The Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT)

Why the NPT is crucial to the future of nuclear disarmament

Nakamitsu Izumi, UN Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, issued a clear and unequivocal warning last Friday in Tokyo: a new failure to reach an agreement could lead to the NPT becoming "empty."

The two previous review conferences failed to adopt any final document . A third consecutive failure would risk reducing the treaty to mere "words on paper," depriving it of the political and moral force that has made it a fundamental instrument of nuclear governance for decades.

The context: a new nuclear arms race

The conference opens at a moment of extraordinary geopolitical gravity. The New START Treaty, the last binding agreement between the United States and Russia on the reduction of strategic nuclear weapons, expired in February 2026, without any replacement agreement having been signed. The world's two leading nuclear powers now find themselves without any bilateral legal framework limiting their respective arsenals. This is a scenario not seen since the Cold War.

Added to this are growing tensions in various areas of the world, the nuclear programs of countries outside the NPT, and a more general erosion of multilateral trust that makes any negotiations more difficult.

And what's more, the INF Treaty on Euromissiles, a historic achievement of the 1980s, seems to have been abandoned.

What the world risks losing

The NPT, in force since 1970, represents the cornerstone of the international non-proliferation regime. It binds the five recognized nuclear-weapon states (the United States, Russia, China, France, and the United Kingdom) to the goal of disarmament, while committing the other signatories to not develop nuclear weapons in exchange for access to civilian nuclear technology. A treaty that "hollows out" does not formally disappear, but it loses its edge, credibility, and diplomatic deterrent power. The treaty is also the mainstay for establishing a nuclear disarmament strategy; let us remember that the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) explicitly provides for nuclear disarmament in its Article VI .

The sixth article

Article VI states: "Each of the Contracting Parties undertakes to pursue in good faith negotiations on effective measures for the cessation of the nuclear arms race to the maximum extent possible and on nuclear disarmament, and to adopt a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and honest international control."

This article represents the third pillar of the NPT (along with non-proliferation and the peaceful uses of nuclear energy), binding the nuclear-weapon states (USA, Russia, UK, France, China) to negotiate the reduction and elimination of their nuclear arsenals.

For peace movements, civil society organizations, and non-nuclear-weapon states, the NPT remains an imperfect but irreplaceable instrument. Its weakening would pave the way for uncontrolled proliferation with unpredictable consequences.

What is unacceptable

It is unacceptable that nuclear powers continue to modernize their arsenals while the legal framework for disarmament crumbles piece by piece.

The review conference must adopt a concrete final document, with verifiable commitments and defined deadlines. The UN has stated that it will push vigorously for consensus: civil society must do its part, maintaining high public and political pressure.