International Legal Obligations Related to Nuclear Disarmament and Nuclear Testing

The chapter aims at analysing the current state of the art in relation to nuclear disarmament and nuclear testing to offer an overview of the existing legal obligations and a critical analysis of the most important ones. At present, the issue at stake is regulated by various international treaty regimes entailing different, and potentially conflicting, legal obligations. The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons still remains the point of departure of any inquiry, but the newly entered into force Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons deserves attention. Building on the existing legal framework and on States’ practice, the main research question of the chapter is whether such a fragmented and sometimes incoherent scenario sets fort clear and credible international legal obligations in the field of nuclear disarmament and testing. Consequently, the chapter also proposes an enquiry into the possible evolution of customary law in both fields.