Commence good faith negotiations to
achieve a Nuclear Weapons Convention
by David Krieger and Carah Ong, April 2002

In 1996 the International Court of Justice unanimously concluded that, based on Article VI of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), "There exists an obligation to pursue in good faith and bring to a conclusion negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament in all its aspects under strict and effective international control." The Court signaled that obligations under international law require that the era of nuclear arms control must give way to the era of complete nuclear disarmament.

A Nuclear Weapons Convention would prohibit the possession, development, testing, production, stockpiling, deployment, transferring, acquisition, use and threat of use of nuclear weapons. It would require all nuclear weapons states to eliminate existing stockpiles in a timebound framework with effective verification, safeguard and compliance measures. In November 1997, Costa Rica submitted to the United Nations a Model Nuclear Weapons Convention drafted by an international consortium of lawyers, scientists and disarmament experts. In response, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for negotiations leading to the conclusion of a Nuclear Weapons Convention.

As public opinion polls conducted in 1997 and 1998 in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Holland, Japan, Norway, the UK and the US strongly indicated, there is overwhelming public support for a Nuclear Weapons Convention. There is also a growing number of governments and government officials worldwide who support it. The lack of political will from the leaders of the nuclear weapons states presents the greatest challenge to achieving a Nuclear Weapons Convention.

Commencing good faith negotiations with the aim of achieving a Nuclear Weapons Convention would be the best way for nuclear weapons states to demonstrate their commitment to the obligation to unequivocally undertake the complete elimination of nuclear weapons.

"A convention on the comprehensive ban of nuclear weapons should be negotiated. Since biological and chemical weapons have been prohibited, there is no reason why nuclear weapons, which are more destructive, should not be comprehensively banned and thoroughly destroyed. All it takes to reach this objective is strong political will."

-Jiang Zemin, President of the People's Republic of China, June 1999