Resolution adopted by the General Assembly  on 4 December 2023          [on the report of the First Committee (A/78/409, para. 89)]        78/42. Towards a nuclear-weapon-free world: accelerating the  implementation of nuclear disarmament commitments        The General Assembly,    Recalling its resolution 1 (I) of 24 January 1946 and its decision 77/516 of  7 December 2022,     Noting the twenty-fifth anniversary of the launch of the New Agenda Coalition  and the joint declaration outlining a new agenda for disarmament adopted in Dublin  on 9 June 1998,1 and the press release issued on the occasion of the commemoration  by senior officials of the New Agenda Coalition, held in Brasilia on 19 June 2023,     Welcoming the report of the Secretary-General entitled “Our Common Agenda”,2  especially the reiteration by the Secretary-General of the commitment to achieve a  world free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, and the  disarmament recommendations of policy brief 9, entitled “A New Agenda for Peace”, 3  presented by the Secretary-General on 20 July 2023, in particular the recognition that  the existential threat that nuclear weapons pose to humanity must motivate us to work  towards their total elimination and the recommendation to States to recommit urgently  to the pursuit of a world free of nuclear weapons and reverse the erosion of  international norms against the spread and use of nuclear weapons, and recalling the  importance of the Secretary-General’s disarmament agenda, Securing Our Common  Future: An Agenda for Disarmament,     Noting with deep concern the profound global peace and security challenges  currently taking hold and the increased prominence being given by some States to  nuclear weapons in their security doctrines, the expansion of nuclear stockpiles,  __________________    1  A/53/138, annex.    2  A/75/982.    3  A/77/CRP.1/Add.8.   A/RES/78/42  Towards a nuclear-weapon-free world: accelerating the  implementation of nuclear disarmament commitments   23-24513 2/7    national plans by the nuclear-weapon States to expand, modernize and qualitatively  improve nuclear arsenals, the disregard of negative security assurances, as well as  plans by the nuclear-weapon States and States under extended nuclear security  guarantees to maintain or increase the role of nuclear weapons in security doctrines,  including with regard to the placement of nuclear weapons on the territory of  non-nuclear-weapon States, all of which contribute to the erosion of the disarmament  and non-proliferation regime and undermine the achievement of a nuclear-weapon- free world,     Alarmed that recent international tensions have taken an increasing nuclear  dimension, particularly with regard to threats to use nuclear weapons and increasingly  strident nuclear rhetoric,     Concerned  about  other  actions  that  weaken  the  disarmament  and  non-proliferation architecture and undermine key norms, such as the dismantling of  core agreements among the nuclear-weapon States, including the Intermediate-Range  Nuclear Forces Treaty, the Treaty on Open Skies, and the suspension of the Treaty on  Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (New  START Treaty),     Recalling the joint statement on preventing nuclear war and avoiding arms races  issued by China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain  and Northern Ireland and the United States of America on 3 January 2022, affirming  that “a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought”, and the statement by  the New Agenda Coalition issued on 25 January 2022,4 calling for the five nuclear- weapon States to pursue tangible steps towards the total elimination of their nuclear  arsenals in accordance with their obligations under article VI of the Treaty on the  Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons,5     Recalling also the decisions and the resolution adopted at the 1995 Review and  Extension Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear  Weapons,6 the basis upon which the Treaty was indefinitely extended, and the Final  Documents of the 2000 7  and the 2010 8  Review Conferences of the Parties to the  Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and in particular the unequivocal  undertaking by the nuclear-weapon States to accomplish the total elimination of their  nuclear arsenals, leading to nuclear disarmament, in accordance with commitments  made under article VI of the Treaty,     Ever mindful that, to preserve the credibility and strength of the Treaty on the  Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, nuclear-weapon States must implement their  respective obligations and commitments under the Treaty and therefore redress the  imbalance in implementation with regard to non-nuclear-weapon States,     Deeply concerned by the successive failures of the two previous Review  Conferences of the Parties to the Treaty, and dismayed that States parties to the Treaty  were again unable to agree on actions that would strengthen the Treaty regime,  enhance progress towards its full implementation and universality, or monitor  __________________    4  CD/2226, annex.    5  United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 729, No. 10485.    6  See 1995 Review and Extension Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of  Nuclear Weapons, Final Document, Part I (NPT/CONF.1995/32 (Part I) and NPT/CONF.1995/32  (Part I)/Corr.2), annex.    7  2000 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons,  Final Document, vols. I–III (NPT/CONF.2000/28 (Parts I and II), NPT/CONF.2000/28 (Part III)  and NPT/CONF.2000/28 (Part IV)).    8  2010 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons,  Final Document, vols. I–III (NPT/CONF.2010/50 (Vol. I), NPT/CONF.2010/50 (Vol. II) and  NPT/CONF.2010/50 (Vol. III)).   