Kazakhstan: An exemplary non-nuclear-weapon state

While it is primarily the nuclear-weapon states that hold the key to nuclear disarmament, non-nuclear-weapon states have made a wide variety of concrete commitments to secure the technology, know-how, and fissile materials required to create a nuclear weapon. Moreover, many of these states have been extremely vocal and active in their quest to make nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament a priority, therewith putting pressure on the nuclear-weapon states to follow suit. Here, Kazakhstan, as result of its painful experience with nuclear weapons testing and its strong non-proliferation record, stands out as a clear example of a country that has diligently worked to make the idea of a world without nuclear weapons a reality.

The Soviet Union’s nuclear legacy in Kazakhstan
More than 450 nuclear weapons were tested by the Soviet Union between 1949 and 1989 at the Semipalatinsk test site (commonly known as “the Polygon”) in today’s Kazakhstan. These tests exposed an estimated one and a half million locals to dangerous doses of radiation, the effects of which are still visible today in the region’s abnormally high rates of cancer, birth defects, and infertility. Kazakhstan closed the nuclear weapons test site following the collapse of the Soviet Union and proceeded to clear its territory of the nuclear legacy that had been left behind. In this context, Kazakhstan became the primary beneficiary of assistance under the US-led Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, which helped the country to seal away weapons-usable plutonium, secure the by-products of nuclear weapons testing, and transfer large quantities of weapons-grade uranium out of its territories to Russia and the United States.

Upon gaining independence in 1991 Kazakhstan also inherited the world’s fourth largest arsenal of nuclear weapons. Its ultimate decision to abandon these weapons marked a turning point in Kazakhstan’s history. Firstly, it provided Kazakhstan with the moral and political license to demand that other countries follow its lead and act decisively in the name of achieving tangible gains in universal nuclear disarmament. Secondly, it set a precedent for non-proliferation in the post-Cold War era, illustrating how a state should actively and voluntarily forego the pursuit of nuclear weapons.

Since then, Kazakhstan has become an active participant in and architect of a number of initiatives that continue to make the world safer from the proliferation of nuclear weapons and materials. After gaining independence, Kazakhstan quickly integrated into the nuclear world order as it acceded to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NTP) in 1991. Herewith, Kazakhstan ascribed to the Treaty’s three pillars of non-proliferation, peaceful use of nuclear energy, and disarmament. Since then, the country has worked to strengthen the global non-proliferation and disarmament regime set up by the NPT by fighting to put an end to nuclear weapons testing, leading the charge to strengthen regional cooperation on nuclear issues, and championing the safe and responsible use of nuclear energy.

Weapons testing
The global movement to put an end to nuclear weapons testing of all sorts, whether in space, the atmosphere, the sea, or underground, occupies a special place in the national spirit of Kazakhstan due to the country’s firsthand experience with the lasting havoc that such tests can wreak. In this sense, Kazakhstan signed the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) in 2002, thereby calling for a ban on all nuclear explosions in any environment and at the hands of any actor, whether civilian or military. According to the Treaty’s Preparatory Commission, Kazakhstan also hosts three seismological stations that “are capable of registering vibrations from a possible nuclear explosion” and thereby help to verify Treaty compliance. So far 183 states have signed the CTBT and 164 have ratified it.

Nonetheless, the Treaty cannot be brought into force by the UN General Assembly until it is signed by all “nuclear-capable” countries. So far, five of these countries have signed but not ratified the Treaty (China, Egypt, Iran, Israel, and the US) while three have not even signed it (North Korea, India, and Pakistan). Unfortunately, the status of the Treaty remains the same today, even after Kazakhstan (along with Japan) was nominated in 2015 to spearhead international efforts to promote the Treaty’s entry into force.

Aside from its multilateral and international institutional efforts, Kazakhstan also actively works to incite grassroots movements around the world. In this regard it launched the ATOM Project, “an international campaign designed to do more than create awareness surrounding the human and environmental devastation caused by nuclear weapons testing”. The Project calls for a worldwide moment of silence to honor the victims of nuclear weapons testing on 29 August, a day that is now globally recognized as the UN International Day Against Nuclear Tests thanks to Kazakhstan’s initiative. The date also symbolically signifies the date of the closure of the Semipalatinsk test site.

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