Nagasaky.
The NPT is in an impasse, and has been for a long time. At the last Review Conference in 2015, a situation of total paralysis was observed, so that no consensus could be found to adopt a final document! While “in good faith” the signatory states have committed to nuclear disarmament “in the near future”…
What are the reasons for this?
They include:
1- the fact that the NPT has not fully succeeded in preventing proliferation since 4 states are not part of it (India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea) and have acquired nuclear weapons;
2- The fact that nuclear weapons are not explicitly declared illegal;
3- Article VI of the NPT on disarmament is not sufficiently binding to be effective.
Now the international treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons —which is being formulated within the United Nations— will, among other things, serve the purpose of strengthening the NPT by filling its gaps, as was widely underlined by the participants in the first session (27-31 March 2017) of the negotiating conference at the UN in New York, which will conclude its work on 7 July.
In fact, the treaty will be a powerful aid to nuclear-weapon States which sincerely wish to achieve total nuclear disarmament through multilateral negotiations, and to achieve such disarmament before it is too late.
How should the five-year NPT review conference in 2020 take this into account?
This is the question that the Member States should address right now. This will necessarily have consequences on the final consensus despite the nuclear States which refuse any constraint regarding nuclear disarmament.
As expressed by a very telling allegory proposed by the Ambassador of Chile to the UN, an international treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons must help the nuclear-weapon States to escape the “Faustian” trap into which they have fallen, whereas Goethe’s Faust had been outwitted by the devil.
Luigi Mosca
Abolition des armes nucléaires
Maison de Vigilance (AAN) has merged 2 NGOs last year: La Maison de Vigilance (1983) and Stop essais/Armes nucléaires STOP (1989).
AAN is a member of Abolition 2000 and ICAN.
AAN attends NPT sessions and UN sessions for the Ban Treaty. It is a gathering of activists and more than 20 French NGOs (WILPF-France, Union Pacifiste, Pax Christi, Sortir du nucléaire, Non-violent Movement…).
Among other activities, AAN organises each year a Fast from 6 to 9 August, commemorating Hiroshima and Nagasaki and for support of victims of nuclear testing.
