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TOWARDS A NUCLEAR-WEAPON-FREE WORLD: THE CONTRIBUTION OF PARLIAMENTS

Resolution adopted by consensus* by the 130th IPU Assembly
(Geneva, 20 March 2014)


The 130th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,

Convinced of the need to achieve and maintain a nuclear-weapon-free world,

Affirming the key role of parliaments and parliamentarians in addressing nuclear risks and building the legislative and political framework needed to achieve a nuclear-weapon-free world,

Recalling previous IPU resolutions on the disarmament and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, in particular the resolution adopted by the 120th IPU Assembly (Addis Ababa, April 2009),

Noting with grave concern that more than 17,000 nuclear weapons exist worldwide, constituting a serious threat to international peace and security, and that any use of nuclear weapons, whether by accident, miscalculation or intent, would have devastating humanitarian and environmental consequences,

Welcoming the Conferences on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons held in Oslo, Norway, in 2013 and in Narayit, Mexico, in February 2014, and the conference to be held in Vienna, Austria, in 2014,

Underscoring the mutually reinforcing nature of nuclear disarmament and non‑proliferation,

Recognizing the importance of the 1968 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), which embodies the international consensus on the need to pursue the interrelated pillars of disarmament, non-proliferation and the peaceful use of nuclear energy,

Reaffirming that all States must ensure compliance with their nuclear disarmament and non‑proliferation obligations, especially those under the Non-Proliferation Treaty,

Also reaffirming the nuclear disarmament obligations of nuclear-weapon States under Article VI of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, notably to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to urgent cessation of the nuclear arms race and to nuclear disarmament, and the obligation of all NPT States Parties to pursue negotiations on general and complete disarmament,

Mindful of the 64-point Action Plan adopted by the 2010 NPT Review Conference, which, inter alia, “calls on all nuclear-weapon States to undertake concrete disarmament efforts and affirms that all States need to make special efforts to establish the necessary framework to achieve and maintain a world without nuclear weapons”,

Noting its strong support for the essential work of the International Atomic Energy Agency and for the universal implementation of its system of safeguard agreements and their additional protocols as essential tools for strengthening the non-proliferation regime,

Also noting its strong support for the work of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization and its monitoring system,

Further noting the partial contribution made by unilateral and bilateral disarmament initiatives, reaffirming the continued importance and relevance of multilateral frameworks and action, and underlining the urgent need for progress,

Noting the United Nations Secretary-General’s five-point proposal for nuclear disarmament and his address on nuclear disarmament, of the opening Public Plenary of the Conference on Disarmament, held on 21 January 2014,

Also noting the New START Treaty and efforts made by the Russian Federation and the United States of America to implement it,

Affirming the key role of the Conference on Disarmament in the negotiation of multilateral agreements to achieve a nuclear-weapon-free world,

Acknowledging the significant contribution made by a number of countries to realizing the objective of nuclear disarmament by establishing nuclear-weapon-free zones and voluntarily renouncing nuclear weapon programmes or withdrawing all nuclear weapons from their territories,

Affirming that all States must ensure unconditional respect for such nuclear-weapon-free zones,

Welcoming the first ever High-Level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on Nuclear Disarmament, held on 26 September 2013,

Encouraged by the emergence of other multilateral initiatives, including the United Nations General Assembly’s decision to establish a group of governmental experts to begin discussion of possible elements of a fissile material cut-off treaty and to set up the United Nations Open-ended Working Group to develop proposals to take forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations,

Welcoming the Geneva interim agreement of 24 November 2013 between the Islamic Republic of Iran, on the one hand, and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany, on the other, which paves the way for the gradual lifting of economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic in exchange for an in-depth review of its nuclear programme; inviting all the parties to the agreement to apply all its provisions faithfully and speedily,

Determined to work with governments and civil society to generate and mobilize the political will needed to achieve a world without nuclear weapons,

