Nuclear Disarmament: Does the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (Tpnw) Offer Any Future Prospects?
Abstract
“I haven't been to hell, so I don't know what it's like, but hell is probably like what we went
through. It must never be allowed to happen again.”1
The world witnessed the dreadful environmental and humanitarian consequences of nuclear
weapons use after the a-bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima during the second world war.
The use of nuclear weapons in Nagasaki and Hiroshima as well as the continued nuclear test
explosions and nuclear plant accidents prompted the negotiation and subsequent adoption of
the existing legislative, policy, and institutional frameworks on nuclear disarmament.
Commendably, the existing frameworks have averted nuclear warfare so far. As such, the aim
of this research is to evaluate the inadequacies of and hence the ability of such frameworks to
ultimately realize general and complete disarmament, especially considering contemporary
challenges in nuclear disarmament. Further, this research is aimed at an evaluation of whether
the novel Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) offers any future prospects
in nuclear disarmament. The inadequacies in the existing frameworks discussed in this
research include ambiguity in Article VI of the NPT, non-existence of a treaty banning
nuclear testing, non-existence of a NFZ in the Middle East, inadequacies in both the IAEA
and the CoD. The contemporary challenges in nuclear disarmament discussed in this research
include nuclear terrorism, cyber-related challenges as well as competition and lack of
cooperation among NWSs and NPSs. After an evaluation of the TPNW, the research found
that the TPNW does indeed offer prospects in nuclear disarmament. This is because the
TPNW resolves most of the inadequacies in the existing frameworks and some of the
contemporary challenges in nuclear disarmament. These findings indicate that the TPNW, as
a complementary mechanism to the existing frameworks, has tremendous prospects of
propelling the world towards general and complete nuclear disarmament
Publisher
University of Nairobi
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesUsage Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Collections
- School of Law [350]
The following license files are associated with this item: