NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATION TREATY
2004 NPT Preparatory Committee Meeting
New York, 26 April - 7 May 2004
Background Information
The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons,
also known as the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), is widely regarded
as the cornerstone of the international non-proliferation regime.
Every five years, the 188 states parties to the NPT
meet to review implementation and operation of the Treaty. The next
Review Conference will take place in 2005. Preparatory Committee
meetings (known as PrepComs) are held in each of the three years
prior to the Review Conference. The 2004 Preparatory Committee meeting
will be held at the UN in New York from 26 April to 7 May 2004.
The NPT defines five nuclear-weapon states (China, France, Russia,
the United Kindom and the United States). The nuclear-weapon states
are obliged under Article I of the Treaty to refrain from transferring
nuclear weapons or assisting others to acquire them. They are also
committed under Article VI of the Treaty to pursue nuclear disarmament.
Other states join the Treaty as non-nuclear-weapon states and are
obliged under Article II to refrain from acquiring nuclear weapons
and under Article III to accept safeguards from the International
Atomic Energy Agency. In exchange, they are offered assistance with
nuclear energy for "peaceful" purposes.
At the 2000 NPT Review Conference, the states parties agreed a
Nuclear Disarmament Programme of Action, including an unequivocal
committment by the nuclear-weapon states to "accomplish the
total elimination of their nuclear arsenals", along with a
series of practical steps towards nuclear disarmament.
However, the fragile rules on non-proliferation of nuclear weapons,
embodied in the NPT has been under pressure in recent years due
to a series of events including the withdrawal of North Korea from
the Treaty; the revelations of Pakistan's blackmarket trade in nuclear
technologies; allegations that Iran has clandestinely developed
key components of a nuclear weapons programme; the refusal of India,
Pakistan and Israel to join the Treaty; and moves by the nuclear-weapon
states, in particular the United States, to modernise and develop
new nuclear weapon programmes in breach of the commitments made
in 2000.
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