The Current Problems of the NPT: How to Strengthen the Non-Proliferation Regime

Abstract

With the ‘world without nuclear weapons’ speech by President Obama and the other moves, indications are good for the next Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference. Progress has to be made on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), the proposed fissile materials cut-off treaty (FMCT), Negative Security Assurance (NSA), and reducing the role of nuclear weapons. On the non-proliferation side, the Additional Protocol must be made a standard, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) strengthened, and NPT withdrawal acted on decisively. To avoid the threat of nuclear terrorism, a series of measures has to be applied with perseverance. The only realistic way to address the Middle East question is to proceed in parallel on regional peace and the region free of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).