The Non-Proliferation Treaty and Latin America As a Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone
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Política Externa coleção Brasileira BRAZIL, THE NON-PROLIFERATION TREATY AND LATIN AMERICA AS A NUCLEAR WEAPON-FREE ZONE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS Minister of State Aloysio Nunes Ferreira Secretary General Ambassador Marcos Bezerra Abbott Galvão ALEXANDRE DE GUSMÃO FOUNDATION President Ambassador Sérgio Eduardo Moreira Lima Institute of Research on International Relations Director Minister Paulo Roberto de Almeida Center for Diplomatic History and Documentation Deputy Director Ambassador Gelson Fonseca Junior Editorial Board of the Alexandre de Gusmão Foundation President Ambassador Sérgio Eduardo Moreira Lima Members Ambassador Ronaldo Mota Sardenberg Ambassador Jorio Dauster Magalhães e Silva Ambassador Gelson Fonseca Junior Ambassador José Estanislau do Amaral Souza Ambassador Eduardo Paes Saboia Minister Paulo Roberto de Almeida Minister Paulo Elias Martins de Moraes Professor Francisco Fernando Monteoliva Doratioto Professor José Flávio Sombra Saraiva Professor Eiiti Sato The Alexandre de Gusmão Foundation (FUNAG) was established in 1971 as a public foundation linked to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with a goal to provide civil society with information concerning global issues and the Brazilian diplomatic agenda. The mission of the Foundation is to foster awareness of domestic public opinion regarding international relations issues and Brazilian foreign policy. Paulo Wrobel BRAZIL, THE NON-PROLIFERATION TREATY AND LATIN AMERICA AS A NUCLEAR WEAPON-FREE ZONE Brasília – 2017 Copyright © Fundação Alexandre de Gusmão Ministério das Relações Exteriores Esplanada dos Ministérios, Bloco H Anexo II, Térreo 70170-900 Brasília – DF Telephones: (61) 2030-6033/6034 Fax: (61) 2030-9125 Website: www.funag.gov.br E-mail: [email protected] Editorial Staff: Eliane Miranda Paiva André Luiz Ventura Ferreira Fernanda Antunes Siqueira Gabriela Del Rio de Rezende Luiz Antônio Gusmão Graphic Design: Daniela Barbosa Layout: Gráfica e Editora Ideal Cover: Signature of the “Agreement Concerning Cooperation in the Field of the Peaceful Use of Nuclear Energy”, at Bonn, Germany, in 27 July 1975. Seated: Antônio Francisco Azeredo da Silveira (Ministry of External Relations of Brazil) and Hans Dietrich Genscher (Foreign Ministry of Germany). Standing to the left: Paulo Nogueira Batista (2º), Shigeaki Ueki and others. CPDOC/Arquivo Paulo Nogueira Batista. Impresso no Brasil 2017 W528 Wrobel, Paulo. Brazil, the non-proliferation treaty and Latin America as a nuclear weapon-free zone / Paulo Wrobel. – Brasília : FUNAG, 2017. 389 p. - (Coleção Política Externa Brasileira) ISBN 978-85-7631-678-7 1. Arma nuclear. 2. Segurança nuclear - Brasil. 3. Não-proliferação nuclear - América Latina. 4. Zona livre de armas nucleares 5. Política nuclear internacional. 6. Militarismo. 7. Política externa - Brasil. I. Título. II. Série. CDD 333.7924 Depósito Legal na Fundação Biblioteca Nacional conforme Lei nº 10.994, de 14/12/2004. Presentation The decision taken by the Editorial Board of the Alexandre de Gusmão Foundation to publish Paulo Wrobel’s 1991 Ph.D. thesis, Brazil, the Non-Proliferation Treaty and Latin America as a Nuclear Weapon Free Zone reflects both the quality of the academic research he submitted to the Department of War Studies of King’s College in London and the fact that his work remains relevant almost thirty years after its approval. The book is part of the collection “Brazilian Foreign Policy” along with other seminal works edited by Funag, such as those by Gerson Moura, Maria Regina Soares de Lima and Andrew Hurrell. By publishing this book, Funag makes another scholarly work available to a wider audience interested in the hurdles and challenges of international coexistence. The publication analyses the evolution of Brazil’s policies towards the nuclear non-proliferation regime. It addresses both the negotiations of a nuclear non-proliferation treaty, completed with the NPT in 1968, and the process of conclusion only a year earlier of the Treaty of Tlatelolco that established a Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone in Latin America and the Caribbean, the first of its kind in a densely populated region. The main argument developed by the author throughout his investigation is that Brazil’s search for the development of nuclear technology did not result from an alleged nuclear arms race neither from a clear project to build an atomic weapon. Wrobel integrates the military, political and economic dimensions that form the nuclear issue in a broader approach, and in his concluding remarks states that: […] developing nuclear technology to acquire nuclear weapons was not the main motivation behind Brazil’s complex and unstable