Chinese Journal of International Law Advance Access originally published online on September 22, 2008
Chinese Journal of International Law 2008 7(3):593-624; doi:10.1093/chinesejil/jmn033
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved
Something Old, Something New: The 2006 Semipalatinsk Treaty on a Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone in Central Asia
Correspondence: * PhD, University of Rome "La Sapienza"; Reader, School of Law, University of Westminster; Visiting Lecturer, Queen Mary University of London and King's College London (email: mroscini{at}iol.it). This article was completed in April 2008. I am grateful to Dr Yoshifumi Tanaka for reading and commenting a previous version of this article. The usual caveat applies. This article is based on developments as of 30 April 2008 and all websites were also last visited on that date.
The present article analyses the provisions of the 2006 Semipalatinsk Treaty establishing a nuclear weapon-free zone in Central Asia, explores their different nature and compares them with those contained in the Treaties of Tlatelolco, Rarotonga, Bangkok and Pelindaba. The fundamental question to be answered is whether the Semipalatinsk Treaty will effectively contribute to the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. The article concludes that the treaty contains lights and shadows: although some positive innovations have been included in the final text, there are loopholes that might weaken the denuclearization regime. The "Great Game" in Central Asia and the tight relations of the regional States with the Russian Federation might also hamper the efforts to obtain the support of the other nuclear powers.