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The United Nations has announced that 50 countries have ratified a UN treaty to ban nuclear weapons that activates its entry into force in 90 days, a measure hailed by anti-nuclear activists but with strong opposition from the United States and the other great powers. nuclear.
As of Friday (local time), the treaty had 49 signatories, including New Zealand, and the United Nations said the 50th ratification from Honduras had been received.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres praised all 50 states and praised “the instrumental work” of civil society to facilitate negotiations and push for ratification, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
The UN chief said that the entry into force of the treaty on January 22 culminates a worldwide movement “to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons” and “is a tribute to the survivors of explosions and tests. nuclear, many of which defended this treaty, “he said.
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Guterres said the treaty “represents a significant commitment towards the total elimination of nuclear weapons, which remains the top disarmament priority of the United Nations,” Dujarric said.
Beatrice Fihn, executive director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize winning coalition whose work helped spearhead the nuclear ban treaty, said: “This moment has passed 75 years since the horrible attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the founding of the UN, which made nuclear disarmament a cornerstone ”.
“The 50 countries that ratify this treaty are showing true leadership in establishing a new international standard that nuclear weapons are not only immoral but illegal,” he said.
The 50th ratification came on the 75th anniversary of the ratification of the UN Charter that officially established the United Nations and is celebrated as UN Day.
KM Chaudary / AP
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Lahore, Pakistan.
“The United Nations was formed to promote peace with the goal of abolishing nuclear weapons,” Fihn said. “This treaty is the UN at its finest, working closely with civil society to bring democracy to disarmament.”
The treaty requires that all ratifying countries “never under any circumstances … develop, test, produce, manufacture, acquire, possess or store nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.” It also prohibits any transfer or use of nuclear weapons or nuclear explosive devices – and the threat to use such weapons – and requires parties to promote the treaty in other countries.
Once it enters into force, all countries that have ratified it will be subject to those requirements.
The United States had written to the treaty’s signatories saying the Trump administration believes they made “a strategic mistake” and urging them to rescind its ratification.
The letter from the United States, obtained by The Associated Press, said that the original five nuclear powers (the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France) and the United States’ NATO allies “are united in our opposition to possible repercussions “of the treaty.
It says that the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, known as TPNW, “turns back the clock on verification and disarmament and is dangerous” for the half-century-old Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, considered the cornerstone of the global non-proliferation efforts.
Adam Berry / Getty-Images
Activists march during a demonstration against nuclear weapons in Berlin, Germany, in 2017.
“The TPNW is and will continue to be divisive in the international community and risks further deepening divisions in existing non-proliferation and disarmament fora that offer the only realistic prospect of consensus-based progress,” the letter said. “It would be unfortunate if TPNW were allowed to derail our ability to work together to address urgent proliferation.”
Fihn has emphasized that “the Non-Proliferation Treaty is about preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and eliminating nuclear weapons, and this treaty implements it. There is no way you can undermine the Non-Proliferation Treaty by banning nuclear weapons. It is the ultimate goal of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. “
The NPT sought to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons beyond the original five weapon powers. It requires that non-nuclear signatory nations not seek atomic weapons in exchange for the commitment of the five powers to move towards nuclear disarmament and guarantee non-nuclear states access to peaceful nuclear technology to produce energy.
Rebecca Johnson, co-founder and first chair of the International Campaign to Ban Nuclear Weapons, said: “The ban treaty is so much about making it much more possible for people around the world to see that no one needs nuclear weapons, and they are actually an impediment, an obstacle, they are in the way of dealing with the real security threats that we have on the ground, from Covid to the weather. “
She said in an interview with the AP that nuclear weapons cannot prevent or deal with conflicts such as the most recent war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh enclave. “They are a nuisance and they are very expensive, and the governments that have them are distracted from real security problems by constantly trying to pay for these arms races that they are still obsessed with.
KITCHEN / ROBERT THINGS
As Minister for Disarmament and Arms Control, Winston Peters announced New Zealand’s ratification of the treaty in 2018.
Francesco Rocca, President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said: “The simple reality is that the international community could never hope to face the consequences of a nuclear confrontation. No nation is prepared to face a nuclear confrontation. What we cannot prepare for, we must prevent. “
There are more than 14,000 nuclear bombs in the world, thousands of which are ready to be dropped in an instant, Rocca said. The power of many of these warheads is tens of times greater than that of the weapons dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
Secretary General Guterres said in an interview with the Associated Press on Wednesday: “It is clear to me that we will only be completely safe from nuclear weapons on the day that nuclear weapons no longer exist. We know it is not easy. We know that there are many obstacles ”.
He expressed hope that a number of important initiatives, including the US-Russia talks on the renewal of the New Start Treaty limiting deployed nuclear warheads, missiles and bombers and the review conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty of the next year, “they will converge in the same direction, and the ultimate goal must be to have a world without nuclear weapons.”
The treaty was approved by the 193-member UN General Assembly on July 7, 2017 by a vote of 122 in favor, the Netherlands opposed and Singapore abstained. Among the countries that voted in favor was Iran. The five nuclear powers and four other countries known or believed to possess nuclear weapons – India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel – boycotted the treaty negotiations and vote, along with many of their allies.
Setsuko Thurlow, a survivor of the Hiroshima bombing in 1945 who has been an ardent supporter of the treaty, said: “When I learned that we reached our 50th ratification, I couldn’t stand up.
“I stayed in my chair and put my head in my hands and wept tears of joy,” he said in a statement. “I have committed my life to the abolition of nuclear weapons. I have nothing but gratitude for all who have worked for the success of our treaty. “
