A multilateral treaty signed in 1968 and which came into force on March 5, 1970. Its reach is almost universal: it has been ratified by 189 of the 193 Member States of the United Nations, including the 27 Member States of the Union European. The NPT is not a disarmament treaty. Its objective is to fight against nuclear ‘proliferation’: a question of preventing atomic weapons spreading to a growing number of countries across the world.
The NPT makes a distinction between:
- Non Nuclear Weapons States (NNWS) and
- Nuclear Weapons States (NWS), in other words those which have exploded a nuclear weapon (or device) before January 1, 1967, or the United States, the Soviet Union (today, the Russian Federation), the United Kingdom, France and China. These 5 countries are in addition the 5 permanent members of the UN’s Security Council.
This discrimination appears paradoxical, notably because of the fact that nine countries, and not five, currently have available a confirmed nuclear armoury. These four ‘extra’ states are Israel, India and Pakistan (none of which are NPT members) and North Korea, which withdrew from the NPT in 2003, a withdrawal the details of which is still disputed.
The basic principles of the NPT:
- the NWS (United States, Russia, United Kingdom, France, China) are committed to neither transferring nuclear weapons to the NNWS, nor aiding them to acquire them.
- the NNWS commit themselves to not accept the transfer of nuclear weapons and to not try to procure or build them.
In return, the NPT recognises the right of each State which is a treaty signatory to develop research, production and the use of nuclear energy for peaceful ends, such as the production of electricity or medical radio-isotopes. It authorises the NWS to help the NNWS in this respect. The NPT charges the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to monitor the peaceful use nuclear material in the NNWS who have signed the treaty. Following the discovery of the Iraqi clandestine nuclear armament programmes, in 1991, the IAEA’s programme of guarantees was reinforced, to give heightened precision and scope to the Agency’s verifications, in order to increase the effectiveness of the nuclear non-proliferation system.
In addition the NWS grant security safeguards to the NNWS, both positive and negative. Positive: the NWS are committed to come to the aid of the NNWS who are part of the Treaty and who are subject to a nuclear threat. Negative: no nuclear use or threat on the part of the NWS against the NNWS.
Whilst imperfect and discriminatory between the NWS and the NNWS, the NPT has strongly contributed to establishing a general climate of disapproval concerning the acquisition of nuclear weapons. It has in effect defined a recognised international standard, through which the activities of the national actors are evaluated, even if the latter do not subscribe to the principle of nuclear abstinence. Despite its weaknesses the NPT still appears as the instrument which has prevented and continues to prevent the development of nuclear weapons in numerous countries, doubtless more through its simple existence than by the obligations it contains.