Читать книгу Disarmament and Decommissioning in the Nuclear Domain - Jean-Claude Amiard - Страница 22

Faced with the non-compliance of one of the pillars of the NPT, effective nuclear disarmament, the non-nuclear weapon states decided to start drafting a new treaty at the level of the UN General Assembly. This made it possible to bypass the undertakings of the five nuclear powers that were hindering this disarmament.

The International Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) was the first multilateral treaty on nuclear disarmament, open for signature in 1996, and is supported by a very large majority of UN member states. It was written by diplomats whose ambition was to both respect the mosaic of treaties that codify nuclear weapons (NPT, CTBT and the future FMCT), in accordance with the safeguarding system currently being formulated by the IAEA, and to move the international community towards a world without nuclear weapons [COL 18a].

In the last decade or so, nuclear weapons have been reclassified, thanks to the humanitarian initiative, as weapons with catastrophic humanitarian consequences. This has led to a change in consciousness. The illegality of nuclear weapons, as well as the illegality of the policy of threatening to use them, appears shocking to the states that possess them because they have not yet made their “moral revolution”. The rest of the world is now aware that the presence of these weapons is no longer acceptable and that they are generating growing insecurity, particularly because of their potential humanitarian, environmental and climatic impact at the global level [COL 18a].

On July 7, 2017, an International Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty was adopted at the UN. Approved by 122 states and ratified by 50 nations on October 24, 2020, it entered into force on January 22, 2021. Historically, this text will prohibit signatory countries from manufacturing, stockpiling or using nuclear weapons. Will the threat to use these weapons, i.e. the policy of deterrence, also become prohibited [SOR 18]?

It should be noted that many states are revising their policy on nuclear weapons. This is the case for the Vatican, for example. For many years, this state accepted nuclear deterrence as a “tragic illusion” (Paul VI, June 7, 1978), as “a step on the road to progressive disarmament, can still be considered morally acceptable” (John Paul II, June 7, 1982) or as “the prospect [of deterrence based on balance], apart from being fatal, is utterly fallacious” (Benedict XVI, January 1, 2006). Pope Francis, on the contrary, has a much stronger stance on rejecting the use of atomic weapons and balanced nuclear deterrence.

States that possess nuclear weapons, or support a policy of deterrence, can no longer afford to question their understanding of nuclear disarmament. The Nuclear Weapons Treaty offers them this opportunity. This norm of international law exists and is likely to enter into force around the 10th NPT Review Conference (scheduled for May 2020, although it has been postponed). The (non-exhaustive) proposals set out in Annex 1 offer some ideas on how to overcome some of the misunderstandings and demonstrate a common will among states to move forward together and create a world free of nuclear weapons [COL 18a].