GSN reports: Countries participating in the 2010 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty review conference on Friday proposed convening an international meeting in four years to establish a time line for ridding the world of nuclear weapons, the Associated Press reported. The preliminary agreement outlines 26 steps for pursuing the abolition of nuclear weapons and avoiding conflict once global nuclear disarmament is achieved, Agence France-Presse reported. The plan, formulated by Zimbabwean Ambassador to the United Nations Boniface Chidyausiku, calls for an initial meeting next year aimed at expediting the disarmament process. The document also seeks pledges from nuclear-armed nations to halt further modernization of their nuclear arsenals; enter the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty into force; ban further production of fissile material for nuclear weapons; declare existing nuclear-weapon fuel; and establish a process for removing fissile material from all nuclear weapons under U.N. supervision.

To read the new treaty and the protocol, please click here.

The NPT is a landmark international treaty whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and to further the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament and general and complete disarmament. The NPT represents the only binding commitment in a multilateral treaty to the goal of disarmament by the nuclear-weapon States.

The Center for Nonproliferation Studies of the Monterey Institute have produced a very useful resource on everything one needs to know about the NPT (Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty). To read the full text or download a pdf file, please click here.