Global security arrangements 'unravelling', UN chief warns nuclear disarmament conference

By Olivia Le Poidevin

Security arrangements that have supported global peace for decades are unravelling, the head of the United Nations warned on Monday as he urged countries to work together towards a nuclear free world.

"The bilateral and regional security arrangements that underwrote global peace and stability for decades are unravelling before our eyes," UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres told the Conference on Disarmament that gathered in Geneva.

"Trust is sinking, while uncertainty, insecurity, impunity and military spending are all rising," Guterres added.

Such factors were weakening the spirit of "mutual restraint", he said, as he called on countries to implement nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation commitments agreed at a summit in New York last September.

Sixty-five states, including the United States, China and Russia, are members of the Conference which was established in 1979 and is overseen by the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs.

It focuses on negotiating deals to end the nuclear arms race and stop countries building up weapons in space, on top of pursuing general disarmament.

Artificial Intelligence was becoming weaponized at an alarming pace and there were signs of new arms races, including in outer space, Guterres warned.

He condemned countries that "outrageously rattle the nuclear sabre as a means of coercion".

In September last year Russian President Vladimir Putin told the United States and its allies that Moscow could respond with nuclear weapons if they allowed Ukraine to strike deep inside Russia with long-range Western missiles.

Earlier this month Moscow said the outlook for extending the New Strategic Arms Reduction agreement with the U.S. did not look promising.

The agreement, which caps the number of strategic nuclear warheads that the two biggest nuclear superpowers can deploy, is due to expire on February 5, 2026.