“89 seconds to the end of the world”. The hands of the Doomsday Clock are ticking and not only that: in a few days the United States will host the third meeting dedicated to the TPNW – Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. The Glass Palace of the United Nations Secretariat in New York is almost ready to welcome 167 countries (94 signatories and 73 parties), and not only their institutional voice, since there will be a strong presence of NGOs accredited with ICAN – International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Nobel Peace Prize 2017 – precisely to represent the civil society that adheres to and yearns for disarmament at a global level.
The third meeting of the States Parties will take place from 3 to 7 March 2025 at the UN headquarters in New York, under the presidency of Kazakhstan.
What is the TPNW : key concepts, timing and a bit of history
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (full text in English here) is a document created to not only combat the proliferation of nuclear weapons, but to lead international political choices to a progressive abandonment of the instrument of nuclear deterrence, in relations between States, for the resolution of conflicts, and to order the destruction of the aforementioned devices.
It provides that meetings of the States Parties take place on a biennial basis and review conferences at six-year intervals to “consider and, where necessary, take decisions on any matter concerning the application or implementation of this Treaty”.
The first Meeting of the States Parties was held in Vienna from 21 to 23 June 2022 with the participation of 49 States Parties, 34 observer States and representatives of the United Nations, international and regional organizations, the International Committee of the Red Cross and civil society. The meeting adopted a series of ambitious decisions, including the Vienna Declaration and the Plan of Action.
The second meeting of States Parties took place from 27 November to 1 December 2023 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, with Mexico as Chair. 94 delegations, including State Parties, signatories and other observers attended, along with representatives of international agencies, including the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) and the CTBTO (Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization), the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross), as well as civil society organizations, affected communities, youth, parliamentarians and financial institutions. The meeting adopted a political declaration and a series of decisions that strengthen the intersessional process.
Now it is time for the third meeting, and it is directly from the American territory that I will report all the live updates regarding what will happen at the general conference and in the numerous side events scheduled throughout the week. In this edition, all the Working papers of the accredited NGOs were deposited; This means that civil society is putting forward proposals on how to integrate the Treaty, making a fundamental contribution to the international network which, given the current geopolitical situation, is growing more and more.
Nobody wants war, except those who wage it. They are a minority and this is the moment when international civil society can make a real difference.
Traslated by Evelyn Tischer
