The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Monitor: First Implementation Brief

Introduction

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Monitor is a new project being developed by BASIC’s Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Programme, led by Senior Policy Fellow Dr. Manuel Herrera Almela and Policy Fellow Ms. Anahita Parsa. 

This  policy brief offers information about the NPT Monitor, and aims to report on what has been done during the first six months of project implementation (i.e. from December 2024 to May 2025), as well as to illustrate next steps which will be taken to continue implementation of the project.

The NPT Monitor

The NPT Monitor will be a tool for policy makers and analysts to assess the implementation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It aims to facilitate research and dialogue on the degree of implementation of obligations and commitments related to the Treaty’s three ‘pillars’. 

Manuel Herrera Almela (left) is a Senior Policy Fellow at BASIC and head of the Non-Proliferation and Disarmament programme

The NPT Monitor addresses a core concern that has been widely expressed by the NPT community, including by States parties, academics, and civil society organisations (CSOs). Namely, without a comprehensive, impartial, and accessible framework to help monitor the implementation of commitments made by NPT parties, it is difficult to effectively track progress on the three “pillars” of the Treaty – disarmament, non-proliferation, and the peaceful uses of nuclear technologies. 

To address this concern, the Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Programme at BASIC is developing the NPT Monitor, a methodologically rigorous, standardised process to analyse the implementation of obligations and commitments across all three pillars of the NPT. This includes an assessment of progress in complying with the text of the Treaty, and with consensus-based commitments from past Review Conferences, such as the “64-Point Action Plan” from 2010.

To test the NPT Monitor concept in its development phase, the initial prototype will focus on the NPT-recognised nuclear weapon States (NWS), iteratively refining the framework based on community feedback and lessons learned. 

The aim is to offer all stakeholders free, timely access to high quality, actionable data on the implementation of past agreements, establishing the Monitor as a go-to source of trusted information for officials, civil society, and academics. 

The NPT Monitor will incorporate quantitative and qualitative indicators. BASIC will employ a native-speaking country expert to produce an annual, peer-reviewed analysis of each NWS. The results will be published on a dedicated, interactive website and summarised annually in a BASIC briefing paper, enabling users to quickly and easily compare the degree of implementation of the different NWS. 

The broader goal of the NPT Monitor is to support the full and effective implementation of the NPT. BASIC recognises that this will depend on the perceived legitimacy of the Monitor in the NPT community, especially among States parties. Thus, in addition to original research, the project is being developed through consultations with a wide range of international experts and officials, and with support from a dedicated project Advisory Board.

Anahita Parsa is a BASIC Policy Fellow working on the Non-Proliferation and Disarmament programme

The NPT Monitor is made possible thanks to generous funding from Global Affairs Canada and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands. 

First six months of implementation (December 2024 – May 2025) 

During this first phase of implementation, a side event, roundtable, and bilateral briefings were held at the 2024 NPT PrepCom. The reception of the NPT Monitor by the expert community was very positive.

Advisory Board

A gender and geographically balanced Advisory Board has been established. The names of the members of the Advisory Board can be found at the following link. Upon formal commencement of the project, a first meeting of its members took place, mainly to discuss with which key NPT States Parties and civil society organisations bilateral consultations should be held. The possible framework of the NPT Monitor was also discussed and it was agreed that it should be drawn mostly as a result of the consultation process.

Consultations

During the reporting period, the BASIC team engaged with key stakeholders in a set of bilateral consultations in order to develop the research framework of the Monitor. As part of this consultation process, BASIC’s team developed a survey, which was distributed to States Parties and CSOs involved in the consultation process, to facilitate the development of future indicators to be used in shaping the NPT Monitor and BASIC’s complementary project, the Nuclear Transparency Inventory (NUTRI).

In line with the above, consultations have been concluded and/or conducted with the following NPT States Parties during the reporting period: Sweden, Ireland, Brazil, Germany, New Zealand, United Kingdom, France, Australia, Japan, Mexico, Spain, and Switzerland. Consultations have also been conducted and/or arranged with the following Civil Society Organisations ( CSOs) and/or International organisations (IO’s): UNODA, SIPRI, GCSP, Chatham House, CENESS, VCDNP, IMEMO, RCW, NPS Global, ACSIS, CSIS, and NTI.

