In news- In NPT review China, Russia, U.S., U.K., and France recently pledged on Monday to prevent atomic weapons from spreading and to avoid nuclear conflict.
About NPT 1970-
- The NPT is a landmark international treaty whose objective is
- To prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology.
- To promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
- To further the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament and general and complete disarmament.
- The Treaty represents the only binding commitment in a multilateral treaty to the goal of disarmament by the nuclear-weapon States.
- The treaty defines nuclear-weapon states as those that have built and tested a nuclear explosive device before 1 January 1967.
- A total of 191 States have joined the Treaty, including the five nuclear-weapon States (China, France, Russia, the UK and the US).
- More countries have ratified the NPT than any other arms limitation and disarmament agreement.
- It was designed to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, to further the goals of nuclear disarmament and general and complete disarmament, and to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
- The treaty mentions prohibitions against the development, testing, production, stockpiling, stationing, transfer, use, and threat of use of nuclear weapons, as well as against assistance and encouragement to the prohibited activities.
- It sets out general procedures for negotiations with an individual nuclear-armed state becoming a party to the treaty, including time limits and responsibilities.
- Under the treaty, it obliges to environmental remediation and to assistance for the victims of the use and testing of nuclear weapons.
- It establishes a safeguards system under the responsibility of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
- The provisions of the Treaty, particularly article VIII, paragraph 3, envisage a review of the operation of the Treaty every five years, a provision which was reaffirmed by the States parties at the 1995 NPT Review and Extension Conference.
- The 2015 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, ended without the adoption of a consensus substantive outcome.
Note: Four UN member states have never accepted the NPT, three of which possess or are thought to possess nuclear weapons: India, Israel, and Pakistan. In addition, South Sudan, founded in 2011, has not joined.
Source: The Hindu
