International cooperation on nuclear nonproliferation improved over the last year, largely due to the Iran nuclear deal, according to a May 17 report by the Council on Foreign Relations.
The Council of Councils (CoC) Report Card on International Cooperation evaluates multilateral activities on global challenges by surveying its network of 26 foreign policy institutes worldwide. Its 2015-2016 report card on international cooperation gave nuclear nonproliferation a grade of A-, up from a B- in 2014. The Iran deal represented “the most significant progress” in nonproliferation over the past year, it said.
Obstacles identified in the report include the “widening rift between the P5 and the nonnuclear weapon states,” since many of the nonnuclear states “are frustrated with the slow pace of disarmament and some have begun to push for a legal ban on nuclear weapons.” The report noted that countries remained entrenched in their positions on nuclear weapons and have shown little appetite for compromise. In particular, the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council – the U.S., U.K., China, France, and Russia – have opposed the efforts of nonnuclear states to craft a treaty banning nuclear weapons through a U.N. Open-Ended Working Group.
The report also pointed to North Korea’s uranium enrichment and plutonium production activities as a setback, in addition to Russia’s refusal to attend the fourth and final Nuclear Security Summit held earlier this year. “With most of the low-hanging fruit already picked, summit fatigue was palpable,” the report said.
Survey respondents suggested continued implementation and monitoring of the Iran deal in the upcoming year, as well as a review of the Nonproliferation Treaty with the intent of better incorporating the perspectives and concerns of nonnuclear weapon states.
