Steps to Building a Common Roadmap Towards a World without Nuclear Weapons

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 99z Steps to building a common roadmap towards a world without nuclear weapons, published in 2023.

What other versions does this mandate have?

4 versions · 2022–2025

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/80/48

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2025	A/RES/80/48	Steps to building a common roadmap towards a world without nuclear weapons	3,370	91%Compare
2024	A/RES/79/41	Steps to building a common roadmap towards a world without nuclear weapons	3,200	86%Compare
2023	A/RES/78/40	Steps to building a common roadmap towards a world without nuclear weapons	2,967	62%Compare
2022	A/RES/77/76	Steps to building a common roadmap towards a world without nuclear weapons	2,198	–

What subjects does this mandate have?

8 subjects

Democratic People's Republic of Korea Disarmament Education Disarmament Negotiations Non-Nuclear-Weapon States Nuclear Disarmament Nuclear Non-Proliferation Nuclear Safeguards Nuclear Weapon States

What’s in this document?

13 operative paragraphs

Urges all States, especially the nuclear-weapon States, to make every effort to ensure that nuclear weapons are never used again, pending the total elimination of nuclear weapons, and to refrain from any inflammatory rhetoric concerning the use of nuclear weapons, based on the recognition that all States have a shared interest in averting a nuclear war;

Calls upon the nuclear-weapon States, pending the total elimination of nuclear weapons, to honour and respect all existing security assurances undertaken by them, including in connection with the treaties and relevant protocols of nuclear-weapon-free zones, and not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon States parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons consistent with their respective obligations and commitments;

Calls upon all States, in particular the nuclear-weapon States, to apply the principles of irreversibility, verifiability and transparency in relation to the implementation of their obligations under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons; to immediately pursue enhanced transparency measures by providing information in line with Action 21 of the 2010 Action Plan, related to concrete data on their nuclear arsenals and capabilities, without prejudice to their national security, as well as national measures related to nuclear disarmament including their nuclear policies, doctrines and nuclear risk reduction measures, including status of production of fissile material for use in nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices; and to provide frequent and detailed reporting on the implementation of the Treaty and opportunities for discussion of these reports, taking into account Actions 20 and 21 of the 2010 Action Plan and paragraph 187 (35) of NPT/CONF.2020/WP.77 as a useful reference, and calls upon nuclear-weapon States that have yet to do so to engage with non-nuclear-weapon States in a meaningful dialogue on transparency regarding their nuclear arsenals and avoiding an arms race, including through an open explanation of national reports coupled with an interactive discussion with non-nuclear-weapon States and civil society participants at future meetings related to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons;

Emphasizes that maintaining the overall decreasing trend of the global stockpile of nuclear weapons, which is currently at risk due to the actions of some States, is vital in getting closer to a world free of nuclear weapons, and urges all States, especially the nuclear-weapon States, to maintain this trend and undertake further efforts to reduce and ultimately eliminate all types of nuclear weapons, deployed and non-deployed, regardless of their location, including through unilateral, bilateral, regional and multilateral measures;

Calls upon the Conference on Disarmament to immediately commence and bring to an early conclusion, negotiations on a non-discriminatory, multilateral and internationally and effectively verifiable treaty banning the production of fissile material for use in nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices in accordance with CD/1299 and the mandate contained therein, and upon the nuclear-weapon States to declare or maintain voluntary moratoriums on the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons and other nuclear explosive devices, as well as encourages all States that have not yet done so to initiate a process towards the dismantling or conversion for peaceful uses of facilities for the production of fissile material for use in nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices in line with Action 18 of the 2010 Action Plan, and, consistent with Action 16 of the 2010 Action Plan, encourages nuclear-weapon States to commit to declaring, as appropriate, to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) all fissile material designated by each of them as no longer required for military purposes and to place such material as soon as practicable under IAEA or other relevant international verification and arrangements for the disposition of such material for peaceful purposes, to ensure that such material remains permanently outside military programmes;

Emphasizes that the transparency of the management of civil plutonium must be maintained and any attempt to produce or support the production of plutonium for military programmes under the guise of civilian programmes undermines the objectives of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, underscores the importance of the implementation of the Guidelines for the Management of Plutonium (INFCIRC 549), and, in this regard, calls upon all States that committed to reporting annually their holdings of all plutonium in peaceful nuclear activities to IAEA to fulfil those commitments;

Urges all States that have yet to sign and/or ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty¹³ to do so in all expediency, particularly the remaining eight States listed in its Annex 2, and, pending the entry into force of the Treaty, to refrain from nuclear weapon test explosions or any other nuclear explosions, and any other action that would defeat the object and purpose of that Treaty, and to declare or maintain existing moratoriums on nuclear weapon test explosions, as well as to assist the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization in its work in preparing for the entry into force of the Treaty;

¹³See resolution 50/245 and A/50/1027.

Calls upon all States, in particular the nuclear-weapon States, to commit to further identifying, exploring and implementing effective risk reduction measures necessary to mitigate risks relating to nuclear weapons use that arise from miscalculation, misperception, miscommunication or accident, inter alia, to intensify dialogue among and between the nuclear-weapon States and with the non-nuclear-weapon States, to develop and make every effort to implement effective crisis prevention and management arrangements, mechanisms and tools, to maintain the practice of not targeting each other or any other State with nuclear weapons and keep them at the lowest possible alert levels;

Also calls upon all States to strengthen support for initiatives to develop multilateral disarmament verification and capacity-building in support of nuclear disarmament and as an effective step towards achieving the objectives of article VI of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and to further conceptual and practical work on nuclear disarmament verification, taking into account the importance of partnerships between nuclear-weapon States and non-nuclear-weapon States on this matter and encouraging broad participation by all States, and welcomes that the Group of Governmental Experts to further consider nuclear disarmament verification issues adopted its final report by consensus in May 2023;

Underscores the importance of complying with non-proliferation obligations and addressing all non-compliance matters in order to uphold the integrity of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and the authority of the safeguards system;

Reaffirms the commitment to achieving the complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement of all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programmes, as well as all other existing weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programmes, of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in accordance with relevant Security Council resolutions, and the obligation of all Member States to fully implement all relevant Security Council resolutions, notes with serious concern the announcement by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea of 9 September 2022 of an updated law on nuclear policy lowering the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons, urges the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to return at an early date to full compliance with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards, and confirms that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea cannot and will never have the status of a nuclear-weapon State under the Treaty;

Calls upon all States to facilitate efforts on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation education, which is a useful and effective means to advance the goals of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in support of achieving a world without nuclear weapons, inter alia, efforts in which the young generation can actively engage, including through dialogue platforms, mentoring, internships, fellowships, scholarships, model events and youth group activities, as well as to raise awareness of the realities of the use of nuclear weapons, including through, among others, visits by leaders, youth and others to and interactions with communities and people, including the hibakusha, those who have suffered the use of nuclear weapons irrespective of their nationalities and origins, who pass on their experiences to the future generations, and welcomes concrete measures in this regard, inter alia, the Young Professionals Network of P5 academics, the Youth4Disarmament Initiative, “Disarmament education: resources for learning” and the “Youth Leader Fund for a world without nuclear weapons”;

Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its seventy-ninth session, under the item entitled “General and complete disarmament”, the sub-item entitled “Steps to building a common roadmap towards a world without nuclear weapons”.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What other versions does this mandate have?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

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