Nuclear Non-Proliferation in International Law - Volume VI | 2021
The Conference on the Establishment of a Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction: Too Little, Too Late?
Abstract
In November 2019, one of the international community’s longest unaccomplished projects was initiated by holding, under UN auspices and at the UN headquarters, the first session of the conference for establishing a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction. It is too early to predict whether the next sessions of the conference, which was convened pursuant to UNGA Decision 73/546 of 22 December 2018, will be successful and will secure the desired result. The purpose of this chapter is to give an overview of the most important previous attempts to establish such a zone in the ever turbulent Middle East; to analyse the relevant UN instruments leading up to the November 2019 conference; to offer a summary of what transpired during the first session of the conference and explain the various challenges and complications surrounding its evolution; and, finally, be pragmatic about the added value of a legally binding treaty creating such a zone in the Middle East, in view of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and the other multilateral treaties on biological and chemical weapons.