Towards a Nuclear-Weapon-Free World : Accelerating the Implementation of Nuclear Disarmament Commitments

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 103q Towards a nuclear-weapon-free world: accelerating the implementation of nuclear disarmament commitments, published in 2020.

What other versions does this mandate have?

18 versions · 2007–2024

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/79/35

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2024	A/RES/79/35	Towards a nuclear-weapon-free world : accelerating the implementation of nuclear disarmament commitments	3,667	71%Compare
2023	A/RES/78/42	Towards a nuclear-weapon-free world : accelerating the implementation of nuclear disarmament commitments	3,280	22%Compare
2021	A/RES/76/49	Towards a nuclear-weapon-free world : accelerating the implementation of nuclear disarmament commitments	3,029	90%Compare
2020	A/RES/75/65	Towards a nuclear-weapon-free world : accelerating the implementation of nuclear disarmament commitments	3,086	92%Compare
2019	A/RES/74/46	Towards a nuclear-weapon-free world : accelerating the implementation of nuclear disarmament commitments	2,965	92%Compare

What subjects does this mandate have?

5 subjects

Nuclear Disarmament Nuclear Non-Proliferation Nuclear Weapon States Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones Treaty Compliance

What’s in this document?

27 operative paragraphs

Reiterates that each article of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons is binding on the States parties at all times and in all circumstances and that all States parties should be held fully accountable with respect to strict compliance with their obligations under the Treaty, and calls upon all States parties to comply fully with all decisions, resolutions and commitments made at the 1995, 2000 and 2010 Review Conferences;

Also reiterates the deep concern expressed by the 2010 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons at the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons, and the need for all States at all times to comply with applicable international law, including international humanitarian law;

Acknowledges the evidence presented at the Conferences on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons, and calls upon Member States, in their relevant decisions and actions, to give due prominence to the humanitarian imperatives that underpin nuclear disarmament and to the urgency of achieving this goal;

Recalls the reaffirmation of the continued validity of the practical steps agreed to in the Final Document of the 2000 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons,¹⁰ including the specific reaffirmation of the unequivocal undertaking of the nuclear-weapon States to accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals leading to nuclear disarmament, to which all States parties are committed under article VI of the Treaty, recalls the commitment of the nuclear-weapon States to accelerating concrete progress on the steps leading to nuclear disarmament, and calls upon the nuclear-weapon States to take all steps necessary to accelerate the fulfilment of their commitments;

¹⁰2000 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, Final Document, vol. I (NPT/CONF.2000/28 (Parts I and II)), part I, section entitled “Article VI and eighth to twelfth preambular paragraphs”, para. 15.

Calls upon the nuclear-weapon States to fulfil their commitment to undertaking further efforts to reduce and ultimately eliminate all types of nuclear weapons, deployed and non-deployed, including through unilateral, bilateral, regional and multilateral measures;

Urges all States possessing nuclear weapons to decrease the operational readiness of nuclear-weapon systems in a verifiable and transparent manner with a view to ensuring that all nuclear weapons are removed from high alert status;

Encourages the nuclear-weapon States to make concrete reductions in the role and significance of nuclear weapons in all military and security concepts, doctrines and policies, pending their total elimination;

Encourages all States that are part of regional alliances that include nuclear-weapon States to diminish the role of nuclear weapons in their collective security doctrines, pending their total elimination;

Underlines the recognition by States parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons of the legitimate interest of non-nuclear-weapon States in the constraining by the nuclear-weapon States of the development and qualitative improvement of nuclear weapons and their ending the development of advanced new types of nuclear weapons, and calls upon the nuclear-weapon States to take steps in this regard;

Notes with concern recent policy statements by nuclear-weapon States relating to the modernization of their nuclear weapon programmes, which undermine their commitments to nuclear disarmament and increase the risk of the use of nuclear weapons and the potential for a new arms race;

Encourages further steps by all nuclear-weapon States, in accordance with the previous obligations and commitments on nuclear disarmament, to ensure the irreversible removal of all fissile material designated by each nuclear-weapon State as no longer required for military purposes, and calls upon all States to support, within the context of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the development of appropriate nuclear disarmament verification capabilities and legally binding verification arrangements, thereby ensuring that such material remains permanently outside military programmes in a verifiable manner;

