The use of the two atomic bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, instantly killing more than 120,000 people, revealed to humanity the danger posed by the existence of this type of weapon.
At the first United Nations General Assembly in January 1946, the international community sought an agreement on the elimination of these weapons, but rivalry and distrust between the two major powers impeded any progress.
During the Cold War, the total number of nuclear weapons worldwide skyrocketed, reaching more than 70,000. Successive agreements between Russia and the United States resulted in drastic reductions. Even so, the detonation of a fraction of the more than 13 thousand atomic warheads existing today —95% of which in the hands of these two countries— would be enough to annihilate the human race and make life on Earth unfeasible.
The appeal made by President John Kennedy before the United Nations General Assembly in 1961 is as vital and urgent today as it was then, more than sixty years ago: “We must eliminate these weapons before they eliminate us.”
This objective still seems far from being achieved, although it was possible to adopt the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in 1970 in order to prevent a greater number of nations from obtaining them.
The treaty recognizes five countries — China, the United States, France, the United Kingdom and Russia — as exclusive possessors of atomic weapons. Another four — North Korea, Israel, India and Pakistan — that did not join the agreement later developed atomic arsenals. All others, including Brazil, undertook not to acquire nuclear weapons and to undergo inspections to verify compliance with this commitment.
Many of the treaty’s non-nuclear members point to the instrument’s shortcomings, especially the lack of clear and legally binding disarmament commitments by nuclear-armed countries.
The NPT’s 191 members meet every five years to assess the instrument’s implementation. However, it has not always been possible to get everyone’s agreement on a final document. Of the ten previous conferences, five failed to reach a consensus text.
At the recent Review Conference, held from August 2nd to 26th in New York, an expressive majority of the participants considered the final text insufficient, but were willing to approve it. As with some of the past conferences, the proposed document did not contain setbacks, but neither did it present advances.
There is no mention of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, in force since January 2021. The differences between the NATO countries, on the one hand, and Russia, on the other, regarding the War in Ukraine prevented agreement on a final text. Meanwhile, skepticism and frustration on the part of the international community are growing with the resistance of nuclear countries to adopting effective disarmament measures.
In light of the tragic events in Ukraine, analysts agree that since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, the world has never been closer to nuclear war than it is now. However, this specter does not seem to frighten humanity.
It remains to be seen to what extent we will continue to live with the danger posed by the existence of nuclear weapons.
