Relevance: GS-2: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and Agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.

Key Phrases: TPNW, LTBT, NPT, CTBT, Rajiv Gandhi Action Plan, Nuclear Stockpile, WMDs.

Context

• It has been a month since the first meeting of parties to the U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).
• India and Pakistan (along with Israel) have separately rejected the potential of TPNW in ensuring nuclear disarmament.

What is Nuclear Disarmament?

• Nuclear Disarmament (ND) refers to the act of reducing, limiting or abolishing the nuclear weapons stockpile.
  • Complete Nuclear disarmament, which is being campaigned by India through Conference on Disarmament (formed in 1984), remains the ultimate goal.
• ND is different from non-proliferation which talks about restricting the nuclear stockpile to only a few nations and not allowing new countries to develop capabilities to build nuclear weapons.

Treaties Regarding Nuclear Weapons/ Nuclear Technologies

Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) 1970

• It is a multilateral treaty to limit the spread of nuclear weapons and aims to achieve
  • Non-proliferation
  • Disarmament
  • Peaceful use of nuclear energy
• It was signed in 1968 and entered into force in 1970.
• The articles of this treaty were debated and discussed at Committee on Disarmament.
• It divides the world into Nuclear ‘Haves’ and ‘Have-Nots’
  • Nuclear Weapons States (NWS) are those states that have manufactured and exploded a nuclear weapon or other nuclear explosive devices before 1 January 1967.
  • This qualifies following counties as the only 5 NWS:
    • China,
    • France,
    • Russia (erstwhile USSR),
    • The United Kingdom and
    • The United States of America
  • Non-nuclear Weapon States (NNWS) are instructed to not receive fissile materials and related technology (for production/ transfer of nuclear weapons).
• The treaty doesn’t prohibit countries to develop capabilities to undertake peaceful use of energy.
• Benefits
  • It has led to the establishment of Nuclear Weapons Free Zones (NWFZs)
    • Latin America - Treaty of Tlatelolco
    • Africa - Treaty of Pelindaba
    • Central Asia - Semipalatinsk Treaty
    • South-East Asia - Bangkok Treaty
    • South Pacific - Treaty of Rarotonga
• India has rejected NPT on the grounds that it is discriminatory on the basis of its approach.
  • The treaty has attained a near-universal status (187 Countries have signed this) with the pushback from India, Israel, Pakistan, and North Korea (it had signed the treaty but later withdrew).
  • NPT’s membership is considered a prerequisite for becoming part of NSG (Nuclear Suppliers Group).

Challenges of NPT

• Discriminatory approach by establishing the dichotomy of nuclear ‘Haves’ and ‘Have-Nots’ regarding the ability to possess nuclear weapons.
  • Critics claim that those who had the capabilities took the moral high ground to decide what is better for world peace.
  • It denies the sovereign power of other countries to choose their path to protect their national security.
• The difference in monitoring safeguards by IAEA
  • NWS will be subjected to ‘Voluntary’ Safeguards.
  • NNWS will be subjected to mandatory inspection by IAEA.
• The declaration for Peaceful use of nuclear energy is also one-sided because no country shares such technical knowledge free of cost.

Reasons for India to not sign the NPT

• Discriminatory in nature.
• India wasn’t consulted while formulating its objectives.
• No fixed timelines are reserved for disarmament.
• It is an unfair treaty as NWS aren’t obligated to proceed to attain compulsory nuclear disarmament and NNWS are not allowed to even attain the capability to conduct the tests to attain strategic deterrence.

Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT)

• The Conference on Disarmament (CD) began its substantive negotiations on a CTBT in January 1994. It was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1996. The Treaty inter-alia intends to ban all nuclear explosions - everywhere, by everyone. It was opened for signature in 1996.
  • A comprehensive test ban has been defined as a “zero yield” test ban that would prohibit supercritical hydro-nuclear tests but not sub-critical hydrodynamic nuclear tests.
  • Hydronuclear tests study nuclear materials under the conditions of explosive shock compression. Their yield ranges from negligible all the way up to a substantial fraction of full weapon.
  • Subcritical (or cold) tests are types of tests involving nuclear materials and possibly high-explosives that purposely result in no yield.
• The Treaty will enter into force after all 44 States listed in Annex 2 to the Treaty will ratify it. These States had nuclear facilities at the time the Treaty was negotiated and adopted.
• Currently, the treaty has 184 signatories and 168 ratifications, though it still will not enter into force until eight key States, including the United States, ratify it.
• The following eight Article XIV states have not yet ratified the treaty:
  • China,
  • Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea),
  • Egypt,
  • India,
  • Islamic Republic of Iran,
  • Israel,
  • Pakistan and
  • The United States of America
• India, North Korea and Pakistan have not yet signed the Treaty. All three have also undertaken tests after 1996; India and Pakistan in May 1998 and North Korea six times between 2006 and 2017.

Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO):

• The organization promotes the Treaty so that it can enter into force.
• It establishes a verification regime to monitor adherence to the Treaty. The verification system is built around a network of over 325 seismic, radionuclide, infrasound and hydroacoustic (underwater) monitoring stations.
• The organization was founded in 1996. It is headquartered in Vienna.

TPNW (Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons) or the Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty

• TPNW (Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons) or the Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty is the first treaty of its kind against nuclear armament. This treaty looks at prohibiting the use of atomic weapons, aiming to eliminate them.
• This was opened for signature in 2017
• ICAN (International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons) spearheaded the signing of this treaty.
  • ICAN was awarded the noble peace prize in 2017 to take significant steps in the reduction of the threat from Nuclear Weapons.
• It entered into force on 22nd Jan 2021.
• It is the first legally binding international agreement to comprehensively prohibit nuclear weapons with the ultimate goal being their total elimination.
  • It prohibits the following in case of Nuclear Weapons
    • Developing
    • Testing
    • Producing
    • Acquiring
    • Possessing
    • Stockpiling
    • Using
  • It has provision for compensation of the victims of Nuclear attacks and remediation of the Environment in case of radiation poisoning due to nuclear attack
  • It has preventive as well as curative measures.

Issues with TPNW

• Not all the member states voted. 122 states voted in favour. The Netherlands voted against it, while Singapore abstained from voting. 69 states did not vote, including all the states possessing nuclear weapons and every NATO state.
• It is not in line with current realities
  • Different nations are reconsidering their nuclear weapons policy where they are modernising their nuclear stockpiles with tactical nuclear weapons.
• Verification and procedural concerns with the implementation.
• It wasn’t negotiated at Conference on Disarmament.

India’s Concerns

• No timeline for enforcing Comprehensive Nuclear Disarmament
• 2-front crisis (from Nuclear Armed China and Pakistan) doesn’t leave room for India to take lead in pursuing nuclear disarmament.
• Recent Ukraine-Russian War has highlighted the importance of having nuclear deterrence.
  • Ukraine had inherited ~3000 nuclear weapons but it gave away its nuclear stockpile by protection under Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances (in lieu of protection from Russia, UK and US).

Way Forward

• India had released a working paper in a meeting of the Conference on Disarmament (2007) where it urged the nations to adopt its Action Plan. It implores nations to follow Rajiv Gandhi Action Plan presented to UN General Assembly (in 1988).
• Nuclear Disarmament has to be comprehensive, verifiable, universal and time-bound.
• Multilateral institutions taking joint actions against deviations.

Source: ORF-Online

Mains Question:

Q. Complete Nuclear disarmament, which is being campaigned by India since long, appears to be a distant dream. Discuss.