Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT)

The international efforts to promote nuclear non-proliferation started after the World War II. At that time, there was only nuclear arsenal of the world in United States. A Baruch Plan was proposed in US in 1946 which recommended the verifiable dismantlement and destruction of the U.S. nuclear arsenal after all governments had cooperated successfully to accomplish two things:

• To establish an “international atomic development authority,” which would actually own and control all military-applicable nuclear materials and activities
• Creation of a system of automatic sanctions, which not even the U.N. Security Council, could veto,

The Baruch Plan could not see the light of the day because in United Nations, the Soviet Union planned to veto it in the Security Council. Later, President Eisenhower’s proposal led eventually to the creation of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in 1957.

By 1960s, four nations viz. United States, the Soviet Union, Britain and France had acquired nuclear weapons. In 1968, governments represented at the Eighteen Nation Disarmament Committee (ENDC) finished negotiations on the text of the NPT.  In June 1968, the U.N. General Assembly endorsed the NPT and in July 1968, the NPT opened for signature in Washington, London and Moscow. The NPT entered into force in March 1970.

Objectives

The objectives of the NPT are as follows:

• Prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology
• Promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy
• Nuclear disarmament.

The three objectives viz. non-proliferation, disarmament, and the right to peacefully use nuclear technology, are sometimes called three pillars of NPT.

Parties

The treaty entered into force in 1970 and in 1995 it was extended indefinitely.  It has 190 parties. All the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council are among its members. India, Pakistan & Israel have not signed the treaty. North Korea acceded to the NPT in 1985, then withdrew in 2003

Summary of Articles

This treaty is a small document with a Preamble and Eleven articles. Here is a brief summary, which would help you to understand the issues with it.

• Article 1: A Nuclear-weapon state party will not transfer of nuclear weapons or technology, directly or indirectly
• Article 2: A Non-nuclear weapon will not receive nuclear weapons or technology, directly or indirectly
• Article 3: A Non-nuclear state party undertakes to accept safeguards agreement with IAEA, so that IAEA can verify the fulfillment of its obligations
• Article 4: All parties have the right to develop research, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes without discrimination. All parties have rights to participate in exchange of equipment, materials and scientific and technological information for the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
• Article 5: Each party shall take appropriate measures to ensure the potential benefits from any peaceful applications of nuclear explosions will be made available to non-nuclear-weapon parties on non-discriminatory basis.
• Article 6: Each party will undertake to pursue the negotiations on effective measures relating to cessation of nuclear arms race.
• Article 7: Any group of states have right to conclude regional treaties to reassure absence of nuclear weapons in respective territories.
• Article 8: Amendment to the treaty may be proposed by any party. Amendment proposal will be first sent to depository country which shall circulate it to all parties, thereafter it should be acceptable to 1/3 parties and for amendment majority of the parties should pass it in a conference of all parties.
• Article 9: It shall be open to all states for signature. Any country may sign it any time. After signature, it must be ratified. Instruments of ratification and instruments of accession shall be deposited with the Governments USA, UK, USSR, which are called Depositary Governments.’
• Article 10:Every sovereign party has right to withdraw from the Treaty if it decides that extraordinary events, related to the subject matter of this Treaty, have jeopardized the supreme interests of its country.
• Article 11: This Treaty, the English, Russian, French, Spanish and Chinese texts of which are equally authentic, shall be deposited in the archives of the Depositary Governments.

The treaty is reviewed every five years in meetings called Review Conferences of the Parties to the Treaty of Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

Issues with NPT

The core philosophy of the NPT is that non-nuclear-weapon states agree never to acquire nuclear weapons and the Nuclear-weapon states in exchange agree to share the benefits of peaceful nuclear technology and to pursue nuclear disarmament aimed at the ultimate elimination of their nuclear arsenals. Further, the spread of enrichment and reprocessing capabilities are the “Achilles’ heel” of the nuclear non-proliferation regime, because what can be obtained for peaceful purposes may be mis-used for military purposes.  NPT is supplemented by some other regimes such as Nuclear Suppliers Group to make it difficult for non-nuclear states to acquire the capability to produce nuclear weapons.

Analysis: India’s Engagement with NPT

Successive governments in India have kept the same instance over Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) that India will “never” sign the treaty because its discriminatory. The same stance has been reiterated by current Indian Government also.  The five authorized nuclear weapons states still have around stockpiles of warheads and have shown a reluctance to disarm further, this is one major point raised by India. The reluctance of the nuclear parties to disarm themselves has angered some non-nuclear-weapon NPT signatories of the NPT. No current nuclear weapons state, can consider eliminating its last nuclear weapons without high confidence that other countries would not acquire them.

India does not sign the treaty because India argues that the NPT creates a club of “nuclear haves” and a larger group of “nuclear have-nots” by restricting the legal possession of nuclear weapons to those states that tested them before 1967, but the treaty never explains on what ethical grounds such a distinction is valid.

India has a no first use policy, a pledge not to use nuclear weapons unless first attacked by an adversary using nuclear weapons. India has also self-imposed a moratorium since 1998 on not to test the nuclear weapons. India has not signed the treaty not because of its lack of commitment for non-proliferation, but because it considers NPT as a flawed treaty which does not recognize the need for universal, non-discriminatory verification and treatment.