Universal Verification Systems and the Treaty of Tlatelolco

For several decades after the nuclear explosions of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, one of the fundamental concerns of the international community has been to prevent the propagation of nuclear weapons and strengthen commitments to use nuclear energy exclusively for peaceful aims. This essay's purpose is to analyze the verification systems in the light of the role they play in both the Treaty of Tlatelolco and in the Nuclear Weapons Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT). With this purpose in mind, the safeguard systems are defined first, and a report on their development is given. Later, the weakness and deficiencies of these systems are pointed out, as are the resulting consequences, and lastly, the efforts are described that are currently being made to reinforce and adapt them to the new challenges.