The nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty became international law in 1970. At the time, there were five nuclear nuclear weapon states: China, France, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the USSR. Since then, India, Israel, Pakistan, and North Korea have developed nuclear weapons, and they remain the only countries outside the treaty. The NPT contains the only binding commitment to nuclear disarmament in a multilateral treaty on the part of the Nuclear Weapon States in Article VI.

The 189 States Parties of the Treaty meet every five years at Review Conference to assess the implementation of the treaty. Originally intended as a temporary treaty, the NPT stipulates that 25 years after entry into force, a conference shall be convened to decide wheter or not the Treaty shall continue indefinitely, or be extended for an additional fixed period or periods. In 1995 this conference was convened, and a package of decisions extend the Treaty indefinitely.

Five years later, at the 2000 Review Conference all 187 governments - including the five official nuclear weapon states - agreed to a 13 Point Action Plan for the systematic and progressive disarmament of the world's nuclear weapons. (Available in both HTML and PDF.) At the 2005 Review Conference, states parties could not agree on a final document and the five week long conference was considered to be a failure. 2010 is the next chance to move forward.