The U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

[Oscar]

The Treaty - The U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

[ https://www.icanw.org/the_treaty?fbclid ... l-december ]

On 7 July 2017 – following a decade of advocacy by ICAN and its partners – an overwhelming majority of the world’s nations adopted a landmark global agreement to ban nuclear weapons, known officially as the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. On 22 January 2021, the treaty will enter into force.

→ Full text of the treaty - [ https://www.icanw.org/full_text_of_the_treaty ]

→ Status of signature/ratification - [ https://www.icanw.org/signature_and_ratification_status ]

→ Government positions - [ https://www.icanw.org/how_is_your_country_doing ]

→ Archive: Negotiation briefings, speeches and other documents - [ https://www.icanw.org/nuclear_ban_treat ... ns_in_2017 ]

→ Photos of the negotiations - [ https://www.flickr.com/photos/icanw/alb ... 8775327224 ]

Prior to the treaty’s adoption, nuclear weapons were the only weapons of mass destruction not subject to a comprehensive ban, despite their catastrophic, widespread and persistent humanitarian and environmental consequences. The new agreement fills a significant gap in international law.

It prohibits nations 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 them from assisting, encouraging or inducing anyone to engage in any of these activities.

A nation that possesses nuclear weapons may join the treaty, so long as it agrees to destroy them in accordance with a legally binding, time-bound plan. Similarly, a nation that hosts another nation’s nuclear weapons on its territory may join, so long as it agrees to remove them by a specified deadline.

Nations are obliged to provide assistance to all victims of the use and testing of nuclear weapons and to take measures for the remediation of contaminated environments. The preamble acknowledges the harm suffered as a result of nuclear weapons, including the disproportionate impact on women and girls, and on indigenous peoples around the world.

The treaty was negotiated at the United Nations headquarters in New York in March, June and July 2017, with the participation of more than 135 nations, as well as members of civil society. It opened for signature on 20 September 2017. It is permanent in nature and will be legally binding on those nations that join it.

[Oscar]

Other Countries Have Proven They Want A World Without Nuclear Arms. Why Hasn't Canada?

[ https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/tru ... Z693IrFy_w ]

There's a gap between what Justin Trudeau's Liberals say and what they do.

By Bianca Mugyenyi, Contributor November 11, 2020 (***Numerous internal LINKS***)

Perhaps more than any other international issue, the Canadian government’s response to the move to abolish nuclear weapons highlights the gap between what the Liberals say and do on the world stage.

Honduras recently became the 50th country to ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). As such, the accord will soon become law for the nations that have ratified it on January 22.

This important step towards stigmatizing and criminalizing these ghastly weapons couldn’t have come at a more necessary time.

Under U.S. President Donald Trump’s leadership, the U.S. further undercut nuclear non-proliferation, pulling out of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty, Iran nuclear deal and Open Skies Treaty. Over 25 years the U.S. is spending $1.7 trillion to modernize its nuclear stockpile with new bombs that are 80 times more powerful than those dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The UN Institute for Disarmament Research argues that the risk of nuclear weapons use is at its highest since the Second World War. This is reflected by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which has its Doomsday Clock at 100 seconds to midnight, representing the most perilous moment humanity has faced in decades.

What has been Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s response? Canada was among the 38 countries that voted against holding the 2017 UN Conference to Negotiate a Legally Binding Instrument to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons, Leading Towards their Total Elimination (123 voted in favour). Trudeau also refused to send a representative to the forum attended by two-thirds of all countries that negotiated the TPNW. The prime minister went so far as to call the anti-nuclear initiative “useless,” and since then his government has refused to join the 84 countries that have already signed the treaty. At the UN General Assembly on Tuesday Canada voted against the 118 countries that reaffirmed support for the TPNW.

Incredibly, the Liberals have taken these positions all the while claiming to support a “world free of nuclear weapons.” “Canada unequivocally supports global nuclear disarmament,” Global Affairs claimed a week ago.

The Liberals have also prioritized championing an “international rules-based order” as a centrepiece of their foreign policy. Yet, the TPNW makes weapons that have always been immoral also illegal under international law.

The Liberals also claim to promote a “feminist foreign policy.” The TPNW, however, as noted by Ray Acheson, is the “first feminist law on nuclear weapons, recognizing the disproportionate impacts of nuclear weapons on women and girls.”

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[Oscar]

Canadian military support for nukes must be met with popular resistance

[ https://canadiandimension.com/articles/ ... resistance ]

Yves Engler / November 2, 2020

(PHOTO: No nuclear weapons have been based in Canada since 1984, but we actively participate in the nuclear defense of North America not only through membership in NATO, but also in NORAD. Photo from Flickr.)

“Why hasn’t Canada signed the UN Nuclear Ban Treaty?” [ https://www.facebook.com/events/397508931248785 ] is the title of an upcoming webinar featuring Liberal MP Hedy Fry, Green Party MP Elizabeth May, NDP deputy foreign affairs critic Heather McPherson, Bloc Québécois MP Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, and Setsuko Thurlow, who accepted the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. [ https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace ... n/lecture/ ]

This is an important and timely question in light of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) recently reaching the threshold required to enter into law. On October 24 Honduras became the 50th country to ratify the TPNW [ https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/hondu ... ty/2018185 ], meaning it will enter into force for those states in 90 days. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the development “represents a meaningful commitment towards the total elimination of nuclear weapons.”

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