Final 2 Days of NPT Review Conference
Posted: 25th August 2022
Dear friends and colleagues,
States Parties to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which includes five nuclear weapons states and all non-nuclear states, are into the final two days of the four-week long 10th NPT Review Conference.
Negotiations now revolve around a draft final document that calls for a number of measures to lower the role of nuclear weapons in security doctrines, reduce the risk of nuclear war and advance the goal of nuclear disarmament.
One of the key issues is whether or not the nuclear weapon and allied states will agree to the call in the draft for the adoption of no-first-use (NFU) policies.
The importance of NFU policies to reduce risks of nuclear war and facilitate nuclear disarmament is outlined in the NoFirstUse Global working paper to the NPT No-first-use of nuclear weapons: An Exploration of Unilateral, Bilateral and Plurilateral Approaches and their Security, Risk-reduction and Disarmament Implications
A supporting campaign by NoFirstUse Global, Basel Peace Office and other NGOs has succeeded in getting the NFU call into the draft final document – the first time ever at an NPT Review Conference.
However, nuclear-weapon-states are taking action to have this call removed in order to keep open their options to launch a nuclear war, i.e. to use nuclear weapons first in a conflict.
“The nuclear weapon States 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; for nuclear weapon States this should include the adoption of no first use doctrines.”
Draft Final Document, 10th NPT Review Conference. NPT/CONF.2020/CRP.1
UK public supports no-first-use.
Government opposes it at the NPT Review Conference
One of the governments opposing the inclusion of no-first-use in the NPT final document is the United Kingdom.
Last Friday (August 19) the UK representative called for deletion of the reference to no-first-use in draft NPT text because the UK does not agree to such a policy. The UK government position is in direct contradiction to public, parliamentary and expert opinion in the UK supporting no-first-use.
A public survey undertaken by YouGov last month, for example, found that 79% of UK people (random sample of 1765 adults) support the adoption of no-first-use policies, while only 8% oppose such policies (12% have no opinion either way). For details see Anxiety about nuclear war escalates as the Doomsday Clock ticks closer to midnight, by Steve Barwick, Chair of the UK Nuclear Education Trust.
In addition, Rising nuclear risk, disarmament and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, a report prepared by the UK House of Commons Select Committee on International Relations in preparation for the NPT Review Conference, calls for the adoption of no-first-use policies
“The Government should consider clarifying its nuclear posture at the 2020 NPT Review Conference and encouraging other members of the P5 to take similar steps. This could include providing clearer negative security assurances, considering declarations of sole purpose and a no first use commitment, and further work on de-alerting. The objective should be to reduce the possibility of misperceptions and misunderstanding during a crisis.”
Rising nuclear risk, disarmament and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, a report prepared by the UK House of Commons Select Committee on International Relations. 24 April, 2019. Para 428.
Further support for NFU at the NPT Review Conference
The NoFirstUse Global call to the NPT Review Conference to support no-first-use policies was endorsed by over 1400 parliamentarians, religious leaders, academics/scientists, former military and political leaders, youth, leaders of civil society organizations and others in the Open Letter to the NPT: From Nuclear Threats to human security which was presented to the States Parties to the NPT at the plenary session on August 5. (Click here for PDF version with endorsers).
NPT delegations speaking in favour included the Holy See, representing the Vatican and the Pope (see See Statement by Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, Head of Delegation of the Holy See).
In addition, the NoFirstUse Global campaign, working in cooperation with Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament, managed to move the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, to call for no-first-use policies in the Birmingham Declaration adopted in July this year. The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly includes the parliaments of 57 countries including four nuclear armed states (France, Russia, UK and USA).
“The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly:
Reaffirms the Reagan–Gorbachev dictum that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought, and urges all nuclear-armed and allied States to implement this through no-first-use declarations and agreements, and by further reducing the role of nuclear weapons in security doctrines.”
Birmingham Declaration, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, July 6, 2022
Will NFU survive the counter-lobbying by nuclear weapon states?
Probably not. The final document requires consensus to be adopted, so nuclear weapon states could block its adoption unless the call for NFU policies is removed (China supports NFU but the others oppose).
However, even if nuclear states block the adoption of language supporting no-first-use in the final NPT document, the strong support for NFU at the NPT Review Conference has already elevated this policy proposal in capitals and in the international disarmament agenda. This increases the possibilities of NFU being taken up in other relevant UN bodies such as the UN General Assembly, UN Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, UN High Level Week, Conference on Disarmament and Human Rights Council, and that this growing global campaign will influence policy debates and change in the nuclear weapon states.