  1. Calls on all Member Parliaments and parliamentarians to promote nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation as objectives of the highest priority and urgency;
  2. Encourages parliamentarians to engage in dialogue and to build multiparty networks and coalitions at all levels in the pursuit of nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation;
  3. Appeals to parliamentarians to educate citizens and raise awareness about the continuing dangers of nuclear weapons and the need for and benefits of their total elimination;
  4. Calls on all parliamentarians to promote and commemorate the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons each year on 26 September, in accordance with United Nations General Assembly resolution 68/32;
  5. Calls on parliaments to encourage their governments to advance the goal of a sustainable nuclear-weapon-free world in all appropriate international forums and treaty bodies and to take the necessary concrete steps to that end;
  6. Calls for the universalization of the Non-Proliferation Treaty and appeals to parliaments to ensure that States that have not signed and ratified the Treaty do so without further delay or any conditions;
  7. Highlights the importance of securing the entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, and urges those States identified in Annex 2 of the Treaty, in particular nuclear weapon States, that have not yet done so to accelerate the process of signing and ratifying it, as a matter of priority and an indication of their political will and commitment to international peace and security, and in the meantime to respect their moratoria on nuclear tests;
  8. Calls on all States to refrain from conducting any kind of nuclear weapon test;
  9. Stresses the need for parliamentarians to work with their governments to ensure full compliance with all provisions of the Non-Proliferation Treaty and all commitments under the 2000 NPT Review Conference (the 13 practical steps) and the 2010 NPT Review Conference (the Action Plan);
  10. Calls on parliaments to work together and with governments and civil society to build momentum for a constructive NPT Review Conference in 2015;
  11. Urges parliaments to strengthen the safety of all nuclear materials, including those intended for military use, notably by monitoring the implementation of United Nations Security Council resolution 1540 (2004), and by ensuring the ratification of relevant multilateral treaties such as the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism and the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material and its 2005 Amendment;
  12. Calls on parliaments in States that have not yet done so to bring into force, as soon as possilbe, a comprehensive safeguards agreement and additional protocol, which, together, constitute essential elements of the International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards system;
  13. Calls on parliamentarians to use all available tools, including committees, closely to monitor national implementation of the above commitments, including by scrutinizing legislation, budgets and progress reports;
  14. Recommends that parliaments urge their governments to start negotiations on a nuclear weapons convention or on a package of agreements to help achieve a nuclear-weapon-free world, as outlined in the United Nations Secretary-General’s five‑point proposal and noted in the 2010 NPT Review Conference Action Plan;
  15. Also recommends that parliaments urge their governments to start multilateral negotiations on a verifiable, robust, non-discriminatory and multilateral treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices;
  16. Encourages parliaments in States possessing nuclear weapons to demand, in keeping with Article VI of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, deeper and faster action on disarmament and increased transparency from their governments in relation to nuclear weapons arsenals, stockpiled fissile material, and information on related programmes and spending
  17. Invites parliaments, pending a fissile material cut-off treaty, to encourage their governments who have not yet done so to establish a moratorium on the production of fissile material by unilaterally ceasing such production and dismantling their production facilities;
  18. Encourages parliaments to work with their governments in the pursuit of confidence-building measures, including by eliminating the role of nuclear weapons in security doctrines and policies;
  19. Also encourages the parliaments of nuclear-weapon-possessing States to demand, in accordance with Action 5(e) of the Final Document of the 2010 NPT Review Conference, a reduction in the operational status of nuclear weapons;
  20. Further encourages parliaments to strengthen existing nuclear-weapon-free zones and to support their expansion and the establishment of new zones;
  21. Calls on parliamentarians to support the convening, at the earliest possible date, of a conference for a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction, to be attended by all States in the region on the basis of arrangements freely arrived at;
  22. Urges parliaments to demand the return to substantive work of the United Nations Conference on Disarmament;
  23. Reiterates the need to reach an early agreement in the Conference on Disarmament on an effective, universal, unconditional and legally binding instrument in order to give assurances to non-nuclear States regarding the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons;
  24. Calls on parliamentarians to use the IPU as a global forum to focus political attention on the need for effective, verifiable and irreversible nuclear disarmament, and on concrete and practical actions that can be taken in the immediate future to advance this goal.

* The delegation of the Russian Federation expressed reservations on operative paragraphs 1 and 2. The delegation of India expressed reservations on operative paragraphs 6, 7 and 17. The delegation of the Islamic Republic of Iran expressed reservations on preambular paragraphs 11 and 21 and on operative paragraphs 11, 12 and 15. The delegation of Pakistan expressed reservations on preambular paragraphs 7, 10 and 20 and on operative paragraphs 6, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17 and 19.

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