Philippines Calls on Nuclear Weapon States to Report on Their Disarmament Obligations

The meeting of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Working Group convened in Vienna from July 24-28, 2023. It discussed recommendations to strengthen NPT processes, including a mechanism that will require five nuclear weapon states to report on their disarmament obligations. It elected Filipino diplomat Jonelle John S. Domingo as vice chair. (Photo from the United Nations Office of Disarmament Affairs).

VIENNA 01 August 2023 – The Philippines worked actively towards consensus on detailed measures that aim to hold nuclear weapon states accountable for their disarmament obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), including an interactive reporting process. 

The measures were discussed by a panel of diplomats on 24-28 July 2023, and were officially referred to as the Working Group on Strengthening the Review Process, which also elected Philippine delegate Jonelle John S. Domingo as one of its two vice chairs.

Domingo, who was nominated to his post by the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), assisted Finnish Ambassador Jarmo Viinanen who chaired the deliberations.

Among the recommendations the working group discussed include an interactive mechanism that would compel the five nuclear weapon states parties to the NPT — namely China, France, Russia, the U.K., and the U.S. — to report regularly on how they are implementing their nuclear disarmament obligations. This proposed mechanism would also allow all state parties to scrutinize their reports.

Non-nuclear weapon states including the Philippines are already subjected to stringent reporting, transparency, and accountability mechanisms at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to ensure nuclear non-proliferation, but no such mechanism exists to hold the five nuclear weapon states accountable for their nuclear disarmament obligations. 

An advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 1996 affirmed the legal obligation of the five states to pursue nuclear disarmament. This obligation is part of the NPT’s “grand bargain,” under which non-nuclear weapon states forego their sovereign right to develop nuclear weapons on the condition that they will have access to peaceful uses of nuclear energy and that the five nuclear weapon states will disarm. 

States parties hold review conferences every five years to monitor compliance with the treaty and to agree on measures to enhance the treaty’s implementation. Last year’s review conference could not agree on any new substantive commitments due to geopolitical difficulties, opting instead to create the working group to discuss measures to improve the working methods of the NPT review process. 

A preparatory committee for the 2026 NPT review conference is being held in Vienna this month and will continue discussing the proposals presented at the working group.

The last time states parties agreed on substantive outcomes to advance nuclear disarmament was during the review conference of 2010, which was chaired by then Philippine Ambassador Libran Cabactulan. END

Philippine representative Jonelle John S. Domingo, elected vice chair of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Working Group, poses with the chair, Ambassador Jarmo Viinanen of Finland, and his fellow vice chair, Kazakh delegate Arsen Omarov (Photo from the Philippine Embassy in Vienna).

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