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Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

Official Name

The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons

Signatories

There are 190 members of the Treaty

Dates

The Treaty was first signed on 1 July 1968 and came into force on 5 March 1970. As the Treaty was to be re-evaluated 25 years after coming into force, it was decided that the Treaty would still be in force for an infinite period of time from 11 May 1995.

Languages

The Treaty was written in English, French, Russian, Spanish and Chinese

The first use of nuclear weapons was at the end of World War II by the United States against Japan. Throughout the 1950's a nuclear arms race began between the Soviet Union and the West, predominantly the United States. As more and more weapons were developed the United Nations called for limitations on creating nuclear weapons throughout the 1950's and 1960's. Several treaties were signed through this period, and so this Treaty brings all those together into one authoritative document on nuclear arms.

Key Points of the Treaty

Any state that holds nuclear arms cannot transfer them to a non-nuclear state and no non-nuclear state can accept any nuclear arms or technologies used to create nuclear weapons. However exchanges of technology and the sharing of information on the use of nuclear equipment that is not intended for use in weapons is encouraged.

Resources

"NPT Treaty." Welcome to the UN. It's your world. 23 Feb. 2009 <http://www.un.org/events/npt2005/npttreaty.html>.

"Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty [NPT]." Federation of American Scientists. 29 Mar. 2009 <http://www.fas.org/nuke/control/npt/>.

"Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT)." Welcome to the UN. It's your world. 22 Feb. 2009 <http://www.un.org/disarmament/WMD/Nuclear/NPT.shtml>.