The United Nations appears set to adopt a landmark nuclear weapons ban treaty this week after the third and final draft of the accord circulated Monday following intensive negotiations over the weekend.
"Each one of us has assumed the historic responsibility to give humankind an instrument that reflects the moral imperative of prohibiting nuclear weapons and leading to a future free of nuclear weapons, as was the case more than seven decades ago," Elayne Whyte Gomez, Costa Rican ambassador and conference president, said prior to the draft's circulation.
The latest draft, expected to be adopted by the end of the session Friday, includes new language that explicitly prohibits states from using or threatening to use nuclear weapons.