Ambassador Hossam Zaki, Assistant Secretary-General of the League
of Arab States, urged the international community to support Arab
efforts to establish a zone free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of
mass destruction in the Middle East. He also called for backing the
annual UN conference on this matter, held every November since 2019.
This appeal came during Ambassador Zaki's intervention at the opening
session of the third edition of the Arab Forum on Arms Control,
Disarmament, and Non-Proliferation, held on 4 June in Doha. The forum
was organised by the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States in
collaboration with Qatar's National Committee for the Prohibition of
Arms, with Ambassador Zaki participating as a keynote speaker.
The Assistant Secretary-General emphasised the strategic position
of Arab countries, which reject the military nuclear option while
supporting the inalienable right of nations to the peaceful use of
nuclear energy. He highlighted that the League of Arab States endorses
international and regional efforts to establish security and peace by
strengthening the national capabilities of its member states in
combating illicit small arms and light weapons.
In his speech, Ambassador Zaki also addressed the significant
advancements in cyber capabilities, modern technologies, artificial
intelligence, and autonomous weapons systems. He called for Arab
countries to benefit from the peaceful applications of these
technologies and stressed the need for swift formulation of
comprehensive and effective international governance to regulate their
use. Furthermore, he pointed out the use of many of these capabilities,
often without complete human oversight, during the brutal Israeli
aggression on the Gaza Strip since October 2023. The Israeli army has
treated Gaza as a testing ground for these deadly technologies, leading
to the destruction of civilian and vital facilities and the killing of
innocent people.
