The action plan of the 2010 NPT Review Conference established three key principles of disarmament: transparency, verification, and irreversibility. As the latter has remained underdeveloped, Wilton Park, in partnership with FCDO and the Norwegian MFA, has convened three successful dialogues on Irreversible Nuclear Disarmament in March 2022, 2023 and 2024, that successfully explored how to further develop the concept and how it could be incorporated into NPT diplomacy.
The fourth and final dialogue on Irreversible Nuclear Disarmament before the 2026 NPT Review Conference will assess how IND can be presented to the Review Conference and integrated into its outcomes. It will offer the opportunity to consider how to utilise the knowledge developed, on the technical, legal, normative, and political parameters and criteria of irreversibility, to move forward our shared aims of achieving and maintaining nuclear disarmament. The conference will also offer the opportunity to have initial discussions on potential further dialogue beyond the 2026 Review Conference, on building understanding and capacity on how to implement effective and sustainable long term nuclear disarmament in practice.
Goal and objectives
This conference seeks to assess different aspects of IND and consider how to build on the work initiated at the 2022, 2023 and 2024 dialogues. To foster new thinking and inform the debate, the conference will be supplemented by newly commissioned original research by non-government subject matter experts.
The conference will:
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- Review the work done to date on the technical, legal, normative, and political parameters and criteria for irreversibility, both during a process of disarmament, and after disarmament has been achieved.
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- Consider how working on irreversibility can be utilised to move forward our shared aims of achieving and maintaining nuclear disarmament.
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- Discuss how irreversibility can be presented to the 2026 NPT Review Conference, and integrated into its outcomes.
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- Have initial discussions on potential further dialogue beyond the 2026 Review Conference, on building understanding and capacity on how to implement effective and sustainable long term nuclear disarmament in practice.
In partnership with
