A high level panel has cited the IAEA as "an extraordinary bargain" for its work to prevent widespread proliferation of nuclear weapons, in a new report on security threats facing humanity, and how policies and institutions must change to beat them.
The report A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility includes 101 recommendations on UN reform and for forging a global response to threats of terrorism, poverty, disease, weapons of mass destruction and civil violence. Its 16 authors comprise former heads of state, foreign ministers, security, military, diplomatic and development officials.
The panel singled out the IAEA's mission. "As the institutional embodiment of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and of considerable long-term success in preventing widespread proliferation of nuclear weapons, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) - with its regular budget of less than $275 million - stands out as an extraordinary bargain."
Responding to the report, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called for urgent action on its recommendations to strengthen the non-proliferation regime and ward off the possibility of a nuclear attack. Including:
- That the Agency's Board of Governors recognize the Additional Protocol as today's standard for Agency safeguards;
- To provide incentives for States to forego the development of uranium enrichment and reprocessing facilities; and
- The negotiation of a verifiable fissile material cut-off treaty that ends production of highly enriched uranium.
As importantly, the Panel emphasized the human dimensions of security, and the need for greater effort for sustainable development.
In regard to climate change, it noted, "modern economies... should undertake a special effort to devise climate-friendly development strategies. Member States should place special attention on the development of low-carbon energy sources, including natural gas, renewable power and nuclear power..."
The panel recognized that "nuclear energy, in the view of many, is an important source of power for civilian uses and may become even more crucial in the context of a worldwide effort to reduce dependency on fossil fuels and emissions of greenhouse gases."
The recommendations will help set the agenda for a special UN summit scheduled for world leaders in September 2005. For more information about the report, visit the UN web pages at www.un.org/secureworld/.