Global support for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapon has been given a fresh new boost.
It comes after three more countries, Indonesia, the Solomon Islands and Sierra Leone, ratified the treaty at a ceremony at the United Nations in New York.
The TPNW came into force in 2021 and now has 73 states parties with a further 25 signatories. Indonesia becomes the largest state party by population.
The treaty bans nuclear weapons and all nuclear weapons-related activity, including developing, testing and threatening to use them.
Comment came from the Executive Director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), Melissa Parke.
She congratulated the three countries, saying, “The growing support for this treaty is tremendously encouraging.
“In these times of heightened nuclear risks, principled leadership for nuclear disarmament is more crucial than ever.”
Indonesia’s ratification is particularly significant, Parke added.
“Unlike some other large countries, Indonesia has embraced disarmament, as it understands that nuclear weapons only create enmity, mistrust and insecurity.”
According to the Indonesian government, its decision to ratify the TPNW aligned with its constitutional mandate to promote peace and security, and sent a clear message to the world that “the possession and use of nuclear weapons cannot be justified for any reason”.
The Indonesian foreign minister, Retno Marsudi, deposited the country’s instrument of ratification at a high-level ceremony at the United Nations headquarters in New York.
Her counterparts from Sierra Leone, Timothy Musa Kabba, and the Solomon Islands, Peter Shanel Agovaka, did the same.
The chief executive of the Campaign for Human Rights and Development International, one of ICAN’s partner organisations in Sierra Leone, Abdul M Fatoma, welcomed the government’s action: “Sierra Leone’s ratification of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is an important contribution to peace and sustainable development. Nuclear weapons threaten our fundamental human rights and contribute to global instability.”
Maverick Peter Seda from the Malaita Provincial Youth Council, an ICAN partner organisation in the Solomon Islands said: “This is amazing news for all the young people in the Solomon Islands who have worked tirelessly to promote this outcome. We are committed to the goal of a nuclear-free Pacific and world.”
In addition to the three countries’ foreign ministers, the ceremony was attended by the UN High Representative and Undersecretary General for Disarmament Affairs, Izumi Nakamitsu, the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mirjana Spoljaric Egger.
The treaty bans countries 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 these activities.
It was negotiated at the United Nations in 2017 and entered into force in 2021.
The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) is a coalition of non-governmental organizations in 100 countries promoting adherence to and implementation of the United Nations nuclear weapon ban treaty.
The landmark global agreement was adopted in New York on 7 July 2017. The campaign was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 2017, for its “ground breaking efforts to achieve a treaty-based prohibition” of nuclear weapons.