Towards a nuclear-weapon-free world: accelerating the  implementation of nuclear disarmament commitments  A/RES/78/42   3/7 23-24513    implementation of the commitments made at the 1995, 2000 and 2010 Review  Conferences,     Noting with concern that the working group on further strengthening the review  process of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons could not agree  on substantive outcomes and recommendations,     Reiterating the expression of deep concern by the 2010 Review Conference of  the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons at the  catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons, and its  resolve to seek a safer world for all and to achieve the peace and security of a world  without nuclear weapons,9     Reiterating its grave concern at the danger to humanity posed by nuclear  weapons, highlighting that these concerns should underpin the need for nuclear  disarmament and the urgency of achieving and maintaining a nuclear-weapon-free  world,     Welcoming the attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences and  inherent risks of nuclear weapons in multilateral disarmament forums since 2010,  including in the Conferences on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons, the  most recent of which was held in Vienna on 20 June 2022,     Recognizing the highly disproportionate and gendered impact of exposure to  ionizing radiation for women and girls, and the need to further integrate a gender  perspective into all aspects of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation decision- making processes, inter alia by including the commitment to ensure the equal, full  and effective participation and leadership of both women and men, including in the  implementation and review of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear  Weapons,    Noting the widespread support in the tenth Review Conference of the Parties to  the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons for the view that enhanced  accountability and transparency, including improving the process of reporting by  nuclear-weapon States on their implementation of the nuclear disarmament  commitments and obligations under the Treaty, would contribute to strengthening the  review process, and that this fact was recognized by a majority of States parties during  the first meeting of the Preparatory Committee for the 2026 Review Conference, and  in the working group on further strengthening the review process of the Treaty,    Recalling that the total elimination of nuclear weapons is the only absolute  guarantee against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons and the legitimate  interest of non-nuclear-weapon States in receiving unequivocal and legally binding  negative security assurances from nuclear-weapon States pending the total  elimination of nuclear weapons,     Underscoring the important contribution made by nuclear-weapon-free zones to  enhancing  international  peace  and  security,  to  a  strengthened  nuclear  non-proliferation regime and as a practical contribution towards nuclear disarmament,     Urging States to strengthen all existing nuclear-weapon-free zones, inter alia,  through the ratification of existing treaties and relevant protocols and the withdrawal  or revision of any reservations or interpretative declarations contrary to the object and  purpose of the treaties establishing such zones,     Recalling the encouragement expressed at the 2010 Review Conference for the  establishment of further nuclear-weapon-free zones, on the basis of arrangements  __________________    9  Ibid., vol. I (NPT/CONF.2010/50 (Vol. I)), part I, Conclusions and recommendations for  follow-on actions.   A/RES/78/42  Towards a nuclear-weapon-free world: accelerating the  implementation of nuclear disarmament commitments   23-24513 4/7    freely arrived at among the States of the region concerned, reaffirming the expectation  that this will be followed by concerted international efforts to create such zones in  areas where they do not currently exist, especially in the Middle East, in this context  noting with deep disappointment the non-fulfilment of the agreement at the 2010  Review Conference on practical steps to fully implement the 1995 resolution on the  Middle East,     Encouraged by the successful organization in 2019, 2021 and 2022 by the  Secretary-General of the United Nations, in accordance with its decision 73/546 of  22 December 2018, of the sessions of a conference aimed at elaborating a treaty on  the establishment of a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and all other  weapons of mass destruction, on the basis of arrangements freely arrived at by the  States of the region,     Underlining the importance of multilateralism in relation to nuclear  disarmament, while recognizing the value of unilateral, bilateral and regional  initiatives and the importance of compliance with the terms of these initiatives,     Recalling the twenty-seventh anniversary of the opening for signature of the  Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty10 and the continued vital importance of its  entry into force to the advancement of nuclear disarmament and nuclear  non-proliferation objectives,    Welcoming the outcomes of the first Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on  the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and the convening of the second Meeting of  States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in New York in  November and December 2023, and encouraging all States to participate in these  proceedings,     Urging the immediate return to full implementation of the Treaty on Measures  for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms, urging both  parties to the Treaty to re-engage in discussions on follow-on measures to achieve  deeper reductions in their nuclear arsenals, and calling upon both States to negotiate  a successor agreement as soon as possible, as encouraged by the 2000 and 2010  Review Conferences,     Welcoming the commemoration and promotion of 26 September as the  International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, as established by  resolution 68/32 of 5 December 2013,     Deeply disappointed at the continued absence of progress towards multilateral  nuclear disarmament at the Conference on Disarmament, which has been unable to  agree upon and implement a programme of work since 1996, and that the  Disarmament Commission has not produced a substantive outcome on nuclear  disarmament since 1999,     1.  