New Resource Guide on Proposals to Strengthen the Nuclear Nonproliferation
Treaty
For Immediate Release: April 15, 2005
Press Contacts: Daryl
G. Kimball, (202) 463-8270 x107; Claire
Applegarth (202) 463-8270 x103; Rhianna Tyson (212) 682-1265
(Washington, D.C.): The Washington-based Arms Control Association (ACA)
has published a 50-page comprehensive guide on "Major Proposals
to Strengthen the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty," which is now
available online. The report, which is co-written by ACA research fellow
Claire Applegarth and Reaching Critical Will project director Rhianna
Tyson, describes key government proposals in 14 areas relating to the
global nuclear nonproliferation system and analyzes the positions of
major states and blocs on the proposals.
The report provides an a summary of significant proposals on the eve
of the May 2-27 nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference
at UN headquarters in New York. The conference will bring together representatives
from over 180 governments to review implementation of and compliance
with their mutual obligations and commitments under the 1968 treaty.
The NPT codifies one of the most important international security bargains
of all time: states without nuclear weapons pledge not to acquire them,
while nuclear-armed states commit to eventually give them up. At the
same time, the NPT allows for the peaceful use of nuclear technology
under strict and verifiable control.
The NPT has made the world safer by significantly raising the political
costs of developing nuclear weapons. It has also created a global consensus
against the acquisition, modernization, trade, and use of nuclear weapons.
Yet today, 35 years after the treaty entered into force, the nonproliferation
regime is under serious strain. The NPT is not broken, but it must be
strengthened if past successes are to be preserved and if today's and
future proliferation threats are to be rolled back. The future viability
and success of the NPT depends on universal compliance with tighter
rules to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, more effective regional
security strategies, and renewed progress toward fulfillment of the
nuclear-weapon states' NPT disarmament obligations.
"Our study, 'Major Proposals to Strengthen the NPT,' demonstrates
that there is widespread agreement among world leaders that the nonproliferation
system must be reinforced, but it is also clear that there are significant
differences as to how to achieve that goal," said report co-author
and Herbert Scoville Peace Fellow Claire Applegarth.
"The 2005 NPT Review Conference is a vital opportunity for the
United States and the international community to recommit to the treaty's
goals and agree to a comprehensive and balanced program of action
on nonproliferation and disarmament. It is an opportunity that we
cannot afford to squander," noted Daryl Kimball, executive director
of the Arms Control Association and co-chair of the Campaign to
Strengthen the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
The full copy of the report is available in PDF format at <http://www.armscontrol.org/pdf/NPTRevConf2005_MajorProposals.pdf>
Further information about the 2005 NPT Review Conference is available
through the Web site of the Campaign to Strengthen the NPT
<http://www.NPT2005.org>.
For daily updates and statements from the NPT Review Conference, visit
the Web site of Reaching Critical Will, a project of the Women's International
League for Peace and Freedom, and Campaign partner <http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/npt/nptindex1.html>.
To sign up for further alerts on the NPT, see ACA's Web site <http://www.armscontrol.org>
# # #
The Campaign to Strengthen the NPT is a joint effort of the
Arms Control Association and the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace and is designed to provide the public, journalists, and policymakers
with the latest and best information about the NPT, the challenges
it faces, and leading proposals to make it stronger and more effective.
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