What is the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons? Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, also known as Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is an international treaty adopted on 12 June 1968 and entered into force on 5 March 1970.

The NPT contains 11 articles in which all of it is surrounded with 3 main objectives:

1. to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology

2. to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses if nuclear energy

3. to further the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament and general and complete disarmament

The establishment of the NPT can be traced back to 17 October 1958, when Ireland’s Minister for External Affairs, Frank Aiken, introduced a draft resolution in the First Committee of the Assembly during the 13th session of the United Nations General Assembly. It was the emergence of nuclear non-proliferation as a prominent discussion.

Between 1959 and 1967, the General Assembly passed several resolutions calling on the Conference of the Eighteen Nation Disarmament Committee (ENDC) to prioritize the negotiation of an international instrument to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons. On 12 June 1968, the General Assembly adopted resolution 2373 (XXII), requesting that the NPT be opened for signature and ratification as soon as possible. Hence, the NPT had opened for signature on 1 July 1968 and went into force on 5 March 1970.

A conference was held in Geneva, Switzerland from 5 until 30 May 1975 to review the operation of the Treaty, as stated in Article VIII. Since then, every five years, Review Conferences have been held as a tradition. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Review Conference was postponed until 2022.

According to Article X of the treaty, a conference must be held 25 years after NPT enters into force, to decide whether the NPT should be continued indefinitely or extended for an additional fixed period. In the Review and Extension Conference on May 11, 1995, all Treaty Parties unanimously agreed to extend the NPT's duration indefinitely.

Malaysia had already been one of the Signatory States when the NPT opened for signature, which was on 1 July 1968. During the 2020 NPT Review Conference, Malaysia also made an announcement to reaffirm commitment to NPT in order to build a world free of nuclear weapons. In the event, Malaysia's ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs stated that the NPT remains the cornerstone of the international nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation architecture.

As for the year 2021, the cumulative number of Signatory States is 93 while the total number of States Parties is 191.

REFERENCES

Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Retrieved from https://legal.un.org/avl/ha/tnpt/tnpt.html

UNODA Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Retrieved from https://treaties.unoda.org/t/npt

Astro Arwani (2020). Malaysia reaffirms commitment to NPT in supporting nuclear disarmament. Retrieved from: https://www.astroawani.com/berita-malaysia/malaysia-reaffirms-commitment-npt-supporting-nuclear-disarmament-261965