NEW YORK, Oct. 28 (UPI) -- As nations with nuclear weapons modernize their arsenals, and in some cases increase their size, non-nuclear countries overwhelmingly embraced a proposed ban on nuclear weapons in a United Nations committee meeting Thursday.
A vote in the U.N.'s disarmament and internationals security committee offered solid support for a global ban on nuclear weapons, with 123 nations voting in favor, 38 opposing and 16 abstaining from the vote.
Among those voting against the ban were all nine of the countries known to have nuclear weapons -- the United States, Britain, Israel, Russia, China, France, India, Pakistan and North Korea.
Even without the support of all five veto-bearing permanent members of the security council, the ban will be considered by the U.N.'s General Assembly in March, when much of the world now expects to start negotiating a legally-binding path to the elimination of all nuclear weapons on Earth.
Many states protected by countries with nuclear weapons also voted against the global ban, with Australia among the most vocal.
"We do not support a ban treaty," said Richard Sadleir, assistant secretary of Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. "A ban treaty that does not include the nuclear weapons states, those states which possess nuclear weapons, and is disconnected from the rest of the security environment, would be counterproductive and not lead to reductions in nuclear arsenals."
