THIRD PREPARATORY COMMITTEE FOR 2010 NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATION TREATY REVIEW

CONFERENCE CONCLUDES SUCCESSFULLY WITH ADOPTION OF CONSENSUS REPORT

NEW YORK, 15 May (Office for Disarmament Affairs) -- The Preparatory Committee for the 2010 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons held its third session from 4 to 15 May at United Nations Headquarters in New York.  This was the last of three sessions of the Preparatory Committee that will be held prior to the 2010 Review Conference.

This session, which was open to all parties to the Treaty, observer States, specialized agencies, international and regional intergovernmental organizations, and non-governmental organizations, addressed both substantive and procedural issues related to the Treaty and the upcoming Review Conference in 2010.  The 10 days of meetings were chaired by Ambassador Boniface G. Chidyausiku of Zimbabwe.

One hundred nineteen States parties participated in this third session.  Palestine participated as an observer, as did the following specialized agencies and international and regional intergovernmental organizations: the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); the Agency for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean, the European Commission, the League of Arab States, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive-Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization. Representatives of the United Nations attended the session and provided secretarial support.

The purpose of this session was to prepare for the 2010 Review Conference by taking into account the deliberations and results of the previous two sessions held in 2007 and 2008, and to conclude various procedural issues for the 2010 Review Conference, while also making every effort to produce a consensus report containing recommendations to the Review Conference.

Following a general exchange of views on all aspects of the implementation of the Treaty, during which more than 60 statements were made, the Committee’s early meetings were devoted to the procedural issues for the Review Conference in 2010, which were successfully finalized at the session.  This includes the provisional agenda and draft rules of procedure, as well as the unanimous endorsement of the candidacy of Ambassador Libran N. Cabactulan of the Philippines for the presidency of the 2010 Review Conference.

The meeting also decided that the 2010 Review Conference will be held from 3 to 28 May in New York.

Several meetings were dedicated to substantive discussion on the following three clusters of issues: the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, disarmament and international peace and security; non-proliferation, nuclear-weapon-free zones and safeguards; and the peaceful use of nuclear energy.  Within this framework, the Committee also discussed security assurances to non-nuclear-weapon States against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons; regional issues, including the resolution on the Middle East adopted by the 1995 Review and Extension Conference and reaffirmed in the final document of the 2000 Review Conference; and other provisions of the Treaty such as Article X on withdrawal from the Treaty.

In the margins of the meeting more than 50 side events were held by States parties, specialized agencies and non-governmental organizations, which included film screenings, discussions on the nuclear fuel cycle, disarmament and non-proliferation education, IAEA safeguards and prospects for nuclear weapons abolition.  Seventy-seven non-governmental organizations participated in the session with more than a dozen addressing the Committee in a meeting set aside specifically for their presentations.

The Treaty, which entered into force in 1970 and was extended indefinitely in 1995, requires that review conferences be held every five years.  The Treaty is regarded as the cornerstone of the global nuclear non-proliferation regime.  Its objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, to further the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament and general and complete disarmament, and to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

For official conference documentation, please visit http://www.un.org/disarmament/WMD/Nuclear/NPT2010Prepcom/PrepCom2009/index.html.

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For information media • not an official record