Signed by 50 countries: nuclear weapons ban treaty will soon enter into force – News

• 50 countries have pledged to stop making and developing nuclear weapons.
• It has signed a corresponding UN treaty.
• However: The five nuclear powers the United States, Russia, Great Britain, France and China do not belong to these countries.

After ratification by 50 countries, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons adopted by the UN in 2017 can enter into force in 90 days. Honduras became the 50th country to approve the treaty. It will now go into effect on January 22, the United Nations announced.

UN Secretary General António Guterres described the treaty as a significant step towards the total destruction of all nuclear weapons. Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, wrote on Twitter that the document could go into effect.

In the document, which is binding under international law, the signatories undertake “never, under any circumstances” to develop, manufacture, purchase, possess or store nuclear weapons.

However, the effects of the treaty are questionable because it had already been negotiated and approved without the nuclear powers and is still strictly rejected by them.