{"id":8827,"date":"2025-06-01T01:27:49","date_gmt":"2025-05-31T16:27:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/?p=8827"},"modified":"2025-06-05T17:39:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T08:39:10","slug":"agenda-for-nuclear-non-proliferation-review-conference-still-unclear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/sdgs-2\/agenda-for-nuclear-non-proliferation-review-conference-still-unclear\/","title":{"rendered":"Agenda for Nuclear Non-Proliferation Review Conference Still Unclear"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Naureen Hossain<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NEW YORK (IPS)\u00a0<\/strong>– The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons must not be allowed to collapse under the weight of geopolitical cynicism, the preparatory committee at the UN heard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, the Third Session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2026 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (<\/a>NPT) (April 28-May 9) was intended to address procedural issues related to the treaty and the upcoming conference next year. The meeting was the third and final preparatory session before the review conference next year. As such, the session was an opportunity for countries to reaffirm the principles of the NPT by agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout the two weeks, delegations expressed their positions and deliberated over recommendations that would shape the agenda for the 2026 conference. Beyond member states, other stakeholders such as civil society groups were emphatic in expressing the urgency of the nuclear issue and calling for member states to take action.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"ICAN\"
ICAN<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cThe continued existence of nuclear weapons remains one of the most urgent and existential dangers facing life on this planet,\u201d said Florian Eblenkamp, an advocacy officer for the International Coalition Against Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). He went further to state, \u201cThe non-proliferation norm must not be allowed to collapse under the weight of geopolitical cynicism. If the NPT is to have a future, States Parties must send an unambiguous signal: Nuclear weapons are not to be spread. Not to be shared. Not to be normalized.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The committee\u2019s chair, Ambassador Harold Agyeman, who serves as the Permanent Representative of Ghana to the United Nations, told reporters early on that the success of the review conference in 2026 would be \u201cdependent on the political will of state parties\u201d in demonstrating progress on their obligations of the treaty and to \u201cstrengthen accountability for the related implementation of existing commitments.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIndeed, many around the world are concerned by the lack of raw progress on nuclear disarmament, and emerging proliferations risk that could undermine the hard-won norms established to bring about a world free of nuclear weapons and a regime to achieve that goal,\u201d said Agyeman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The third preparatory session took place in a time of increasing global anxiety over nuclear proliferation and even escalation. The most recent conflict between India and Pakistan has the world on edge that two nuclear powers might engage in war<\/a>. Since April, Iran and the United States have been in negotiations<\/a> over a new nuclear deal, which at times has seen both sides at a deadlock<\/a> over limiting Iran\u2019s nuclear programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"UN
UN Headquarters\/ Katsuhiro Asagiri<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Given that context, plus pre-existing tensions between other global powers, such as Russia and the war in Ukraine, this session was an opportunity for countries to act with urgency towards non-proliferation and to respect their obligations under the NPT. By the end of the conference, however, it seemed no agreement was reached. Revised recommendations for the review conference failed to reach consensus. This continues a concerning pattern of preparatory meetings that also failed<\/a> to adopt an outcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the meeting reached its conclusion on May 9, delegations expressed regret that the draft agreement did not reach consensus. \u201cWe regret that the desired breakthrough on transparency and accountability in the context of the strengthened due process was not reached,\u201d said one delegate from Egypt. \u201cThe discussion was mature and based itself on mutual respect and commitment to multilateralism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many delegations made sure to reaffirm their commitment to the NPT and to strengthening the review process. Yet there was also a recurring acknowledgement of the \u201ccomplex geopolitical situation\u201d that presented a challenge in reaching consensus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Civil society organizations have also been vocal in their disappointment at the lack of agreement or outcome document. ICAN stated<\/a> that the lack of an agreement reflected a \u201chorrifying lack of urgency in response to current risks.\u201d Reaching Critical Will<\/a> went further to criticize nuclear-armed states for refusing to comply with international law and their obligations to the NPT, which calls for them to eliminate nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Ambassador Dang Hoang Giang, Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the United Nations. \/ UN Photo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The NPT Review Conference (RevCon) is expected to be held in New York from 27 April to 22 May 2026. The PrepComm nominated<\/a> Vietnam to chair the RevCon. Ambassador Dang Hoang Giang, Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the United Nations, stated that the presidency would be \u201ccharacterized by inclusive, transparent, and balanced proceedings\u201d that would ensure that the perspectives and interests of all state parties would be respected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe road ahead will be challenging, but we remain confident that through collective wisdom and shared determination, meaningful progress is not only possible but achievable. A robust and effective treaty ensures a safer and more secure work for everyone,\u201d said Giang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The presence\u2014and threat\u2014of nuclear weapons looms large. For good reason, they cannot simply be relegated to history as a relic of hubris and ambition when we can observe their influence in modern geopolitics. If the spirit for nuclear nonproliferation is indeed still there, then the international community must be vigilant in advocating for the NPT and other disarmament treaties, rather than let a small percentage of parties dictate the global agenda. This must be an ongoing process, lest we see the continued undermining of nonproliferation and multilateralism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note:<\/strong> This article is brought to you by IPS Noram in collaboration with INPS Japan and Soka Gakkai International<\/a> in consultative status with ECOSOC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

INPS Japan\/ IPS UN Bureau Report<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Naureen Hossain NEW YORK (IPS)\u00a0– The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons must not be allowed to collapse under the weight of geopolitical cynicism, the preparatory committee at the UN heard. This year, the Third Session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2026 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8828,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,56,16,93,32,3,22],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8827","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-global-regions","8":"category-goal16","9":"category-news","10":"category-politics","11":"category-regions","12":"category-sdgs-2","13":"category-un-civil-society"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8827"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8838,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8827\/revisions\/8838"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}