destruction, President Duterte announced Wednesday.
Speaking by video to the UN General Assembly's high-level general debate, the President explained that nothing justifies the use of nuclear arms which he described as "weapons of death."
"The global health crisis has further complicated the global security environment. But no aspiration nor ambition can justify the use of weapons that destroy indiscriminately and completely,” Duterte said.
"There is no excuse for deaths that a nuclear war could cause nor the reckless use of chemical and biological weapons that can cause mass destruction," he said in his 20-minute speech before world leaders.
According to the President, nuclear weapons only put the world at "mortal risk especially if they fall in the hands of terrorists without a shred of humanity in their souls."
"We call on all Member States to fully implement the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and the Chemical and the Biological Weapons Conventions," he said.
"I have asked the Philippine Senate to ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Importantly, we were among those to sign it first," he added.
In 2017, more than 100 countries at the United Nations voted in favor a global treaty to ban nuclear weapons despite opposition from nuclear-armed states. The Philippines is among the early signatories of the treaty but has yet to ratify the document.
So far, 45 countries have reportedly ratified the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, considered the first legally binding agreement to prohibit such weapons. At least 50 nations must ratify the treaty to take effect.
Under the treaty, the signatory states must not to develop, test, produce, acquire, possess, stockpile , use or threaten to use nuclear weapons. It also prohibits the deployment of nuclear weapons on national territory and provision of assistance to any state in the conduct of prohibited activities.