- NPT Review Conference will be held in New York from August 1 to 26, 2022
- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that nuclear conflict is once again a possibility
- Mr. Guterres highlighted those threats to global peace and security include climate crisis, human rights violations, conflicts, and stark inequalities
The Tenth Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference will be held in New York from August 1 to 26, 2022. The conference will review the treaty’s implementation progress. NPT is a landmark international treaty whose goal is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and promote disarmament of nuclear weapon.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that once-unthinkable nuclear conflict is once again a possibility.
He said that, humanity was “just one misunderstanding, one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation.”
Mr. Guterres highlighted that threats to global peace and security include climate crisis, human rights violations, conflicts and stark inequalities. His warning came as world leaders gathered in New York for the 10th review conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of nuclear weapons (NPT), which entered into force in 1970.
He said that Geopolitical tensions are at an all-time high.” Cooperation and collaboration are losing ground to competition. Distrust has taken the place of dialogue, and disunity has taken the place of disarmament. He also emphasised that, States are attempting to create a false sense of security by stockpiling and spending hundreds of billions of dollars on doomsday weapons that have no place on our planet.
The NPT is the only multilateral treaty that contains a legally binding commitment by nuclear-weapon states to the goal of disarmament. The Treaty was opened during 1968 for signatures and was in force in 1970. Since its inception, the NPT has served as the foundation of the global nuclear non-proliferation regime. It is normally reviewed every five years, but the tenth conference was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to Mr. Guterres, countries must work relentlessly toward the goal of eliminating nuclear weapons, which begins with new commitments to reduce their numbers. He emphasised that this will also imply reinforcing multilateral disarmament and non-proliferation agreements and frameworks, including the important work of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
He emphasised that the NPT is critical to saving humanity from the dangers of nuclear weapons and outlined five areas for action, beginning with reinforcing and reaffirming the norm against the use of nuclear weapons, which requires unwavering commitment from all treaty parties.
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