CYIL vol. 12 (2021)

maria manuel meruje CYIL 12 (2021) In 2021, the topics mentioned above have shown no significant improvement, and also the means by which political leaders have been managing these risks are becoming increasingly compromised, with no apparent realistic effort to replace them with new or better regimes. Therefore the Doomsday Clock maintains its hour: “ It is 100 seconds to midnight. ” In the 2021 Doomsday Clock statement presentation, it mentions that the Covid-19 pandemic is not an existential threat. “ Its consequences are grave and will be lasting. But COVID-19 will not obliterate civilization, and we expect the disease to recede eventually. Still, the pandemic serves as a historic wake-up call, a vivid illustration that national governments and international organizations are unprepared to manage nuclear weapons and climate change, which currently pose existential threats to humanity, or the other dangers – including more virulent pandemics and next-generation warfare – that could threaten civilization in the near future.” 56 5. The next NPT Revision Conference Every 5 years, the Parties to the NPT meet to review its implementation (Article VIII paragraph 3). Since the Treaty’s entry into force in 1970, every 5 years the Parties have discussed the actions and measures to be taken to comply with it. 57 The contexts have been changing over the years and the relevance of the discussions reflect that. Last year between the months of April and May the 10 th Review Conference of the NPT did not take place, being postponed to 2021. Considering the approach of the Conference and its organization in Preparatory Committees, 58 and the nuclear threats listed in the point 4 of this paper, the next NPT Review Conference will be dedicated to the topics that may trigger interest in the future implementation of NPT. Addressing the speech delivered by the IAEA Director General, Yukiya Amano, 59 on April 2, 2019, at the sessions of the Preparatory Committee of the NPT Review Conference, we can highlight the following topics: 1. Iran’s nuclear program and compliance with the Agreement between Iran, the European Union, Russia and China, and IAEA inspection of the “Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action” ; 2. The expansion of North Korea’s nuclear program ; 3. The establishment of a nuclear weapon free zone in the Middle East ; 4. The increase of the number of States adopting the Additional Protocol . To these topics we also add those that the Trump Administration presented as key to the NPT Review Conference, 60 namely: 1. Contribution of the “P5” (Those States which until 1967 detonated nuclear bombs and

which coincide with the permanent Members of the UN Security Council) ; 2. The “Creating an Environment for Nuclear Disarmament” initiative ; 3. The establishment of a nuclear weapon free zone in the Middle East ; 4. Inauguration of a new and more realistic global disarmament dialogue ; 5. Rejecting false disarmament narratives with the support of NPT diplomacy .

56 See: https://thebulletin.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-doomsday-clock-statement-1.pdf. 57 See: https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/focus/npt/npt-review-conferences. 58 See: https://www.un.org/disarmament/wmd/nuclear/npt2020/prepcom2019/. 59 See: https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/statements/strengthening-the-non-proliferation-treaty-ahead-of-the-review- conference-in-2020. 60 See: https://www.state.gov/2020-review-conference/.

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