Maintaining the authority and effectiveness of the international nuclear non-proliferation regime is crucial amid the increasingly complex global security situation, said a senior Serbian researcher.
The 11th Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) is running from April 27 to May 22 at United Nations Headquarters in New York. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday called for renewed efforts to "breathe life into" the treaty.
Neven Cveticanin, principal research fellow at the Institute of Social Sciences in Belgrade, said in an interview with China Central Television that the NPT is facing numerous challenges, and the authority and effectiveness of the international nuclear non-proliferation system are being eroded.
"First is unfulfilled commitments from the past about non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. So this conference should discuss why all commitments from the past are not fulfilled. So this conference as well should address erosion of norms. Because we are witnessing at the moment erosion of norms of international law in general, but, as well, of the norms which defining non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. We are in a very sensitive geopolitical moment. So systematic instability to maybe a main threat, main challenge at the moment. So this conference should look for some kind of strategic stability, strategic common security, some kind of the shared security," he said.
Cveticanin expressed his hope that the current review conference could reach a consensus on nuclear disarmament, nuclear non-proliferation, and the peaceful use of nuclear energy, which are of great significance for maintaining regional and world peace and development.
"Expectations about this conference, it's to have productive discussions, sometimes very tough discussions, but that will be very useful and very positive. If we can approach common statement after conference, it was a good sign for the further diplomatic processes and negotiations. And if we understand the very nature of nuclear weapons, that is a tool or deterrence for the self-defense, and it will be not tool for fighting war or winning war because we cannot win a nuclear war. So I believe there is enough wisdom among top-lip diplomats and among leaders of the main powers for nuclear restraint," he said.
The NPT, signed in 1968 and effective since March 5, 1970, is the only treaty that contains legally binding commitments to pursuing nuclear disarmament. A total of 191 states have joined the treaty, including the five nuclear-weapon states, making the NPT the most widely adhered to multilateral disarmament agreement.
According to the NPT, a review conference is held every five years to assess the treaty's implementation.
Serbian researcher calls for maintaining authority of int'l nuclear non-proliferation regime
