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Amidst Rising Global Turmoil, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Faces New Challenges 

From 28 April to 9 May 2025, states parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) will gather in New York. This will be the third preparatory meeting for the treaty’s eleventh review conference, to be held next year. But with new talk about spreading nuclear weapons in Europe and Asia and more investments in “modernising” nuclear arsenals, the treaty is at risk. The only way to save the treaty and the planet is nuclear abolition. 

A group of people stand on outdoor steps holding large signs that together read ABOLISH NUCLEAR WEAPONS. The scene is in a park with bare trees and stone railings in the background.
Image credit: Darren Ornitz, International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
  • 5 min
Ray Acheson
25 April 2025

The 2025 NPT Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) will be meeting at a time of global turmoil. Over the past months, international relations have been shaken. The new US regime has become antagonistic towards its former allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) while warming to Russia. In response, NATO members are talking about proliferating nuclear weapons, including through new nuclear sharing arrangements with French and UK nuclear weapons. Politicians in the Republic of Korea and Japan have also suggested acquiring nuclear weapons. 

Meanwhile, the nuclear-armed states are continuing to invest billions of dollars in expanding or “upgrading” their arsenals. Some have adjusted their doctrines to allow for use of nuclear weapons in more situations. 

The impacts of these developments on the NPT will be seen soon. But when coupled with other developments—such as some European countries considering withdrawal from the Mine Ban Treaty and support from Western countries for Israel’s ongoing genocide—it is easy to be pessimistic about the prospects of a “successful” PrepCom. It seems that governments that support nuclear weapons are abandoning international law and multilateralism in the pursuit of imperial ambitions and misguided perceptions of what is needed for “security”.  

What Do We Need From the NPT PrepCom? 

The struggle to achieve anything tangible at any recent NPT meeting does not bode well for this PrepCom. But we should not let past failure or current instabilities hold us back from pursuing ambitious goals to make the world safer.  

The NPT’s implementation is stymied by its nuclear-armed and nuclear-complicit states parties. They always put their perceived security interests above the very real security interests of all countries, all people, and the planet. The rest of us need to push for a collective security approach. Rather than seeing the NPT and other international law as a hindrance to security, NPT states parties must embrace these treaties and agreements as instruments of collective security: if everyone abides, everyone benefits. 

The abolition of nuclear weapons is key to collective security. As long as some governments possess the ability to end the world at the push of a button, no one is safe. And as tensions rise between countries, spreading nuclear weapons and building up arsenals only makes the situation worse. The time for action is now. 

At this PrepCom, states parties should demand action for nuclear disarmament and an end to nuclear weapon proliferation and modernisation. The experiences of survivors and affected community members should guide discussions and decisions. And feminist perspectives on peace and justice should inform work to build cooperative security through disarmament and demilitarisation. 

What is WILPF doing at the PrepCom? 

WILPF’s disarmament programme Reaching Critical Will (RCW) will be active at the NPT PrepCom as usual!  

RCW has already published a Briefing Book, which provides an overview of critical issues to be discussed at the PrepCom and recommendations for action. 

During the conference, RCW will provide analysis and advocacy through our NPT News in Review. You can subscribe to follow the action! We are also posting all documents, working papers, statements and other materials on our website.  

RCW is the civil society coordinator for the NPT, which means we are helping coordinate NGO statements and side events, and to organise meetings between government and activist delegations. 

The RCW team and some WILPF members will be at the conference, demanding nuclear abolition and calling for peace and justice for all. 

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Ray Acheson

Ray Acheson is Director of Reaching Critical Will, WILPF’s disarmament programme. They are author of Abolishing State Violence: A World Beyond Bombs, Borders, and Cages and Banning the Bomb, Smashing the Patriarchy. They organise for abolition, disarmament, and demilitarisation in their work with various coalitions and provide intersectional feminist analysis and advocacy at international disarmament forums.

Matt Mahmoudi

Matt Mahmoudi (he/him) is a lecturer, researcher, and organizer. He’s been leading the “Ban the Scan” campaign, Amnesty International’s research and advocacy efforts on banning facial recognition technologies and exposing their uses against racialized communities, from New York City to the occupied Palestinian territories.

