One of the priority areas for the 2014 Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) in The Hague was highlighting the need to build confidence in adherence to the nuclear security measures agreed upon both within and outside the context of the NSS process. This focus stems from the general principle that States have a fundamental interest in the highest possible nuclear security standards being applied in every other State. Confidence-building as such is not controversial. However, determining the precise means and methods of building confidence is where hesitation and disagreements arise. Applicable legally-binding instruments, such as the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material and the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism, as well as Security Council Resolution 1540, already contain certain mechanisms related to confidence-building in the form of inter alia reporting requirements, information sharing, coordination, cooperation and provisions for interaction. Not all of these mechanisms have been made full use of in practice. These law-based mechanisms, though, are limited as the international nuclear security regime is founded in large part on legally non-binding instruments, such as the Nuclear Security Series documents developed under the auspices of the IAEA. In the context of the NSS process, a number of suggestions have been made by the NGO community as well as by participating States with the aim of increasing trust in the strength of the regime. Such proposals have ranged from expressing political commitment to implement the IAEA recommendations to establishing a peer review process similar to that under the legal framework for nuclear safety. This paper identifies and assesses measures that are feasible in light of State sensitivities, yet that will have the best chance of achieving the goal of building confidence in compliance with the nuclear security regime. Confidence-building measures are essential to the strength of the regime, not only building trust among States but also serving to further compel compliance. As such, determining workable approaches to confidence-building is vital to the continued viability of the regime as a whole.
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