The 11th Nuclear Non-proliferation (NPT) Review Conference (RevCon) is under way at the UN, having started on 27 April to run till 22 May. As per the NPT's Article 8, the RevCon is mandated to take place every five years, convening all the member and observer states as well as intergovernmental and civil society organisations to review the implementation process of the treaty. Two previous RevCons, in 2015 and 2022, had failed to build consensus on a final document. This year's RevCon is taking place at a time when the world is more fragmented and disordered, and the multilateral system is deeply fractured. Wars are being legitimised in search of a notion of victory, and arms buildup is increasing while discussions on disarmament are waning. New technologies have taken a role in the battlefield, and states' territorial boundaries are disrespected, and the UN charter is dishonoured. Nuclear weapons are being seen widely as a toolkit to safeguard national security against foreign invasions. Thus, it is thought that negotiations at RevCon 2026 will be potentially challenging and without a consensus; and the event may conclude in another failure to reach an agreed-upon outcome.

The diplomatic atmosphere going into the conference is widely tense. The divergences over the Ukraine war and its impact on the nuclear energy infrastructure of the country; the differences over the Iran war and its nuclear programme, the management of its enriched uranium and verification processes; the attack of some states on others' nuclear facilities; and the safety of nuclear material amid civil unrest will remain on the table. Anxieties of the US-led alliance system about China's strategic force modernisation; apprehensions of........

© The Express Tribune