The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW)

For the information about the TPNW Scientific Advisory Group (SAG), see here.

For the information about the the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to ICAN in 2017, see here.

TPNW Ratification Status @ Wikipedia

The official Treaty page at the UN Office of Disarmament web site with
  • status of signature and ratification
  • official text of the treaty in English

ICAN's Ban Treaty page gives access to

  • Full text of the treaty
  • Status of signature/ratification
  • Government positions
  • Photos of the negotiations

For general information on nuclear weapons and nuclear disarmament, in plain-language German, see Atomwaffen von A-Z prepared by IPPNW Deutschland.

Ratification by Austria, 8 May 2018

On 8 May 2018, Austria deposited its instrument of ratification, being the 9th state to do so.

A nice summary of the parlamentarian process (votes in both chambers were taken unanimously) in German was provided on ICAN Austria's web site but unfortunately they seem to have that deleted.

The official Austrian parliament documentation contains, in German language: Vertragstext, Vorblatt und WFA, Erläuterungen, Vertragstext in deutschsprachiger Übersetzung, in englischer Sprache, in französischer Sprache, as well as links to all the procedural steps and speeches made by parlamentarians.
An abridged version is provided by the Parlamentskorrespondenz of 21 March 2018 (the date when the National Council adopted the ratification) under the heading Nationalrat ratifiziert Anti-Atomwaffen-Abkommen.
Disappointingly, the ratification has received almost zero attention in the press.

Swiss government against signing the TPNW (August 2018)

Surprisingly, the Swiss government (Bundesrat) has decided not to sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. The decsion is based on a 11-page paper by the administration which presented a list of pros and cons. The paper is available at https://www.eda.admin.ch/dam/eda/de/documents/aussenpolitik/sicherheitspolitik/2018-bericht-arbeitsgruppe-uno-TPNW_de.pdf (in German).Many observers found it shocking that the Swiss government listed as one of the counterarguments that this would block the option "to take shelter under a nuclear umbrella" (of NATO, presumably) in the case of armed attack.

Events related to the TPNW and and other arms control treaties

NPT Review Conference, August 2022

The 2020 10th NPT RevCon now has been postoponed to 1-26 Aug 2022. See the Reaching Critical Will NPT2022 page for information on NGO Fora etc.

On 10 January 2022, the P-5 published a statement "on Preventing Nuclear War and Avoiding Arms Races" has been widely criticised, as the P-5 continue their nuclear modernisation / build-up. Nevertheless, it's not bad that they now agree "that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought".

TPNW First Meeting of States Parties in Vienna, June 2022

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) entered into force on 22 January 2021. Article 8, paragraph 2, of the Treaty specifies that "the first meeting of States Parties shall be convened by the Secretary-General of the United Nations within one year of the entry into force of this Treaty."

Originally scheduled to be held in January 2022, States Parties subsequently decided to hold the Meeting from 22 to 24 March 2022 at the United Nations Office at Vienna. Due to the Covid situation, it was rescheduled again and finally held 21-23 June 2022, see Official UN website for the TPNW-1MSP.

Broad NGO participation is foreseen, including a Civil Society Forum organised by ICAN with a series of events in Vienna for NGOs participating in the conference, as well as for the public.

Best overview with links to official documents on the Reaching Critical Will TPNW-1MSP page, including link to the Fourth Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons, organised by the government of Austria just before on 20 June 2022.

See also our (Scientists for Future) NGO Paper for this Meeting, Nuclear Armament Increasingly at Odds with Sustainable Development? (PDF),
and S4F Austria's blog articles on climate and military.

NPT Review Conference, Prepcom Vienna, August 2023

The Preparatory Committee for the 2026 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) is scheduled to hold its first session from 31 July to 11 August 2023 at the Vienna International Centre in Vienna, Austria. This will be the first of three planned sessions that will be held prior to the 2026 Review Conference.

ICAN provides a web page tracking the implementation of the actions decided at the 1MSP: : verification (Art. 4), victim assistance, environmental cooperation and international cooperation (Art. 6 and 7), Scientific Advisory Group, gender, and complementarity with other treaties.

TPNW Second Meeting of States Parties in New York, 27 Nov - 1 Dec 2023

Official web site at UN Office of Disarmament Affairs

Reaching Critical Will's 2MSP web site with many pertinent links

UN Web TV (live broadcast, daily 10-13 and 15-18 EST or 16-19 and 21-24 CET)

ICAN's MSP-TV (daily summary of MSP and NGO events)

Hybrid side events:

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