India Offers to Make No-First-Use Nuclear Pledge Legally Binding at UN

India has offered to turn its pledge not to use nuclear weapons first, and not to use them against countries that do not have them, into a binding multilateral legal arrangement. Congress MP Manish Tewari made the offer while delivering India’s official statement on nuclear weapons at the First Committee of the UN General Assembly in New York on Monday, October 19, according to All India Radio and WION. “We are prepared to convert these undertakings into multilateral legal arrangements,” he said.

Humans, Not Machines, Must Decide on Nuclear Use

The statement also addressed artificial intelligence. Tewari said the use of AI in nuclear command and control “raises real questions”, and that India holds that “the decision to use nuclear weapons should be taken by humans”. He called for legally binding assurances to non-nuclear-weapon states, saying these would ease their insecurity and strengthen non-proliferation. India also restated its voluntary moratorium on nuclear testing and its commitment to keeping nuclear material and technology away from terrorists and other non-state actors.

A Doctrine Built on Credible Minimum Deterrence

India describes its nuclear policy as credible minimum deterrence with a no-first-use posture. Tewari said India’s capabilities are shaped by its security environment and are “not directed against any specific actor”. India and China are the only nuclear-armed states that have declared no-first-use policies. India first set out its step-by-step approach to disarmament in a 2006 working paper at the First Committee and again at the Conference on Disarmament in 2007. The statement said the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons creates no obligations for India, while its commitment to disarmament is unchanged. The statement was reported on the same day Rajnath Singh urged SCO members to dismantle the terror ecosystem in Dushanbe.

Two Indian Resolutions Before the Committee

India will again table two resolutions at the committee: “Reducing Nuclear Danger”, moved every year since 1998, which calls for de-alerting and de-targeting nuclear weapons, and a call since 1992 for a convention banning the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons. Voting dates have not been announced. More national security updates are on our Daily Updates page.

Source: All India Radio report on India’s statement at the UN First Committee. Also based on reporting by WION and Daijiworld.

Image: All India Radio / Permanent Mission of India to the UN.