Statements and Students: Day One of the NPT PrepCom 2012

The first session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2015 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) began on the morning of Monday, April 30, 2012, as scheduled.

Administrative proceedings

The first PrepCom meeting was opened by Ambassador Libran Cabactulan (Philippines), as the President of the 2010 Review Conference, who asked the States Parties to elect Ambassador Paul Woolcott (Australia) as Chair of this year's PrepCom. Ambassador Woolcott made a number of opening remarks, pointing out that the first PrepCom has to address both procedural and substantive matters. This PrepCom, as the first meeting in the 2015 review cycle, allows States to review the operation of the NPT. It also provides the first opportunity since the 2010 adoption of an Action Plan to take stock of what States have done well and to consider what can be done better in the future.

Angela Kane, the United Nations' new High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, also spoke to the Conference, her first opportunity to do so in her new capacity. She reminded the conference attendees that without the review process, the NPT would not have accountability; the process also helps to sustain the NPT as a living treaty that can take account of innovations.

The States Parties then adopted the agenda. This was done with no objections, which was quite a change from the first PrepCom of the previous review cycle in 2007, when disagreements on the agenda meant that discussions were stalled for several days. States Parties also agreed on the dates and venue for the second PrepCom, which will be held 22 April-3 May 2012 in Geneva; on the working languages for the meeting; and on the indicative timetable laid out by the Chair. The fact that these procedural matters were so quickly dispatched suggests that States Parties will be able to turn to focused debate on substantive issues over the next two weeks.

General debate

The general debate provides the opportunity for States Parties to make general statements regarding their overall views. These statements are available on the Reaching Critical Will website and will soon be available on the UNODA website. Statements were made on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement, the European Union, the Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Initiative, and the New Agenda Coalition. There were also statements from 23 countries, as well as the IAEA. Many speakers called for full and complete implementation of the Action Plan agreed to in the Final Document of the 2010 Review Conference and said that they planned to provide details about their national-level implementation efforts over the next two weeks. Other major issues included nuclear safety and security; the importance of the 2012 Conference on the Middle East WMD-Free Zone; and the humanitarian dimension of nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation.

Side events

Several side events were held throughout the first day of the conference. These included a briefing by the government of Norway to the non-governmental organizations attending the conference, and an INES-sponsored event on the role of science in military R&D and the prevention of the misuse of brain power. The Critical Issues Forum, an event organized by CNS with assistance from the Austrian MFA, also opened on Monday. Thirty high-school students from the United States, Russia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina heard a keynote speech by IAEA Director-General Yukiya Amano, who shared his deep love for nonproliferation and disarmament issues with the students and encouraged them to pursue their passions, as well as remarks by CNS Director Dr. Bill Potter, Ambassador Toshihiro Ozawa of Japan, and Masahito Hirose, a survivor from Nagasaki. Several of the students then presented their research projects on nuclear safety and security issues.