International Organizations

Choose the Correct Answer

Correct Answer : Option d

Explanation
Overview: The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) serves as the world’s foremost intergovernmental forum for scientific and technical cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy. Established in 1957 as an autonomous international organization within the United Nations system, the IAEA carries out programmes to maximize the contribution of nuclear technology to society while verifying its peaceful use. The IAEA Secretariat has been led by Director General Yukiya Amano since December 2009. The IAEA works with its 164 Member States and multiple partners worldwide to promote safe, secure and peaceful use of nuclear energy. Through technical cooperation programmes the IAEA assists its Member States and promotes the exchange of scientific and technical information between them. The IAEA’s work also includes setting the framework for cooperative efforts to build and strengthen an international nuclear safety and security regime and verifying States’ fulfilment of their non-proliferation undertakings under the NPT.

Statement 1 is correct: Under Article III of the NPT, each non-nuclear-weapon State party undertakes the obligation to conclude a comprehensive safeguards agreement with the IAEA. Under such agreement, the IAEA has the right and obligation to ensure that safeguards are applied on all nuclear material in all peaceful nuclear activities within the territory of the State, under its jurisdiction or carried out under its control anywhere, for the exclusive purpose of verifying that such material is not diverted to nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.

Statement 2 is correct: The IAEA, through its technical cooperation (TC) programme, aims to support tangible socio-economic development by promoting the use of appropriate nuclear science and technology in addressing major sustainable development priorities of Member States at the national, regional and interregional levels. The programme concentrates on six thematic areas — human health, agricultural productivity and food security, water resources management, environmental protection, physical and chemical applications, and sustainable energy development, together with a cross cutting thematic area — safety and security — and supports the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. The IAEA’s TC programme is unique in the UN system, in that it combines significant technical and developmental competencies. It seeks to forge human and institutional capacities in Member States, so that they can safely and securely maximize the utilization of nuclear technologies to address challenges to sustainable socioeconomic development.