Strategic Panorama 2009 - 2010 - IEEE

The future of the nuclear non-proliferation regime: the 2010 NPT review conference
to keep and even modernise their nuclear arsenals, would not be considered
proliferating countries (20).
After more than three years of negotiations, the NPT was adopted
on 1 July 1968 with 95 votes in favour, 4 against and 21 abstentions
(among them Spain). The main objections put forward by countries like
India and Brazil were that the final text of the Treaty did not embody the
spirit of Resolution 2028 (XX), especially with respect to the «acceptable
balance of mutual responsibilities and obligations of the nuclear and nonnuclear
Powers». They accused Soviets and Americans of intentionally
omitting certain specific non-proliferation measures such as a limitation
on weapons and nuclear disarmament, both of which were considered
necessary in order to guarantee the security of the non-nuclear states,
thereby lessening the risk of horizontal nuclear proliferation.
CONTRIBUTION OF THE NPT TO NON-PROLIFERATION
The NPT entered into force on 5 March 1970 after being ratified by 40
states (as well as by the three depositories) and was joined by a growing
number of States Parties until 2003(21). With 189-190 States Parties
(depending on the inclusion in the list of North Korea, which withdrew
from the NPT on 10 January 2003(22)) it is furthermore one of the most
successful international treaties. Rarely in history have such a substantial
number of states been willing to refrain voluntarily from the military application
of nuclear energy through the signing of a multilateral treaty which
is also the basis of what many consider to be a markedly discriminatory
(20) With respect to this clause, special attention should be given to the statements made by
the Canadian ambassador Burns during the negotiation of the treaty in: Document of the
Conference of the Eighteen Nation Committee on Disarmament, ENDC/PV.228.
(21) The last two countries to ratify it were Cuba (2002) and East Timor (2003).
(22) Letter, dated January 10, 2003 by the North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the
French Presidency of the United Nations Security Council and the States Parties of
the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The withdrawal would be effective three months
following the notification, that is, from 10 April 2003, provided that it included a statement
of «extraordinary events, related to the subject matter of this Treaty, [which] have
jeopardized the supreme interests of its country» (article X.1), which North Korea did not
provide. In addition, according to international doctrine based on the Vienna Convention
on the Law of Treaties of 23 May 1969, impossibility of performance may not be invoked
by a party as a ground for terminating, withdrawing from or suspending the operation of
a treaty if the impossibility is the result of a breach by that party either of an obligation
under the treaty (article 61.2 of the Vienna Convention). Therefore, North Korea would
have continued to be a Party to the Treaty in respect of those actions related to its noncompliance
with the NPT before 10 January 2003.
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