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 98q Towards a nuclear-weapon-free world: accelerating the implementation of nuclear disarmament commitments, published in 2024.

What other versions does this mandate have?

18 versions · 2007–2024

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?

32 operative paragraphs

Condemns unequivocally all nuclear threats, whether explicit or implicit, and irrespective of the circumstances, and calls upon all States, in particular the nuclear-weapon States, to reject any normalization of nuclear rhetoric and, in particular, the threat of use of nuclear weapons, which only serves to undermine the disarmament and non-proliferation regime and is against the Charter of the United Nations;

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 achieving substantive progress during the eleventh review cycle, in order to strengthen the Treaty and its review process, overcoming the obstacles that prevented a substantive outcome in the two previous Review Conferences held in 2015 and 2022;

Reiterates that each article of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons is binding on the respective 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;

Reaffirms the continued validity of the decisions, resolutions and commitments as agreed to at the 1995, 2000 and 2010 Review Conferences of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons;

Strongly urges nuclear-weapon States to implement the unequivocal undertaking to accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals leading to nuclear disarmament, as agreed at the 2000 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and as a means to ensure full implementation of article VI of the Treaty;

Urges all State parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons to implement their article VI obligations and to pursue multilateral negotiations without delay on effective measures for the achievement and maintenance of a nuclear-weapon-free world, recalling in particular the commitment of the nuclear-weapon States to accelerating concrete progress on the steps leading to nuclear disarmament;

Recognizes the need for an institutional mechanism to monitor the implementation of nuclear disarmament obligations;

Calls upon all States to give due prominence to the humanitarian imperatives that underpin nuclear disarmament and to the urgency of achieving it, including new evidence presented at the Conferences on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons, and those imperatives should inform all deliberations, decisions and actions relating to nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation, including within the Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons;

Urges 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 as agreed by the parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in the outcome documents of the 2000 and 2010 Review Conferences, and calls upon the nuclear-weapon States to include such information in their regular reporting details regarding progress towards this end;

Calls upon other States parties to the Treaty that maintain a role for nuclear weapons in their military and security concepts, doctrines and policies to also provide standardized information at regular intervals on, inter alia, measures taken to reduce the role and significance of nuclear weapons in military and security concepts, doctrines and policies, the number, type (strategic or non-strategic) and status (deployed or non-deployed, and alert status) of nuclear warheads within their territories, where applicable, and the number and type of delivery vehicles within their territories, where applicable;

Calls upon nuclear-weapon States to halt the quantitative increases and qualitative improvement of their nuclear arsenals and the development of advanced new types of nuclear weapons, and their means of delivery, including those that increase the risk of escalation;

Urges all nuclear-weapon States to immediately lower 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 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;

Encourages nuclear-weapon States to apply the agreed interrelated principles of transparency, verifiability and irreversibility in the implementation of their obligations and undertakings, including those agreed by the States parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons at its 1995, 2000 and 2010 Review Conferences, taking into account that they are strongly interrelated and are not an end in themselves and are not a prerequisite to commence nuclear disarmament;

Stresses the necessity for enhanced transparency by the nuclear-weapon States with regard to their nuclear weapons capabilities and the implementation of their article VI obligations and nuclear disarmament-related commitments, and urges nuclear-weapon States to implement their nuclear disarmament obligations and commitments, both qualitative and quantitative, in a manner that strengthens accountability and enables all States parties to regularly monitor progress, including through a standard detailed reporting format, thereby enhancing transparency and increasing mutual confidence, and facilitating the evidence-based evaluation of progress towards the full implementation of article VI and nuclear disarmament commitments;

Urges the nuclear-weapon States to voluntarily present, jointly or individually, implementation plans for the commitments and undertakings agreed to under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, including time frames and benchmarks for progress;

Also urges the nuclear-weapon States, pending the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals to which they have unequivocally committed, to remove all operational nuclear weapons from high alert status and to put in place, as a matter of urgency, appropriate legal and procedural safeguards aimed at reducing the risk of a nuclear detonation by accident, miscalculation or design;

Further urges the nuclear-weapon States to report at least twice during a Review Conference cycle at appropriate intervals, and to include in their reports to be submitted during the eleventh 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 agreement on but not limited to measures on improved and more structured reporting by the nuclear-weapon States, tools such as a set of benchmarks and timelines and/or similar criteria, in order to ensure and facilitate the objective evaluation of progress, as well as the establishment of a structured dialogue on this issue at the meetings of the Preparatory Committee for the 2026 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and at the Review Conference on these improved and more structured reports, facilitated by the Chairs of the Preparatory Committee meetings, who will provide a joint report to each Review Conference that includes specific recommendations, targets and indicators, to improve the monitoring of and reporting on article VI and disarmament-related commitments;

Encourages the nuclear-weapon States, as part of their national reporting, to include details on their plans related to the modernization of nuclear weapons; their nuclear capabilities, including quantity, type and status of nuclear warheads, as well as delivery vehicles; doctrinal issues; risk reduction measures; de-alerting measures; quantity of fissile material; and the number and type of weapons and delivery systems they have disarmed;

Encourages further steps by all nuclear-weapon States 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 and irreversible 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,¹³ which is inextricably linked to the indefinite extension of the Treaty, and which remains valid until fully implemented;

¹³See 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;

Calls upon all concerned parties referred to in decision 73/546 of 22 December 2018 to actively engage in the sessions of the conference to elaborate a treaty to establish a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and all other weapons of mass destruction, on the basis of arrangements freely arrived at by all States of the region;

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, and further calls upon South Sudan to join the Treaty at the earliest opportunity;

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,¹⁴ with a view to achieving the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful, complete, verifiable and irreversible manner, and calls for diplomatic efforts to this end;

¹⁴United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1677, No. 28986.

Calls upon both parties to the Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitations of Strategic Offensive Arms (New START Treaty) to re-engage on and ensure its full and effective implementation and to resume negotiations on a successor agreement;

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;

Calls upon Member States to continue to support efforts to identify, elaborate, negotiate and implement further effective legally binding measures for nuclear disarmament, inter alia, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons,¹⁵ and welcomes the outcomes of the first and second Meetings of States Parties to the Treaty, including the action plan of 2022, and its political declaration and decisions, and the decisions of 2023;¹⁶

¹⁵A/CONF.229/2017/8.

¹⁶See TPNW/MSP/2022/6 and TPNW/MSP/2023/14.

Urges all States to exert all efforts to advance diplomatic dialogue and work together towards overcoming obstacles that are inhibiting substantive work within the international disarmament machinery to advance the agenda of nuclear disarmament, particularly through multilateral negotiations;

Recommends that additional measures be taken to advance nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation education, in particular to increase awareness of the risks and catastrophic impacts and humanitarian consequences of any nuclear detonation, recognizing the important contributions made by academia, civil society and victims of nuclear weapons to this end;

Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its eightieth 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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