Calls upon all States parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons to work towards the full implementation of the resolution on the Middle East adopted at the 1995 Review and Extension Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons,¹¹ which is inextricably linked to the indefinite extension of the Treaty, and expresses disappointment and deep concern at the lack of a substantive outcome of the 2015 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, including on the process to establish a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and all other weapons of mass destruction as contained in the 1995 resolution on the Middle East, which remains valid until fully implemented;

¹¹See 1995 Review and Extension Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, Final Document, Part I (NPT/CONF.1995/32 (Part I) and NPT/CONF.1995/32 (Part I)/Corr.2), annex.

Urges the co-sponsors of the 1995 resolution on the Middle East to exert their utmost efforts with a view to ensuring the early establishment of a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and all other weapons of mass destruction as contained in the 1995 resolution on the Middle East, including through support for the convening of the conference on the establishment of such a zone;

Stresses the fundamental role of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in achieving nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation, and looks forward to the Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons once it has been rescheduled;

Calls upon all States parties to spare no effort to achieve the universality of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and in this regard urges India, Israel and Pakistan to accede to the Treaty as non-nuclear-weapon States promptly and without conditions, and to place all their nuclear facilities under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards;

Notes with encouragement the dialogue and discussions held with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, including the recent inter-Korean summits, and the summit between the United States of America and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, urges the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to fulfil its commitments, to abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programmes, to return, at an early date, to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and to adhere to its International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards agreement,¹² with a view to achieving the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner;

¹²United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1677, No. 28986.

Urges all States to work together to overcome obstacles within the international disarmament machinery that are inhibiting efforts to advance the cause of nuclear disarmament in a multilateral context, and once again urges the Conference on Disarmament to commence immediately substantive work that advances the agenda of nuclear disarmament, particularly through multilateral negotiations;

Urges all States parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons to fully implement without delay their obligations and commitments under the Treaty and as agreed to at the 1995, 2000 and 2010 Review Conferences;

Also urges all State parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons to move forward with urgency in implementing their article VI obligations in order to ensure the good standing of the Treaty and its review process;

Urges the nuclear-weapon States to implement their nuclear disarmament obligations and commitments, both qualitative and quantitative, in a manner that enables all States parties to regularly monitor progress, including through a standard detailed reporting format, thereby enhancing confidence and trust not only among the nuclear-weapon States but also between the nuclear-weapon States and the non-nuclear-weapon States and contributing to nuclear disarmament;

Also urges the nuclear-weapon States to include in their reports to be submitted during the 2020 review cycle of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons concrete and detailed information concerning the implementation of their obligations and commitments on nuclear disarmament;

Encourages States parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons to improve the measurability of the implementation of nuclear disarmament obligations and commitments, including through tools such as a set of benchmarks, timelines and/or similar criteria, in order to ensure and facilitate the objective evaluation of progress;¹³

¹³See NPT/CONF.2020/PC.I/WP.13.

Urges Member States to pursue multilateral negotiations without delay in good faith on effective measures for the achievement and maintenance of a nuclear-weapon-free world, in keeping with the spirit and purpose of General Assembly resolution 1 (I) and article VI of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons;

Calls upon Member States to continue to support efforts to identify, elaborate, negotiate and implement further effective legally binding measures for nuclear disarmament, and welcomes in this regard the adoption on 7 July 2017 of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons;

Recommends that measures be taken to increase awareness among civil society of the risks and catastrophic impact of any nuclear detonation, including through disarmament education;

Calls upon all Member States to reflect on the vast amount of resources dedicated to the maintenance, development and modernization of nuclear arsenals and to consider whether these resources could be better utilized in pursuit of a better future as envisaged in the Sustainable Development Goals;

Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its seventy-sixth session, under the item entitled “General and complete disarmament”, the sub-item entitled “Towards a nuclear-weapon-free world: accelerating the implementation of nuclear disarmament commitments” and to review the implementation of the present resolution at that session.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What other versions does this mandate have?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

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