2025 NPT Prepcom

The BASIC team attended the 2025 NPT PrepCom to present the project to States Parties and involve them in future development. In this regard, the BASIC team held a side event and  roundtable where they presented the activities conducted so far in the context of the NPT Monitor, including the results of the bilateral consultations. The team was able to obtain explicit support from several delegations, along with inputs for shaping the project’s research framework  and established strong connections for future collaboration with States Parties.

Next steps

Following PrepCom 2025, the members of the Advisory Board have been contacted for consultations on the proposed research framework developed by the BASIC team. In this regard, we have identified a typology of ‘four layers’ through which the framework for the NPT Monitor website will be designed.

1. Legal obligations of the Treaty through the Three Pillars and associated articles of the treaty
2. Link each of these Pillars with their associated actions from the 2010 64 Point Action Plan. For example, the Disarmament Pillar is linked to Actions 1 to 22 of the Action Plan.
3. For each of these actions, information and data will be on what each nuclear weapon state has done – before and during the current Review Cycle.
4. Information will be gathered through the country-specific experts. When consulting with the experts for each nuclear weapon state, they will be asked to clearly provide three specific sets of information – 1) What the NWS has done so far, prior to the current Review Cycle (2022-2026), 2) what the NWS is doing in the current Review Cycle, and 3) clearly cited sources for any information they provide.

The country-specific experts will be asked to collect data on the implementation of each of the Action Plan items that will be included in the website. Each expert will be responsible for researching their native nuclear weapon state – for example, our French country-expert will be conducting the research and collection of information for France’s implementation of the Action Plan items.

They will be asked to submit their findings through a questionnaire (Google Form), which will be split into a list of each action from the Action Plan, with three sections under each action. For example:

Action 1:

• Please provide information and data on the implementation of Action 1 by your NWS during the current Review Cycle (2022 – 2026)

• Please provide a clear list of any sources you have cited/used to provide the information above.

• Please provide a clear list of any sources you have cited/used to provide the information above.

The experts will be expected to use primary sources (eg. official reports to the NPT, official documents from different sections of the administration, and available interviews with officials). In any cases where primary sources are vague, imprecise, or unavailable, the experts may complement their findings with secondary sources. The expert should provide the source used for each of the entries in the questionnaire. They will be given suggested measurement indicators to use when the Action Plan components require quantitative data.

Once the Advisory Board has given its approval, the experts will be contacted to compile the data and information for each of their respective countries which will be incorporated into the data matrix and then integrated into the Monitor’s website.

Web development

The BASIC team will proceed to contact and arrange services  with a web design company to begin assembling  the website.

Visually, we aim  to portray all the information on the website through 4 accessible ‘layers’, of what at this stage, could be described as ‘pop-ups’. For example, when opening the website, there will be an option to click on either of the three pillars – disarmament, non-proliferation, and peaceful uses. If you were to click on either of these, such as disarmament, a new ‘layer’ will appear, which includes a list of all relevant actions we have identified from the 2010 Action Plan. The website is organised into four interactive layers. First, the user sees the three main pillars. Selecting one – for example, “Disarmament” – opens a layer showing the relevant Actions from the 2010 Action Plan (e.g., Actions 1 to 22). Clicking on a specific Action brings up a list of the five nuclear-weapon states. The user can then select a state (such as France), which opens a detailed description of its implementation, divided into three sections:

1. Context prior to the current Review Cycle,
   
   
2. Implementation during the current Review Cycle, and
   
   
3. Sources used by country-specific experts to compile the information.

Depending on the cost and feasibility of the web developer’s service, the BASIC team intends to include a function where the user would be able to compare between two or more nuclear weapon states. We intend to have a demonstration of the NPT Monitor website ready for RevCon 2026.

Beyond the 2026 NPT Revcon

While the BASIC team does not expect to have all the actions of 2010 Action Plan completed by RevCon 2026, it hopes to finalise them after the RevCon itself. In addition, and based on the interest shown by several NPT States Parties, funding permitting, the NPT Monitor will expand to incorporate NPT-relevant Non Nuclear Weapons States (NNWS) into the NPT Monitor website.