Nuclear-risk reduction / no-first-use are hot topics at the NPT Review Conference
Posted: 23rd August 2022
NoFirstUse Global side event
Friday August 19 at 1:15pm Eastern Time (USA)
States Parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), including five nuclear weapon states (China, France, Russia, UK and USA), are discussing key nuclear-risk reduction measures such as the adoption of no-first-use policies at the 10th NPT Review Conference now into its 3rd week at the United Nations in New York.
Non-nuclear states and non-governmental voices including NoFirstUse Global made it clear in the first week of the conference that progress on nuclear risk reduction and disarmament was required and expected of the nuclear weapon states.
The strength of these calls has had some impact on the deliberations, moving the nuclear weapon states to seriously consider some of the proposals, including those in the appeal Fulfil the NPT: From nuclear threats to human security and in the NoFirstUse Global working paper to the NPT on no-first-use.
The draft conference document from NPT Main Committee 1 (nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament), for example, affirms that “a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought” and reaffirms “the importance of concrete and measurable steps to reduce the alert status of nuclear-weapon systems.”
The draft conference document from NPT Subsidiary Body 1 (nuclear disarmament and security assurances) “recalls all States parties’ obligation to pursue the total elimination of nuclear weapons as the highest disarmament priority” and “calls on nuclear-weapon States and those non-nuclear weapon States that are part of nuclear alliances to agree to take steps to diminish, with a view to eliminating, the role and significance of nuclear weapons in all military and security concepts, doctrines and policies” and that for nuclear-weapon States “this should include the adoption of no-first use doctrines.”
There is still a week to go in the NPT deliberations. NoFirstUse Global will continue to lobby at the NPT Review conference to support these important nuclear risk-reduction proposals and to ensure their adoption in the final conference agreement.
Nuclear Risk Reduction – More Topical than Ever
Friday August 19. 1:15 – 2:45pmConference Room B, United Nations, New York
A side event at the 10th NPT Review Conference
Live-streamed on Basel Peace Office facebook page
Speakers:
- John Hallam (Australia). Co-convenor, Abolition 2000 Working Group on Nuclear Risk Reduction
- Marc Finaud (France/Switzerland). Senior Fellow, Geneva Centre for Security Policy
- Ivana Nikolić Hughes (United States). President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, Senior Lecturer in Chemistry at Columbia University
- Alyn Ware (New Zealand/Czech Republic). Global Coordinator, Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament
In January 2022, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists set the Doomsday Clock to 100 Seconds to Midnight, indicating the extreme risks to humanity from nuclear threats, climate change and the rise of disruptive technology and misinformation. Since then, nuclear threats have increased with the Russian invasion of Ukraine accompanied by missile tests and provocative nuclear threat statements.
Nuclear tensions are also high in other conflicts, including in North-East Asia and South Asia. This event will summarise current nuclear risks and discuss measures for reducing these risks, including building political support for their adoption and how they can contribute to nuclear disarmament.
Reference will be made to relevant working papers to the NPT Review Conference including Working Paper 9 ‘A nuclear risk reduction package’ submitted by the Stockholm Initiative and ‘No-First Use of Nuclear Weapons: An Exploration of Unilateral, Bilateral and Plurilateral Approaches and their Security, Risk-reduction and Disarmament Implications’ submitted to the NPT Review Conference by NoFirstUse Global.
NoFirstUse Global is a network of organizations, academics, policy makers and civil society advocates working cooperatively for the adoption of no-first-use policies by nuclear-armed States, the support for such policies from nuclear allied countries, and the implementation of such policies to help achieve broader nuclear risk-reduction, non-proliferation and disarmament measures.