Friday, 15 October 2026
Presenter: Mr. Chatura Perera
Location: New York
Statement by Mr. Chatura Perera, Deputy Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations: First Committee – Cluster 1 – Nuclear Weapons 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly:
16 October 2026
Mr. Chair,
Sri Lanka aligns itself with the statement delivered by Indonesia on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement and wishes to add the following remarks in its national capacity.
Across this Organization, we invest enormous collective effort in building a better world. We advance the Sustainable Development Goals, including by working to lift populations out of poverty, educating our children, safeguarding the natural environment, and protecting the rights of every person. This is work that takes generations.
Nuclear weapons place all of it at risk. A single miscalculation, technical failure, unintended escalation, or a failure of judgment could undo in minutes what humanity has spent decades building. There would be no development agenda left to pursue. The total and verifiable elimination of nuclear weapons is the only absolute guarantee against their use or threat of use.
Mr. Chair,
We remain deeply concerned by the continued expansion and modernization of nuclear arsenals. Policies that lower the threshold for use and reduce transparency, together with continued investment in new delivery systems and upgraded warheads, increase the risks of accidental, mistaken or unauthorized use and represent a reversal of longstanding disarmament commitments.
Sri Lanka continues to be concerned by the lack of progress on nuclear disarmament under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). Non-nuclear weapon States have upheld their obligations. Yet progress on disarmament by the nuclear weapon States has been repeatedly deferred.
Good-faith dialogue among the Nuclear Weapon States remains essential to rebuilding confidence and making meaningful progress towards nuclear disarmament.
Mr. Chair,
Sri Lanka is deeply concerned that the 11th Review Conference of the NPT closed without agreement on a substantive outcome. It is the third consecutive Review Conference to end without consensus.
We commend the leadership of Viet Nam in presiding over the Conference and the constructive efforts made by delegations to find common ground. Yet, three consecutive failures should concern every State Party. There is an urgent need for renewed political will, good-faith engagement, as well as the full implementation of existing obligations and commitments.
A review process that repeatedly fails to achieve consensus risks eroding confidence in the Treaty itself. Therefore, all States Parties must work to restore the political will on which the credibility of the NPT depends.
Mr. Chair,
Sri Lanka reaffirms that the only absolute guarantee against the use of nuclear weapons is their total elimination. We support negotiations beginning without delay on an international convention prohibiting the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons under any circumstances, in line with General Assembly resolution 75/75.
Pending their elimination, we repeat the longstanding call for a universal, unconditional, and legally binding instrument to assure non-nuclear-weapon States against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons. It remains a matter of serious concern that non nuclear-weapon States have been subjected to explicit and implicit nuclear threats, contrary to the spirit of the Charter.
We call on all Nuclear Weapon States, and on States that rely on extended nuclear deterrence, refrain from actions that would prolong the nuclear arms race or undermine the goal of elimination. The expansion of nuclear-sharing arrangements and the increasing role of nuclear weapons in military doctrines runs counter to the goal of nuclear disarmament.
Mr. Chair,
Sri Lanka’s commitment to nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation is principled and longstanding. We are a State Party to the NPT, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Sri Lanka is also a party to the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism and supports its effective implementation.
We became the 69th State Party to the TPNW in 2023, and we welcome the Treaty's continued growth and the outcomes of its Meetings of States Parties. As the first Review Conference of the TPNW approaches later this year under the presidency of South Africa, Sri Lanka looks forward to engaging constructively toward a world free of nuclear weapons.
We reaffirm the need for universal adherence to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and remain concerned that some Nuclear Weapon States have yet to ratify it. Their ratification is essential to the Treaty’s entry into force and to strengthening the global norm against nuclear testing.
Sri Lanka reiterates its support for the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and upholds the right of all States to pursue such uses without discrimination, consistent with IAEA safeguards. We also support strengthened technical cooperation through the IAEA so that developing countries can benefit from peaceful nuclear technologies for health, agriculture and sustainable development.
Sri Lanka firmly believes that IAEA-safeguarded nuclear facilities must never be subjected to armed attack. Such attacks endanger civilian populations and undermines the credibility of both the NPT and the safeguards regime. We call for safeguarded nuclear facilities to be protected and for international law and the IAEA framework to be fully respected.
The three pillars of the NPT - disarmament, non-proliferation, and the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, are interconnected and mutually reinforcing. If any pillar deteriorates, the entire regime is weakened.
Mr. Chair,
We spend years building the foundations of a safer and more prosperous world. Nuclear disarmament is ultimately about protecting that work from a danger that could undo it in an instant.
The task before us is difficult, but its purpose is clear: to ensure that the world we spend generations improving is not held hostage to weapons that can destroy it in minutes.
That responsibility belongs to all of us, and it demands urgency.
Thank you.