Disarmament

Amid high stakes and intense negotiations to bring the 2010 Review Conference for the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to a successful conclusion, delegations of States parties to the landmark 1968 accord began pouring over the details of a draft final document distributed early this evening, with a view to adopting it by consensus on 28 May, the last day of the Conference.

With a text of the President’s Draft Final Declaration circulating, the Chairman of the 2010 Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty established the parameters for a closed negotiating plenary session to review that document section-by-section during a brief plenary meeting this morning.

Announcing that differences still remained within the three Main Committees of the 2010 Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the Chairman said this afternoon that one more day would be needed to forge agreement on the separate areas of the Treaty, before the plenary could meet to produce a single consensus outcome document by the event’s conclusion on 28 May.

The Chairmen of the three Main Committees of the 2010 Review Conference updated delegations today on progress made to advance the three pillars of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty — non-proliferation, disarmament and the right to peaceful use of nuclear technology — and to forge a consensus on the outcome document for the Conference, which will conclude on 28 May.

Chairmen of the three main committees of the 2010 Review Conference on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty presented draft interim reports today, describing substantive work done thus far on issues ranging from the strengthening of nuclear securityto the creation of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East, with a view to their inclusion in a final document, expected to be adopted next week at the close of the Review session.

A binding nuclear weapons convention, losing the outdated “deterrent” rationale for arsenals and mandating the total elimination of nuclear bombs were among the strong calls that rang through the 2010 Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons as non-governmental organizations addressed delegates at Headquarters today.

As long as the possession of nuclear weapons equalled power in the global “psyche”, the implications for the future of non-proliferation and disarmament would be profound, the 2010 Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) Review Conference heard today.

Strong efforts to advance the creation of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East and define the contours of a legally binding international convention to eliminate nuclear weapons were urgently needed to prevent the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty from being undermined, ministers and other officials warned the 2010 Review Conference as they continued into a third day of debate.

Renewed political will might have overcome stalemates in the disarmament arena, but fell far short of the unified force needed to rid the world of nuclear weapons, ministers told the 2010 Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) as it entered its second day at Headquarters today.

While many States had abolished nuclear weapons and reduced their arsenals, the global non-proliferation regime had been asleep for far too long, and it was now time to deliver on the deep global aspiration to build a safer world, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told world leaders as the month-long 2010 Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty opened at Headquarters today.