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United Nations Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty Continues to Gather Strength

September 21st, 2023  http://nuclearactive.org/

On Wednesday, September 19^th, the landmark Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons had been signed by almost half of all countries in the world after a ceremony at the United Nations General Assembly in New York where Sri Lanka acceded to the Treaty and the Bahamas signed it. 

This means 93 states have now signed, ratified or acceded to the Treaty that outlaws nuclear weapons and all nuclear weapons-related activity.

The Treaty was negotiated in 2017 and entered into force in 2021.  It is the first multilateral agreement to ban nuclear weapons in a comprehensive manner and establish a framework for their elimination.

Melissa Parke, the Executive Director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, or ICAN, said, “The growing support for the [Treaty] brings added authority to what is already the strongest international norm against the worst weapons of mass destruction.  This is sorely needed at this moment when the war in Ukraine and escalating tensions in the Korean peninsula have brought the world closer to nuclear war than at any time since the height of the Cold War.”

Speaking of Sri Lanka and the Bahamas, Ms Parke added, “Any use of nuclear weapons would be an unparalleled humanitarian and environmental catastrophe and these two countries are to be praised for doing their part to prevent these horrific weapons from ever being used in conflict again.”

With the Bahamas’ signature, adherence to the Treaty by Caribbean states is now almost universal.  Sri Lanka’s accession sends an important disarmament message to its nuclear-armed neighbors in South Asia, India and Pakistan.

The Treaty bans countries from developing, testing, producing, manufacturing, transferring, possessing, stockpiling, using or threatening to use nuclear weapons, or allowing nuclear weapons to be stationed on their territory.  It also prohibits countries from assisting, encouraging or inducing anyone to engage in these activities.  https://www.icanw.org/the_treaty

In November, the second meeting of state parties to the Treaty will be held at the United Nations.  https://www.icanw.org/tpnw_second_meeting_of_states_parties  Key areas of the Treaty will be discussed, which include disarmament, increasing risks, the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons and related issues.

Also up for discussion are the two verification pathways for a nuclear-armed state, like the United States of America, to join the Treaty.  The two pathways are:  elimination of a state’s arsenal and then joining the Treaty; or join the Treaty first and then eliminate the state’s arsenal.

For more information, please visit the ICAN website at https://www.icanw.org/.  CCNS is an ICAN Partner Organization.

September 23, 2023 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | weapons and war