Condemns unequivocally all nuclear threats, whether explicit or implicit,  and irrespective of the circumstances, and calls upon all States, in particular the  nuclear-weapon States, to reject any normalization of nuclear rhetoric and, in  particular, the threat of use of nuclear weapons, which only serves to undermine the  disarmament and non-proliferation regime and is against the Charter of the United  Nations;     2.  Stresses the fundamental role of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of  Nuclear Weapons in achieving nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation,  and looks forward to achieving substantive progress during the eleventh review cycle,  in order to strengthen the Treaty and its review process, overcoming the obstacles that  __________________    10  See resolution 50/245 and A/50/1027.   Towards a nuclear-weapon-free world: accelerating the  implementation of nuclear disarmament commitments  A/RES/78/42   5/7 23-24513    prevented a substantive outcome in the two previous Review Conferences held in  2015 and 2022;     3.  Reaffirms the continued validity of the decisions, resolutions and  commitments as agreed to at the 1995, 2000 and 2010 Review Conferences of the  Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, including the  specific reaffirmation of the unequivocal undertaking of the nuclear-weapon States to  accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals leading to nuclear  disarmament, to which all States parties are committed under article VI of the Treaty;    4.  Urges all State parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear  Weapons to implement their article VI obligations and to pursue multilateral  negotiations without delay on effective measures for the achievement and  maintenance of a nuclear weapon-free world, recalling in particular the commitment  of the nuclear-weapon States to accelerating concrete progress on the steps leading to  nuclear disarmament;     5.  Calls upon all States to give due prominence to the humanitarian  imperatives that underpin nuclear disarmament and to the urgency of achieving it,  including new evidence presented at the Conferences on the Humanitarian Impact of  Nuclear Weapons, and those imperatives should inform all deliberations, decisions  and actions relating to nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation, including  within the Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of  Nuclear Weapons;     6.  Urges the nuclear-weapon States to fulfil their commitment to undertaking  further efforts to reduce and eliminate all types of nuclear weapons, deployed and  non-deployed, including through unilateral, bilateral, regional and multilateral  measures, as agreed by the parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear  Weapons in the outcome documents of the 2000 and 2010 Review Conferences;     7.  Also urges the nuclear-weapon States to make concrete reductions in the  role and significance of nuclear weapons in all military and security concepts,  doctrines and policies, pending their total elimination as agreed by the parties to the  Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in the outcome documents of the  2000 and 2010 Review Conferences;     8.  Underlines the recognition by States parties to the Treaty on the  Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons of the legitimate interest of non-nuclear- weapon States in the constraining by the nuclear-weapon States of the development  and qualitative improvement of nuclear weapons and their ending the development of  advanced new types of nuclear weapons, and calls upon the nuclear-weapon States to  take urgent steps in this regard;     9.  Urges all nuclear-weapon States to immediately lower the operational  readiness of nuclear-weapon systems in a verifiable and transparent manner with a  view to ensuring that all nuclear weapons are removed from high alert status;     10. Encourages all States that are part of regional alliances that include  nuclear-weapon States to diminish the role of nuclear weapons in their collective  security doctrines, pending their total elimination;    11.  Encourages States parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of  Nuclear Weapons to advance measures on the agreed principles of transparency,  verifiability and irreversibility, taking into account that they are strongly interrelated  and are not an end in themselves and are not a prerequisite to commence nuclear  disarmament;     12. Stresses the necessity for enhanced transparency by the nuclear-weapon  States with regard to their nuclear weapons capabilities and the implementation of   A/RES/78/42  Towards a nuclear-weapon-free world: accelerating the  implementation of nuclear disarmament commitments   23-24513 6/7    their article VI obligations and nuclear disarmament-related commitments, and urges  nuclear-weapon States to implement their nuclear disarmament obligations and  commitments, both qualitative and quantitative, in a manner that strengthens  accountability and enables all States parties to regularly monitor progress, including  through a standard detailed reporting format, thereby enhancing transparency and  increasing mutual confidence, and facilitating the evidence-based evaluation of  progress towards the full implementation of article VI and nuclear disarmament  commitments;     13. Urges the nuclear-weapon States to report at least twice during a Review  Conference cycle at appropriate intervals, and to include in their reports to be  submitted during the eleventh review cycle of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of  Nuclear Weapons concrete and detailed information concerning the implementation  of their obligations and commitments on nuclear disarmament;     14. Encourages States parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of  Nuclear Weapons to improve the measurability of the implementation of nuclear  disarmament obligations and commitments, including but not limited to measures on  improved and more structured reporting