The United Nations General Assembly's disarmament committee has approved a resolution that calls for all nuclear weapons to be taken off high alert. The vote was 124 to 3 with the three Western nuclear powers of the United States, Britain and France voting against it. There were 34 absent countries with the inclusion of Russia and China, which did not vote. The resolution, co-sponsored by Chile, New Zealand, Nigeria, Sweden and Switzerland, now goes to the 192-nation General Assembly for a final vote. Assembly resolutions are not legally binding but reflect opinions of world governments. The resolution calls to “decrease the operational readiness of nuclear weapons systems, with a view to ensuring that all nuclear weapons are removed from high alert status.”
