The policy arose from an 18-point Joint Declaration signed by the Ministers of foreign affairs of Brazil, Egypt, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, Slovenia and Sweden on June 9, 1998.
NWS’s right to possess a nuclear arsenal is countered by Article VI of the treaty, which says that they have a legal obligation to eventually disarm.
We can no longer remain complacent at the reluctance of the nuclear-weapon states and the three nuclear-weapons-capable states to take that fundamental and requisite step, namely a clear commitment to the speedy, final and total elimination of their nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons capability and we urge them to take that step now.
[2] The NAC re-iterated the criticism from its Joint Declaration of de jure nuclear-weapon states’ repeated obduracy and attempts to avoid fulfilling their Treaty obligations to eventually disarm in an address given by Irish Foreign Minister David Andrews on the occasion of the Joint Ministerial Statement.
The New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act of 1987 is seen as an embodiment of the nuclear-free world policy at the national level.