Nuclear Weapons Convention submitted to United Nations by Costa Rica and Malaysia
In early December 2007, the governments of Costa Rica and Malaysia submitted a Model Nuclear Weapons Convention (NWC) to the United Nations General Assembly in order to assist deliberations that would lead to the conclusion of such a treaty. Costa Rica submitted the NWC a first time to the state parties to the NPT PrepCom in May 2007.
The Model NWC prohibits the use, threat of use, possession, development, testing, deployment and transfer of nuclear weapons and provides a phased program for their elimination under effective international control.
A Nuclear Weapons Convention will provide for the elimination of nuclear weapons in much the same way comparable treaties have banned landmines and chemical and biological weapons.
The Model NWC is an updated version of a similar Model NWC submitted to the UN in 1997 and circulated by the UN as Doc A/C.1/52/7. It is available in official UN languages English, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Chinese and French. It demonstrates the feasibility of the abolition and elimination of nuclear weapons and supports UN General Assembly resolutions calling for the commencement of negotiations that would conclude in such a treaty.
The updated version takes into consideration key developments since 1997 relevant to the development and implementation of mechanisms for nuclear abolition. These include the proliferation of nuclear weapons to new countries (India, Pakistan and North Korea), the increased potential for black-market and non-State actor access to nuclear materials, the establishment of relevant criminal controls through UN Security Council resolution 1540, technological developments relevant to verification, and the establishment of new Nuclear Weapon Free Zones (Mongolia and Central Asia).
Parliamentary launches of Securing our Survival
The book Securing our Survival: The Case for a Nuclear Weapons Convention - published by IALANA, IPPNW and INESAP – advances the necessity and feasibility of an international treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons, considers how such a treaty would be verified and enforced, examines the security requirements for a nuclear weapons free world, and discusses key questions such as how to deal with break-out and how to prevent diversion of nuclear materials for weapons purposes.
The book was released at the 2007 Conference of States Parties to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (a prep com for the 2010 NPT Review Conference) and has subsequently had national launches in Malaysia, India, Norway, New Zealand, Australia and Canada – the last three of which were done in the national parliaments.
The book launches have generated high-level and cross-party support for the campaign to achieve a nuclear weapons convention.
High level support for Securing our Survival and the Nuclear Weapons Convention.
Over 125 countries - including nuclear-weapons-possessing countries China, India, Pakistan and North Korea - regularly vote for the UN resolution calling for negotiations that would culminate in a NWC.
In addition, in 2007 the Nuclear Weapons Convention and the book Securing our Survival received specific high-level and cross-party support from around the world including from conservative former Prime Ministers Malcolm Fraser (Australia) and Jim Bolger (New Zealand); Nobel Peace Laureates including Mairead Macguire; United Nations officials including Sergio Duarte, UN High Representative on Disarmament; military leaders including Romeo Dallaire former Commander of UN Forces in Rwanda; parliamentarians and civil society leaders including Mayor Akiba of Hiroshima.
More information about the Nuclear Weapons Convention
More information about the Nuclear Weapons Convention (Pdf)
