MOSCOW. APRIL 28, 2022. PIR PRESS. The Security Index Occasional Paper Series came out with the new report “The Second Conference on the Establishment of a Middle East Weapons Mass Destruction Free Zone: results and prospects” by Sofya Shestakova.
The problems of a WMD-Free Zone traditionally occupy an important place in nonproliferation issues. It was firmly on the international agenda in 1995, when a resolution on the Middle East was adopted at the NPT Review Conference on the initiative of Russia, the United States and the United Kingdom. The goal of this research paper is to analyze the preparation, progress and results of the Second Conference on the Establishment of a Middle East Weapons Mass Destruction Free Zone (ME WMDFZ) to assess the progress of the establishment of the ME WMDFZ, as well as to determine the possible position of the Middle Eastern States at the upcoming NPT Review Conference.
Key findings:
- The decisions taken at the Second Conference concerning the organizational mechanisms and the continuation of the dialogue between the sessions of the Conference are important practical steps towards the establishment of the ME WMDFZ.
- Taking into account the largely positive outcome of the November Conference, the Arab States, in particular Egypt, presumably will not make the issue of the ME WMDFZ dominant at the NPT Review Conference 2022.
- The real elements of the future zone were not discussed. The participating states have not reached consensus on such important conceptual issues as the content of the treaty and the absence of Israel in this process.
- It is certainly not possible to talk about the imminent creation of a treaty without Israel’s participation in the conference.
- The non-participation of the United States in the Conference, as well as the absence of their pressure on Israel to join the NPT and the Conference on the Middle East Weapons of Mass Destruction Free Zone, do not create real prospects for the creation of the ME WMDFZ.
- Nevertheless, the Middle Eastern states demonstrate that the absence of one state will not be able to paralyze progress towards a WMD-free Middle East region.
Read the report (in Russian)
