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NPT final document is diluted, adoption is uncertain

by Michiko Tanaka, by Staff Writer

NEW YORK--On May 22, the final day of the Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT), held at United Nations headquarters in New York, the entire draft of the final document prepared by Conference President Taous Feroukhi was unveiled. Regarding future measures for nuclear disarmament, 19 items are listed, among them the establishment of a working group under the U.N. General Assembly to review “effective measures” including legal provisions. The document, however, does not refer to a nuclear weapons convention and, as a result, its substance has been significantly diluted since the original draft. The unanimous adoption of even this draft is uncertain.

The draft of the president’s final document, distributed to the participating nations in the early hours of May 22, summarizes the outcome of the four-week session concerning nuclear non-proliferation and the peaceful use of nuclear energy, in addition to the report on nuclear disarmament that had already been revealed on May 21.

As for nuclear disarmament measures, an early draft from Main Committee I included a reference to legal provisions, including a nuclear weapons convention, that made specific mention of a time frame for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons, but this language was ultimately removed from the president’s draft in consideration of the nuclear powers. The final draft now states, instead, that the Conference recommends that the U.N. General Assembly establish an open-ended working group at its session to be held in September to implement obligations for nuclear disarmament, and encourages all member states to engage in reviewing measures toward that end, including legal provisions.

Japan’s proposal, which called for world leaders and younger generations to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki, was dropped from the original document due to opposition from China and this text was not restored. Instead, there is now language which promotes “directly sharing the experiences of the people and the communities affected by nuclear weapons” in light of the 70th year since the end of World War II.

As for the Middle East, another focal point of the conference, the Review Conference entrusts the secretary-general of the United Nations to convene an international conference no later than March 1, 2016 to discuss establishing a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and all other weapons of mass destruction. The draft says that “all States of the Middle East will be invited” to the conference and defines “all States of the Middle East” as members of the League of Arab States, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and Israel. The international conference will seek to craft a legally binding agreement and urges the United States, the United Kingdom, and Russia, along with envoys appointed by the secretary-general of the United Nations, to support this meeting. With respect to regional issues, the Conference “strongly deplores” the actions of North Korea, which conducted nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013, and urges this nation to refrain from pursuing further nuclear tests.

The Review Conference will hold its last plenary meeting on the afternoon of May 22 local time (early May 23, Japan time) and seek to adopt the final document.

(Originally published on May 23, 2015)

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