Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, or the Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty, is the first legally binding international agreement to comprehensively prohibit nuclear weapons, with the ultimate goal being their total elimination. It was adopted on 7 July 2017, opened for signature on 20 September 2017, and entered into force on 22 January 2021.
For those states that are party to it, the treaty prohibits the development, testing, production, stockpiling, stationing, transfer, use and threat of use of nuclear weapons, as well as assistance and encouragement to the prohibited activities. For nuclear-armed states joining the treaty, it provides for a time-bound framework for negotiations leading to the verified and irreversible elimination of its nuclear weapons programme.
A mandate adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 23 December 2016 scheduled two sessions for negotiations: 27 to 31 March and 15 June to 7 July 2017. The treaty passed on schedule on 7 July with 122 in favour, 1 against, and 1 official abstention. States that have joined the treaty are typically also members of nuclear-weapon-free zones. None of the states that possess nuclear weapons have joined the treaty, nor have any of the states that participate in nuclear sharing or extended nuclear deterrence relationships, including NATO members, Australia, Belarus, Japan, and South Korea.
Concept
According to its proponents, a treaty banning nuclear weapons will constitute an "unambiguous political commitment" to achieve and maintain a nuclear-weapon-free world. However, unlike a comprehensive nuclear weapons convention, it was not intended to contain all of the legal and technical measures required to reach the point of elimination. Such provisions will instead be the subject of subsequent negotiations, allowing the initial agreement to be concluded relatively quickly and, if necessary, without the involvement of nuclear-armed states.Proponents of the ban treaty believe that it will help stigmatize nuclear weapons, and serve as a catalyst for elimination. Around two-thirds of the world's countries have pledged to work together "to fill the legal gap" in the existing international regime governing nuclear weapons, and view a nuclear weapons–ban treaty as one option for achieving this objective.
Nuclear weapons – unlike chemical weapons, biological weapons, anti-personnel landmines and cluster munitions – are not prohibited in a comprehensive and universal manner. The Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1968 contains only partial prohibitions, and nuclear-weapon-free zone treaties prohibit nuclear weapons only within certain geographical regions.
Overview of provisions
The preamble of the treaty explains the motivation by the "catastrophic consequences" of a use of nuclear weapons, by the risk of their sheer existence, by the suffering of the hibakusha and the victims of nuclear tests, by "the slow pace of nuclear disarmament" and by "the continued reliance on nuclear weapons in military and security concepts" like deterrence. It recognizes "the disproportionate impact of nuclear-weapon activities on indigenous peoples". It expresses compliance with existing law: the UN charter, international humanitarian law, international human rights law, the very first UN resolution adopted on 24 January 1946, the NPT, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and its verification regime, as well as nuclear-weapon-free zones. Furthermore, the "inalienable right" of peaceful use of nuclear energy is emphasized. Finally, social factors for peace and disarmament are recognized: participation of both women and men, education, public conscience, "international and regional organizations, non-governmental organizations, religious leaders, parliamentarians, academics and the hibakusha".Article 1 contains prohibitions against the development, testing, production, stockpiling, stationing, transfer, use and threat of use of nuclear weapons, as well as against assistance and encouragement to the prohibited activities. Finally, any direct or indirect "control over nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices" is forbidden.
Article 2 requires each party to declare whether it had nuclear weapons of their own or deployed on its territory, including the elimination or conversion of related facilities.
Article 3 requires parties that do not possess nuclear weapons to maintain their existing IAEA safeguards and, if they have not already done so, to accept safeguards based on the model for non-nuclear-weapon states under the NPT.
Article 4 sets out general procedures for negotiations with an individual nuclear-armed state becoming party to the treaty, including time limits and responsibilities. If that state has eliminated its nuclear weapons before becoming a party to the treaty, it mandates verification of that elimination by an unspecified "competent international authority", and the state must also conclude a safeguards agreement with the IAEA to provide credible assurance that it has not diverted nuclear material and has no undeclared nuclear material or activities. If that state has not yet destroyed its arsenal, it must negotiate with the "competent international authority" a time-bound plan for the verified and irreversible elimination of its nuclear weapons programme, which it will submit to the next meeting of signing states or to the next review conference, whichever comes first.
