The 11th Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference ended in New York on Friday, May 22 without consensus—despite an apparently Herculean effort by conference president Ambassador Do Hung Viet of Vietnam and UN disarmament affairs chief Izumi Nakamitsu to find language acceptable to all on all the matters at issue. Ambassador Do hailed the “sincere and meaningful engagement” of the conference delegates, but admitted his disappointment at their inability to find consensus and seize the opportunity to make the world a safer place, according to a UN News report.
In the meantime, concerns about a nuclear arms race continue to grow, as arsenals are modernised, and the total number of weapons increases. “The current international environment, which is marked by deep tensions and an elevated risk posed by nuclear weapons, demands very urgent action,” warned Ambassador Viet. “A substantive outcome would have strengthened the Treaty and advanced its objectives,” he said, “but in the absence of such an outcome, I am concerned for the future health of the Treaty.”
Nakamitsu said that the state parties to the Treaty need to take the three consecutive failures (in 2016, 2021 and now, 2026) very seriously if they want to preserve the regime. “Non-proliferation and disarmament are two sides of the same coin,” she said in an appeal to nuclear-weapon States. “It is simply wrong for them to assume that non-proliferation obligations will be upheld without their own commitment to, and implementation of, disarmament obligations.”
