THE Philippines has called on the five nuclear weapons states (NWSs) to report on their disarmament obligations to allow all state parties to scrutinize them, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said. The meeting of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Working Group convened in Vienna, Austria from July 24 to 28, the DFA said. The Philippines "worked actively towards consensus on detailed measures that aim to hold nuclear weapon states accountable for their disarmament obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), including an interactive reporting process," the DFA said on Tuesday. This obligation is part of the NPT's "grand bargain," under which non-nuclear weapon states (NNWSs) forego their sovereign right to develop nuclear weapons on the condition that they will have access to peaceful uses of nuclear energy and that the five nuclear weapon states will disarm, the DFA said. But no such mechanism exists to hold the five nuclear weapon states accountable for their nuclear disarmament obligations, the DFA stressed.

Source: Manila Times August 01, 2023 20:09 UTC