Portugal, DISEC, Abrar Hossain

Measures to prevent terrorists from acquiring Weapons of Mass Destruction.
Various terrorist organizations around the world have used WMD successfully in the past. In 1984 for example, a U.S. organization called the Rajneesh group successfully spread salmonella by placing live bacteria on food in slad bars which saw 751 recorded illnesses. Similarly in 1995 the Japanese cult group Aum Shinrikyo released sarin gas in the Tokyo subway system which amounted to 12 casualties and thousands of injuries, delivering arguably the most serious biological weapon attack in modern Japan. Furthermore, it is also believed that extreme Islamic groups, such as Al-Qaeda, will seek out opportunity to use a WMD. Al Qaeda and known terrorist organizations to have WMDs currently in possession, the explicit intent to utilize such forces of terror no doubt demands the immediate attention of the international community to collectively bring to discussion the various measures to address this issue. The DISEC in this case is a platform for exactly that discussion.

Portugal feels that the the importance of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) can never be understated, as the universalization of the NPT and the upholding of all of its provisions are their best chances of achieving lasting peace and dispel the gloomy shadow that nuclear proliferation cast upon their Peoples. This is why Portugal calls on States that have not yet done so to join the NPT as non-nuclear weapon states. Unfortunately, the threat of nuclear proliferation remains real, as doubts over the nuclear programmes of the Islamic Republic of Iran and that of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) remain unanswered. Portugal urges both States to fully abide by their international obligations, including the relevant Resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council and the IAEA Board of Governors. On Iran, we are confident that the negotiations that have started in Geneva will replicate in the lAEA and that this particularly positive momentum should not be left unanswered.

Portugal follows this matter very attentively and already takes part in several initiatives of a global scale, such as the Proliferation Security Initiative and the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism. As a Member State of the European Union, they also contribute to the Nuclear Security Fund. Portugal stands ready to play an even more active role in these matters, as the security of our Peoples require more than ever before. Portugal believes that they must move towards multilateralization of the nuclear cycle, as an important contribution to international non-proliferation efforts. This is why they support the creation of a Nuclear Fuel Bank under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency, for the benefit of all States-parties to the NPT that have signed Safeguards Agreements with the Agency. They view multilateralism as the only reasonable answer to globalisation, and in the field of nuclear proliferation we believe this position to be equally valid. The International Atomic Energy Agency must also be strengthened in its role as the verification mechanism for the NPT itself, including by the further consolidation and universalization of its Safeguards Agreements and Additional Protocol, and by providing it with the necessary means so it may continue to efficiently respond to present and future proliferation challenges.