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The 1999 NPT PrepCom
The third Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) meeting for the 2000 Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) took place in New York from 10-21 May. Several countries requested that the meeting be pushed back from its original schedule (12-23 April), as those dates conflicted with other events. Both the 1997 and 1998 PrepCom meetings focused on substantive discussions, as called for in the decisions of the 1995 Review and Extension Conference, but neither achieved any positive results. The progress made in the 1999 PrepCom, and the atmosphere of the proceedings in general, were a step above that of previous years. With the help and guidance of the Chair, individual proposals and working papers by States Parties were consolidated and presented in a coherent fashion, providing a somewhat stronger foundation for the 2000 Review Conference. There was a palpable feeling on the part of delegates that the results of the 1999 PrepCom needed to be as concrete as possible so that the Main Committees in 2000 could proceed with a clear agenda. Delegates strove to define the kinds of outcomes or products expected by the end of the 2000 Review Conference proceedings, the nature of (dis)agreements between States Parties on each issue Cluster, and the available alternatives for strengthening the implementation of the treaty and the Review process itself. However, as in previous years, agreement was not reached on the primary issues of substance. Areas that remain unresolved include: the level of progress in the implementation of the Articles of the Treaty; new recommendations for the effective fulfillment of the NPT and the 1995 Principles and Objectives, including disarmament activities of the P-5; the functioning and status of the strengthened review process; and implementation of the 1995 Middle East Resolution. Within these larger areas are detailed issues such as the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT); the Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty (FMCT); START II and START III; de-alerting of weapons arsenals by the P-5; nuclear sharing under NATO between the United States and its allies (Articles I-II of the NPT); the status of Israel as a non-declared NWS with unsafeguarded nuclear facilities; and the question of global, legally-binding negative security assurances by the nuclear weapons states (NWS) that would prohibit the threatened use of nuclear weapons against all non-nuclear weapons states during conflicts.
The outcomes of the 1999 meeting can be divided into agreed and non-agreed documents, with agreement based on the traditional norm of full consensus rather than majority voting. In general, agreement was achieved only on procedural issues relating to the 2000 NPT Review Conference, or in those cases where real substantive issues could be forwarded to the UN Secretariat for "objective, balanced, and factual" final decisions. Agreement on most substantive issues ultimately proved impossible. Read more about the Results of the PrepCom
"US
Commitment to NPT Article VI – Myths and Realities" Egypt
Proposes Ending NATO Nuclear Sharing NATO
Nuclear Policies Slammed at Non-Proliferation Treaty PrepCom 1999
PrepCom: Keys to Success
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