‘Nuclear war is an ever-present accident waiting to be launched, and having nuclear weapons makes us more vulnerable, not safer.' Photo: courtesy of ICAN
‘Banniversary’ of anti-nuclear treaty
'Britain urgently needs an informed public conversation about what our security means.'
The government is facing renewed calls to engage with the UN’s multilateral Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) as one year passes since it was ratified.
Other calls – made in a report released by Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) to mark the anniversary – are for the UK to fully comply with its existing obligations under the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Unless it is cancelled because of Covid, the UK should also attend the first meeting of TPNW States Parties, currently scheduled for Vienna in March 2022, as an observer, ‘as this will enable the UK to keep informed and participate constructively as the treaty’s verification systems get developed’.
The report also urges also urges that the Westminster and Scottish parliaments should undertake cross-party investigations to determine what would be entailed in pursuing nuclear disarmament and joining the TPNW.
Rebecca Johnson, CND vice-president, said: ‘Nuclear war is an ever-present accident waiting to be launched, and having nuclear weapons makes us more vulnerable, not safer. The TPNW has made nuclear weapons illegal, and with public support, local authorities and ethical investors are increasingly divesting from nuclear weapons. Britain urgently needs an informed public conversation about what our security means, and how we want to prioritise our resources.’
The report – titled ‘Nuclear weapons are banned! What does this mean for Britain?’ – looks at the new treaty and its implications for British nuclear policies with a Parliamentary CND webinar.
Chaired by CND general secretary Kate Hudson, the webinar features report author Rebecca Johnson; the UK’s disarmament ambassador in Geneva, Aidan Liddle; Kirsten Oswald MP, chair of Parliamentary CND; and The Guardian’s Washington-based world affairs editor, Julian Borger.
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) was negotiated at the United Nations in 2017 and entered into international legal force on 22 January 2021.
It has fifty-nine state parties and eighty-six signatories.
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