by the nuclear-weapon States, tools such as  a set of benchmarks, timelines and/or similar criteria, in order to ensure and facilitate  the objective evaluation of progress, as well as the establishment of a structured  dialogue on this issue at the Preparatory Committee meetings and at the Review  Conference on these improved and more structured reports, facilitated by the Chairs  of the Preparatory Committee meetings, who will provide a joint report to each  Review Conference that includes specific recommendations, targets and indicators,  to improve the monitoring of and reporting on article VI and disarmament-related  commitments;     15. Encourages the nuclear-weapon States, as part of their national reporting,  to include details on their plans related to the modernization of nuclear weapons; their  nuclear capabilities, including quantity, type and status of nuclear warheads, as well  as delivery vehicles; doctrinal issues; risk reduction measures; de-alerting measures;  quantity of fissile material; and the number and type of weapons and delivery systems  they have disarmed;    16. Encourages further steps by all nuclear-weapon States to ensure the  irreversible removal of all fissile material designated by each nuclear-weapon State  as no longer required for military purposes, and calls upon all States to support, within  the context of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the development of  appropriate nuclear disarmament verification capabilities and legally binding  verification arrangements, thereby ensuring that such material remains permanently  outside military programmes in a verifiable and irreversible manner;     17. Calls upon all States parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of  Nuclear Weapons to work towards the full implementation of the resolution on the  Middle East adopted at the 1995 Review and Extension Conference of the Parties to  the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, 11  which is inextricably  linked to the indefinite extension of the Treaty, and which remains valid until fully  implemented;     18. Urges the co-sponsors of the 1995 resolution on the Middle East to exert  their utmost efforts with a view to ensuring the early establishment of a Middle East  zone free of nuclear weapons and all other weapons of mass destruction as contained  __________________    11  See 1995 Review and Extension Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation  of Nuclear Weapons, Final Document, Part I (NPT/CONF.1995/32 (Part I) and  NPT/CONF.1995/32 (Part I)/Corr.2), annex.   Towards a nuclear-weapon-free world: accelerating the  implementation of nuclear disarmament commitments  A/RES/78/42   7/7 23-24513    in the 1995 resolution on the Middle East, including through support for the  convening of the conference on the establishment of such a zone;     19. Calls upon all concerned parties referred to in decision 73/546 of  22 December 2018 to actively engage in the sessions of the conference to elaborate a  treaty to establish a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and all other weapons  of mass destruction, on the basis of arrangements freely arrived at by all States of the  region;    20. Calls upon all States parties to spare no effort to achieve the universality  of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and in this regard urges  India, Israel and Pakistan to accede to the Treaty as non-nuclear-weapon States  promptly and without conditions, and to place all their nuclear facilities under  International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards, and further calls upon South Sudan  to join the Treaty at the earliest opportunity;     21. Urges the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to fulfil its commitments,  to abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programmes, to return, at an  early date, to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and to adhere  to its International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards agreement, 12 with a view to  achieving the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful, complete,  verifiable and irreversible manner, and calls for diplomatic efforts to this end;     22. Calls upon all Member States to reflect on the vast amount of resources  dedicated to the maintenance, development and modernization of nuclear arsenals and  to consider whether these resources could be better utilized in pursuit of a better future  as envisaged in the Sustainable Development Goals;     23. Calls upon Member States to continue to support efforts to identify,  elaborate, negotiate and implement further effective legally binding measures for  nuclear disarmament, inter alia, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, 13  and welcomes the outcomes of the first Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty,  including the political declaration and action plan;14     24. Urges all States to exert all efforts to advance diplomatic dialogue and  work together towards overcoming obstacles that are inhibiting substantive work  within the international disarmament machinery to advance the agenda of nuclear  disarmament, particularly through multilateral negotiations;     25. Recommends that additional measures be taken to advance nuclear  disarmament and non-proliferation education, in particular to increase awareness of  the risks and catastrophic impacts and humanitarian consequences of any nuclear  detonation, recognizing the important contributions made by academia, civil society  and victims of nuclear weapons to this end;     26. Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its seventy-ninth session,  under the item entitled “General and complete disarmament”, the sub-item entitled  “Towards a nuclear-weapon-free world: accelerating the implementation of nuclear  disarmament commitments” and to review the implementation of the present  resolution at that session.     42nd plenary meeting  4 December 2023    __________________    12  United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1677, No. 28986.    13  A/CONF.229/2017/8.    14  See TPNW/MSP/2022/6.