The Preparatory Committee for the 2026 Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, or NPT, has held its second meeting amid an increasingly severe global nuclear threat.
The second session of the preparatory committee opened in Geneva, Switzerland, on Monday. The committee was set up for the NPT review conference to be held in 2026 to discuss the direction of global nuclear disarmament.
UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Nakamitsu Izumi made an address at the beginning of the session.
She said that while the shadow of nuclear threat has never gone away, and would not go away as long as such weapons exist. She added, “it has taken on more alarming tones recently, a danger has become more acute.”
The second session comes amid a continued nuclear threat posed by Russia invading Ukraine. The tensions are also rising in the Middle East where Israel is believed to possess nuclear arms and Iran is suspected of developing such weapons.
In East Asia, North Korea is pushing its nuclear and missile development programs, and China is apparently expanding its nuclear capabilities.
The preparatory committee failed to adopt a summary document at the first session last year due to divisions among participating countries.
Attention is focused on whether the countries can find common ground before the second meeting wraps up on August 2.
Among attendees are mayors of the atomic-bombed Japanese cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, who are expected to re-emphasize the inhumanity of nuclear weapons.