A global conference to tighten controls on the spread of nuclear arms ended on 27-5-2005, with no action plan to offer at a time of mounting nuclear tension in the world.
The month-long 188-nation meeting produced divisive debates over issues ranging from ‘Iran’s uranium centrifuge to US weapons plans.
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But it yielded no consensus recommendations for concrete steps to rein in atomic arms. At best, adopted a brief statement endorsing non-proliferation principles.
The members of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty convene only once every five years to assess the working of the 1970 Treaty and find ways to make it work better. The meetings are intended to seek political commitments that support non-proliferation initiatives.
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Under the 1970 nuclear pact, countries without atomic arms pledged not to develop them and the five countries that had nuclear weapons then – the United States, USSR, Britain, France and China – undertook to eliminate their arsenals, eventually countries without atomic weapons, meanwhile, were guaranteed access to peaceful nuclear technology.
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Citing that guarantee, Iran obtained not only uranium-enrichment centrifuges which can produce fuel for nuclear power plants, but also material for bombs. Washington contends that Iran plans to build weapons, but the Iranians say they are interested only in peaceful energy.
Disarmament 09:
US and Russian negotiators held preliminary talks on April 24, 2009 in Rome on negotiating a new treaty to reduce the respective states’ armories of nuclear weapons. The objective was to produce a new treaty in time to replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) of 1991 (US- Soviet Summit), which expired in December. The USA deployed some 2,200 strategic nuclear warheads, Russia about 2,800.
Disarmament:
The UN Security Council on Sept. 24, 09 at only the fifth summit meeting in the history of the Council, chaired by US President Barack Obama (USA), unanimously adopted Resolution 1887 (2009) voicing grave concern about the threat of nuclear proliferation, stressing the need for global action by all member states to prevent proliferation, and affirming its commitment to the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons.
The Council reaffirmed its commitment to the UN Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which was scheduled for review in April-May 2010, and recalled the final document of the NPT review conference of 2000. The Council reaffirmed previous nuclear resolutions, including those relating to the suspected development of nuclear weapons by Iran and North Korea.