24 May 2018
We are living in dangerous times. Protracted conflicts are causing unspeakable human
suffering. Armed groups are proliferating, equipped with a vast array of weapons.
Global military spending and competition in arms are increasing, and the tensions of the
cold war have returned to a world that has grown more complex. In today’s multipolar
environment, the mechanisms for contact and dialogue that once helped to defuse tensions
between two super-powers have eroded and lost their relevance.
This new reality demands that disarmament and non-proliferation are put at the centre of
the work of the United Nations. This is the backdrop for my agenda for disarmament. …
International security is at risk.
Cold war tensions have returned.
Global military spending is at its
highest since the fall of the Berlin
Wall. This is why I am launching
my disarmament agenda, based
on concrete, practical actions.
António Guterres
United Nations Secretary-General
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