Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Initiative Statement to the 2023 Preparatory Committee to the 11th NPT Review Conference

Check against delivery.

July 31, 2023

Vienna, Austria

1. We, the members of the Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Initiative (NPDI), Australia, Canada, Chile, Germany, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nigeria, the Philippines, Poland, Türkiye and the United Arab Emirates, reiterate our unwavering commitment to the full implementation of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). The NPDI offers its full support to you, Ambassador Viinanen, as Chair of this first preparatory committee of the 11th NPT review cycle. We stand ready to engage constructively with all NPT States parties and groupings to make this meeting a success.
2. As the cornerstone of the international disarmament and non-proliferation regime, the NPT is an essential element for international peace and security. We call on all states not yet party to the Treaty to accede to it immediately. The integrity of the Treaty must be maintained and its universality promoted.
3. As we approach this new Review Cycle, we must recognize that at the 2026 Review Conference it will have been 16 years since NPT States Parties found consensus on an outcome document. It is deeply regrettable a consensus was not achieved at the Tenth Review Conference. We urge all States Parties to work cooperatively, to honestly assess progress, and to advance our shared goal of a world free of nuclear weapons. Our efforts must be guided by the knowledge that the NPT continues to be instrumental in constraining nuclear proliferation, providing the indispensable framework for nuclear disarmament and guaranteeing the right of States parties to the use of nuclear technology for peaceful purposes and facilitating this access.
4. Since its founding in 2010, the NPDI has made practical recommendations across all three NPT pillars. The strength of the NPDI as a cross-regional group of states has been its ability to formulate proposals that reflect the shared ambitions of its diverse membership. This shows the spirit of multilateralism which imbues the NPDI’s efforts and which we consider essential to the success of this meeting and achieving Treaty objectives.
5. Nuclear-weapon States must uphold their commitments made in the January 3, 2022 statement of the Leaders of the Five Nuclear-Weapon States on Preventing Nuclear War and Avoiding Arms Races, which affirms that “a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.”
6. The ultimate goal of the international community and the NPT is to attain and maintain a world free of nuclear weapons. We remain deeply concerned about the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons. It is in the interest of all nations that nuclear weapons are never used again. Action must be taken to reduce nuclear risks, acknowledging that the only way to eliminate risks is through complete, verifiable and irreversible nuclear disarmament.
7. All NPT parties, but particularly the nuclear-weapon States, have a responsibility to implement obligations under Article VI of the NPT on disarmament – this obligation is integral to the Treaty. The NPDI calls on the nuclear-weapon States to ensure that the decrease in global nuclear arsenals be sustained and not reversed.
8. The NPDI remains a champion for increasing transparency as indispensable for nuclear disarmament. Enhanced transparency builds trust and confidence, facilitating further reductions in nuclear arsenals towards their total elimination. Strengthening NPT reporting and accountability mechanisms, including through the adoption of a standard reporting form is a useful tool in this regard. The NPDI is pleased to contribute a working paper on transparency and reporting.
9. The NPDI welcomes the fact that its recommendations were broadly referenced during the 2022 Review Conference, including the proposal to establish a working group on strengthening the NPT review process, which was adopted. It is regrettable that the working group could not agree on concrete recommendations to the PrepCom. However, the NPDI welcomes the discussions that took place last week and looks forward to continuing the substantive discussion.
10. The international security environment has not improved since we met just one year ago, and this state of affairs has serious consequences on the effective implementation of the NPT. Recalling UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/ES-11/6, as well as the NPDI Joint High-Level Statement of August 1, 2022, we remain gravely concerned by threats of use of nuclear weapons, announcements regarding deployment of Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus, and endangering nuclear facilities in Ukraine, in particular the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP). In this regard, we fully support the IAEA’s efforts to advance nuclear safety and security in Ukraine.
11. The NPDI recalls the importance of the New START Treaty to nuclear arms control, and, in this regard, we express our concern over Russia’s suspension of its participation in the Treaty. We underline the urgency of the timely resumption of the implementation of the treaty’s provisions to ongoing nuclear arms control.
12. The NPDI is committed to the goal of the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. The NPDI strongly condemns North Korea’s ongoing ballistic missile launches in violation of relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions. We strongly urge North Korea to fully comply with the NPT and IAEA safeguards and to dismantle all its nuclear weapons, other weapons of mass destruction, and ballistic missiles of all ranges in accordance with UNSC resolutions.
13. Iran’s escalation and its continued failure to implement its nuclear-related commitments under the JCPOA, including the expansion of its uranium enrichment programme beyond agreed limits, are deeply troubling. We call on Iran to respect its NPT obligations, return to the full implementation of the Additional Protocol and JCPOA-related transparency measures, and to cooperate fully and unconditionally with the IAEA to resolve outstanding safeguards issues in a complete and timely manner. We remain supportive of efforts towards the full implementation of the JCPOA by all parties.
14. The NPDI welcomes progress towards the universality of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), including three further ratifications since the 2022 Review Conference. We urge all states that have not yet ratified the CTBT to do so without delay, particularly the remaining eight states listed in Annex 2 to the treaty. We stress that the long overdue commencement of fissile material cut-off treaty negotiations remains an international priority, hindered only by a lack of sufficient political will.
15. The NPDI emphasizes the central role of the IAEA safeguards system in the non-proliferation regime. The IAEA comprehensive safeguards agreement (CSA), in combination with an additional protocol (AP) is the current international verification standard under Article III of the NPT. We urge states that have not yet done so to conclude and ratify without delay, both the CSA and AP.
16. The IAEA plays an essential role in assisting states to peacefully use nuclear energy and technology. This pillar of the NPT is crucial for addressing global challenges in support of sustainable development. The NPDI seeks to further improve safeguards, nuclear safety and security, and to ensure access to the benefits of nuclear energy and technology for peaceful uses.
17. To achieve our NPT goals, the NPDI underscores the importance of disarmament and non-proliferation education. We must continue to raise awareness of the realities of the use of nuclear weapons, including by visiting Hiroshima and Nagasaki and engaging with the hibakusha, as world leaders demonstrated in Hiroshima in May 2023.
18. The NPDI reiterates its commitment to the full implementation of the NPT and its ultimate objective of a world without nuclear weapons.