What happened at the 2015 NPT Review Conference?

What happened at the 2015 NPT Review Conference?

Postby Oscar » Mon Jun 01, 2015 8:54 am

What happened at the 2015 NPT Review Conference?

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NPT: We've got the answers!

In the world of acronyms, confusing review processes and endless documents and paragraphs, it's not always easy to keep up to speed with the latest developments on nuclear weapons. Here are some questions we've got about the NPT.

What is the NPT?

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is one of the main international treaties governing nuclear weapons. The treaty, designed to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and promote nuclear disarmament, rests on three pillars: nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. Review Conferences are held every five years to monitor and support the implementation of the treaty. The ninth Review Conference was just held at the United Nations in New York, between 27 April and 22 May.

What happened at the 2015 NPT Review Conference?

With the Humanitarian Pledge ( http://www.icanw.org/wp-content/uploads ... cument.pdf ), initiated by Austria in December 2014, gaining momentum, many states and civil society members focused their statements and discussions on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons. Despite an overwhelming support by the majority of states for the humanitarian initiative, this fundamental shift in nuclear disarmament discourse was barely mentioned in the draft outcome document
[ http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/ima ... cument.pdf ].

Since these conferences take decisions by consensus, the nuclear weapon states exerted pressure to water down any concrete action points for disarmament, and even regressed from previous agreements. The weak draft document ultimately failed, blocked by the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada over disagreement on the creation of a Middle East Nuclear Weapon Free Zone.

But despite the failure to adopt a final document, the NPT Review Conference had a significant outcome. By the end of the four weeks, 107 states ( http://www.icanw.org/pledge/ ) - a clear majority of NPT states parties - had endorsed the Humanitarian Pledge and committed to fill the legal gap on nuclear weapons.

What are the implications of no outcome document?

This is not the first time the NPT has failed to agree on an outcome document. The consensus decision-making procedure has held all states hostage to the whims of a handful of uncooperative states, and reduced meaningful opportunities to their lowest common denominator.

In order to address the humanitarian concerns and the risk of nuclear weapons, it is time for states to look outside of the undemocratic NPT framework. The real outcome ( http://www.icanw.org/campaign-news/the-real-outcome/ ) of the NPT is that 107 states have endorsed the Humanitarian Pledge and are ready to start a process to ban nuclear weapons, with or without the nuclear weapon states.

What are the next steps?

With more than 100 states endorsing the Humanitarian Pledge, the need to fill the legal gap must be the basis for the negotiations of a new treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons.

At the NPT, it was made clear that the nuclear weapon states are not interested in making any new commitments to disarmament, so now it is up to the rest of the world to start a process to prohibit nuclear weapons by the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

It is time for states to now come together and start the process of filling the legal gap through a treaty banning nuclear weapons.

Got more questions?

Check out our frequently asked questions ( http://www.icanw.org/faqs-2/) about a treaty banning nuclear weapons!

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