nuclear program. The main motivation behind Brazil’s attempt to gain access to the complete nuclear fuel cycle was peaceful, despite the existence of a military dimension. […] The attempt to master advanced technologies, a basic idea of Brazil’s national security notion, was seen as a fundamental step for upward international mobility (“Conclusion”, p. 320-321). The study – that had only partially appeared in a few academic articles – is now published in full and prefaced by one of the most experienced Brazilian diplomats in the matter, Ambassador Sergio Duarte. Besides providing a meticulous and precise reading of Wrobel’s thesis, Duarte presents a brief analysis of the evolution of multilateral negotiations on nuclear disarmament, non - -proliferation, and on other weapons of mass destruction since 1991, when the thesis was defended. The current importance of the topic can be attested by the decision of the General Assembly in 2016, in its Resolution 71/258, to convene an international conference to negotiate a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination. The conference to be held in New York, from 27 to 31 March and from 15 June to 7 July, was meant to congregate representatives of Member States, international organizations and civil society in order to establish general prohibitions and obligations as well as a political commitment to achieve and maintain a nuclear-weapon-free world. As the Brazilian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Aloysio Nunes Ferreira, recently said in an editorial article about this Conference: “to Brazilian diplomacy, the defense of nuclear disarmament, more than a strategical option, constitutes a moral imperative and a constitutional obligation” (Folha de S. Paulo, 27/03/2017). Wrobel’s thesis addresses this dimension of principles and values of our foreign policy, as stressed by Minister Nunes Ferreira. The scholar explains the strong Brazilian opposition to the NPT during the first decades of its existence: The right to conduct peaceful nuclear explosions became a question of principle to Brazil […]. Acquiring the access to the complete nuclear fuel cycle and ‘keeping open the nuclear path’ were the main reasons for the policy of not joining the regime. Brazil did not want any constraint in its search for modern technology, and the right to conduct peaceful nuclear explosions became the perfect symbol of independence in the nuclear field (“Conclusion”, p. 325-326). The thesis’ subject is of lasting interest to scholars, students and professionals of international relations. Its current relevance rests clearly confirmed by the recent publication of another work: The Universal Obligation of Nuclear Disarmament by Professor Antônio Augusto Cançado Trindade, International Court of Justice’s judge, based on his dissent vote on the case of the Marshall Islands against the nuclear powers. Before closing, I wish to thank Professor Wrobel, for authorizing the publication of his thesis; Ambassador Sergio Duarte, for his invaluable support to the project; Eliane Miranda Paiva, for her editorial assistance; and Lorena Borges, for the careful proofreading of the manuscript. I should also express my appreciation to Luiz Antônio Gusmão and acknowledge his role in the original proposal to edit and publish this book. Sérgio Eduardo Moreira Lima President of the Alexandre de Gusmão Foundation Table of Contents Preface ............................................................................................ 11 Sérgio Duarte Introduction ................................................................................... 35 The Nuclear Issue as a National Security Issue ...................................40 International Studies in Latin America .................................................46 The Brazilian Nuclear Tradition .............................................................53 The Non-proliferation Treaty and the Treaty of Tlatelolco ..............59 The Structure of the Thesis ......................................................................65 1. World Order, Non-Proliferation and Nuclear Weapon-Free Zones ...................................................................... 73 1.1. Horizontal Nuclear Proliferation: More or Less Stability? ........75 1.2. The Genesis of the Concept of a NWFZ .......................................88 1.3. The Rapacki Plan .................................................................................92 1.4. NWFZ as a Practical Notion ............................................................99 1.5. The Scandinavian Case ....................................................................112 2. The Security Environment in Latin America: The Meaning of Militarism and Militarization ...................... 119 2.1. The Inter-American Security Environment ................................121 2.2. The Meaning of Militarism