Recently the United Nations unanimously approved a treaty that outlaws the use of nuclear weapons by terrorists and their supporters. Incredibly, such actions were not illegal before. The treaty has been touted -- by the United States, no less -- as an important step in the fight against terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. It thus seems that the U.N. is benefiting from low expectations.
Every member of the General Assembly voted to approve the Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism, the 13th antiterrorism treaty passed by the U.N., and the first to be adopted since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. It opens for signature next September and will go into effect 30 days after it is ratified by 22 states.
Negotiations began seven years ago as Russia's then-President Boris Yeltsin worried about the safety and security of his country's nuclear stockpiles. At the time of its collapse, the Soviet Union had more than 27,000 nuclear weapons, and possessed enough weapons-grade plutonium and uranium to triple that number. Reports of missing or stolen "suitcase bombs" and periodic arrests of individuals with radioactive materials suggest that the concerns were not exaggerated. The International Atomic Energy Agency has reported 175 nuclear-smuggling incidents since 1993, 18 involving highly enriched uranium.