Berit Aasen

Europe Alternate Regional Representative

Berit Aasen is a sociologist by training and has worked at the OsloMet Metropolitan University on Oslo. She has 40 years of experience in research and consultancy in development studies, including women, peace, and security, and in later years in asylum and refugee studies. Berit Aasen joined WILPF Norway five years ago. She is an alternate member of the National Board of WILPF Norway, and representing WILPF Norway in the UN Association of Norway, the Norwegian 1325 network and the Norwegian Women’s Lobby. Berit Aasen has been active in the WILPF European Liaison group and is committed to strengthening WILPF sections and membership both in Europe and relations across continents.

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Melissa Torres

VICE-PRESIDENT

Prior to being elected Vice-President, Melissa Torres was the WILPF US International Board Member from 2015 to 2018. Melissa joined WILPF in 2011 when she was selected as a Delegate to the Commission on the Status of Women as part of the WILPF US’ Practicum in Advocacy Programme at the United Nations, which she later led. She holds a PhD in Social Work and is a professor and Global Health Scholar at Baylor College of Medicine and research lead at BCM Anti-Human Trafficking Program. Of Mexican descent and a native of the US/Mexico border, Melissa is mostly concerned with the protection of displaced Latinxs in the Americas. Her work includes training, research, and service provision with the American Red Cross, the National Human Trafficking Training and Technical Assistance Centre, and refugee resettlement programs in the U.S. Some of her goals as Vice-President are to highlight intersectionality and increase diversity by fostering inclusive spaces for mentorship and leadership. She also contributes to WILPF’s emerging work on the topic of displacement and migration.

Jamila Afghani

VICE-PRESIDENT

Jamila Afghani is the President of WILPF Afghanistan which she started in 2015. She is also an active member and founder of several organisations including the Noor Educational and Capacity Development Organisation (NECDO). Elected in 2018 as South Asia Regional Representative to WILPF’s International Board, WILPF benefits from Jamila’s work experience in education, migration, gender, including gender-based violence and democratic governance in post-conflict and transitional countries.

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Sylvie Jacqueline Ndongmo

PRESIDENT

Sylvie Jacqueline NDONGMO is a human rights and peace leader with over 27 years experience including ten within WILPF. She has a multi-disciplinary background with a track record of multiple socio-economic development projects implemented to improve policies, practices and peace-oriented actions. Sylvie is the founder of WILPF Cameroon and was the Section’s president until 2022. She co-coordinated the African Working Group before her election as Africa Representative to WILPF’s International Board in 2018. A teacher by profession and an African Union Trainer in peace support operations, Sylvie has extensive experience advocating for the political and social rights of women in Africa and worldwide.

WILPF Afghanistan

In response to the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban and its targeted attacks on civil society members, WILPF Afghanistan issued several statements calling on the international community to stand in solidarity with Afghan people and ensure that their rights be upheld, including access to aid. The Section also published 100 Untold Stories of War and Peace, a compilation of true stories that highlight the effects of war and militarisation on the region. 

IPB Congress Barcelona

WILPF Germany (+Young WILPF network), WILPF Spain and MENA Regional Representative

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Demilitarisation

WILPF uses feminist analysis to argue that militarisation is a counter-productive and ill-conceived response to establishing security in the world. The more society becomes militarised, the more violence and injustice are likely to grow locally and worldwide.

Sixteen states are believed to have supplied weapons to Afghanistan from 2001 to 2020 with the US supplying 74 % of weapons, followed by Russia. Much of this equipment was left behind by the US military and is being used to inflate Taliban’s arsenal. WILPF is calling for better oversight on arms movement, for compensating affected Afghan people and for an end to all militarised systems.

Militarised masculinity

Mobilising men and boys around feminist peace has been one way of deconstructing and redefining masculinities. WILPF shares a feminist analysis on the links between militarism, masculinities, peace and security. We explore opportunities for strengthening activists’ action to build equal partnerships among women and men for gender equality.

WILPF has been working on challenging the prevailing notion of masculinity based on men’s physical and social superiority to, and dominance of, women in Afghanistan. It recognizes that these notions are not representative of all Afghan men, contrary to the publicly prevailing notion.

Feminist peace​

In WILPF’s view, any process towards establishing peace that has not been partly designed by women remains deficient. Beyond bringing perspectives that encapsulate the views of half of the society and unlike the men only designed processes, women’s true and meaningful participation allows the situation to improve.

In Afghanistan, WILPF has been demanding that women occupy the front seats at the negotiating tables. The experience of the past 20 has shown that women’s presence produces more sustainable solutions when they are empowered and enabled to play a role.