Article 5 is about national implementation. Article 6 requires environmental remediation and assistance for the victims of the use and testing of nuclear weapons. According to Article 7, states should assist each other to fulfil these purposes, with special responsibility of the nuclear powers. More generally, all state parties shall cooperate to facilitate the implementation of the treaty. Article 8 fixes meetings of states parties, the costs of which are shared by the states according to the UN scale of assessment. Articles 10–12 are about the possibility of amendments, the settlement of disputes and the "goal of universal adherence of all States to the Treaty".
According to Articles 13–15, the treaty was open for signature from 20 September 2017 at the UN headquarters in New York. The "Treaty shall enter into force 90 days after the fiftieth instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession".
Article 16 states that the Treaty "shall not be subject to reservations".
Articles 17–20 regulate Withdrawal, Relationship with other agreements, the equality of treatment for every official translation of the Treaty, and all the other formalities that the Treaty required.
History, intentions, and impact
Preparations, 2010–2016
Proposals for a nuclear weapons–ban treaty first emerged following a review conference of the NPT in 2010, at which the five officially recognized nuclear-armed state parties – the United States, Russia, United Kingdom, France and China – rejected calls for the start of negotiations on a comprehensive nuclear weapons convention. Disarmament advocates first considered starting this process without the opposed states as a "path forward". Subsequently, a less technical treaty concentrated on the ban of nuclear weapons appeared to be a more realistic goal.Three major intergovernmental conferences in 2013 and 2014 on the "humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons", in Norway, Mexico and Austria, strengthened the international resolve to outlaw nuclear weapons. The second such conference, in Mexico in February 2014, concluded that the prohibition of a certain type of weapon typically precedes, and stimulates, its elimination.
In 2014, a group of non-nuclear-armed states known as the New Agenda Coalition presented the idea of a nuclear weapons–ban treaty to NPT states parties as a possible "effective measure" to implement Article VI of the NPT, which requires all states parties to pursue negotiations in good faith for nuclear disarmament. The NAC argued that a ban treaty would operate "alongside" and "in support of" the NPT.
In 2015, the UN General Assembly established a working group with a mandate to address "concrete effective legal measures, legal provisions and norms" for attaining and maintaining a nuclear-weapon-free world. In August 2016, it adopted a report recommending negotiations in 2017 on a "legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination".
In October 2016, the First Committee of the UN General Assembly acted upon this recommendation by adopting a resolution that establishes a mandate for nuclear weapons–ban treaty negotiations in 2017. North Korea was the only country possessing nuclear weapons that voted for this resolution, though it did not take part in negotiations.
A second, confirmatory vote then took place in a plenary session of the General Assembly in December 2016.
First negotiations and draft, March 2017
From 27 to 31 March 2017, convened as the United Nations Conference to Negotiate a Legally Binding Instrument to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons, Leading Towards their Total Elimination, a first round of negotiations was held at UN headquarters in New York, with the participation of 132 member states. At the end, the president of the negotiating conference, Elayne Whyte Gómez, permanent representative of Costa Rica to the UN in Geneva, called the adoption of a treaty by 7 July "an achievable goal". They agreed that the week's debates had set the stage well for the negotiations in June and July.Summarizing the discussions, a first ban treaty draft was presented on 22 May by Elayne Whyte Gómez. The German section of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons highlighted Article 1, 2a prohibiting any stationing of nuclear weapons on their own territory. Hence, several NATO states – Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and Turkey – would have to end contracts on nuclear sharing with the USA before they could sign the negotiated ban treaty. Already in 2010, the German Bundestag had decided by a large majority to withdraw nuclear bombs from Germany, but this decision was never implemented. By contrast, in June 2017 foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel again confirmed nuclear stationing in Germany as well as the principle of equilibrium nuclear deterrence against Russia. He stated that consequently Germany could not support the ban process.
The only NATO member participating in the treaty negotiations was the Netherlands.
Article 1, 1c prohibits direct or indirect control of nuclear weapons. Accepting this provision would preclude a common European nuclear force or German financing of and limited decision on the French force de frappe; both options are sometimes discussed.