Pulham, Patricia

At the last NPT Review Conference in 2000, against all expectations, the 188 signatories, including the five acknowledged nuclear weapon states (NWS) agreed “an unequivocal undertaking by the NWS to accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals leading to nuclear disarmament” as one of the Thirteen Steps drawn up to implement the Treaty. As Brian Wicker of Pax Christi writes, “You have to be a very clever lawyer or politician not to recognise this as a promise.”