On 7 July 2017 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 entered into force. The first Meeting of the States Parties to the treaty was due to take place in in Vienna in March 2022, but this was postponed for a second time due to Covid, and now takes place over 21-23 June (see updates below).
The following are links to a range of external sources of information, comment and news.
See also information and links relating to nuclear weapons on our Challenging militarism page
Background information
- Key information from the United Nations
- Nuclear weapons are banned: what does this mean for Britain? – report summary from Acronym Institute and others, January 2022
- Youth for TPNW
- The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons At A Glance (from ArmsContol.Org )
- How the Treaty Works – information from ICAN – the International Campaign for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons
- The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons: From Origins to First Meeting of States Parties – report and video of webinar, March 2022
- Video of online Network of Christian Peace Organisations’ briefing on 12 Jan 2021
- Briefing from the United Nations Association (UNA) UK
- Resource from CND Peace Education
- TPNW Dossier from Spokesman Books
- Quakers in Britain resources
Take action
News and comment
(see also updates from ICAN at https://www.icanw.org/updates )
- UN Treaty member states condemn nuclear threats, agree action plan for ending nuclear weapons (23 June 2022)
- Joint Interfaith Statement Welcoming the First Meeting of the States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (21 June 2022)
- UNA-UK urges UK Government to attend Vienna nuclear weapons meeting (8 June 2022)
- Ways to strengthen international security and pursue nuclear disarmament using the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons – Working paper submitted by Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy (AIDD) (June 2022)
- We don’t need another ban on nuclear threats, we already have one… the TPNW (Janet Fenton, in Peace News, 1 June 2022)
- The Humanitarian Case for Banning Nuclear Weapons: An Interview With Alexander Kmentt (May 2022)
- First Meeting of Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty set for June – (18 March 2022)
- ICRC urgently appeals to States to ensure that nuclear weapons are never used (14 March 2022)
- Age of majority: Clare Phillips’ Thought for the Week – (The Friend, 10 March 2022)
- First meeting of states parties to Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty Postponed (Feb 2022)
- New Report: 101 financial institutions restrict investments in nuclear weapons (January 2022)
- How Feminists, Survivors, and Non-Nuclear States Banned the Bomb (9 August 2021)
- The path from nuclear prohibition to disarmament (6 August 2021)
- Bangor becomes first Welsh Council to support Treaty on Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
(May 2021) - Churches oppose plans to increase stockpiles of nuclear weapons (16 March 2021 )
- Nuclear threat calls for leadership – (Church Times, 29 January 2021 )
- UN Treaty Paves the Way for a Nuclear-Weapons-Free World
- The responsibility to disarm and the nuclear ban treaty (22 January)
- Joint Interfaith Statement on the Entry into Force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (22 January 2021)
- Global nuclear policy is stuck in colonialist thinking. The ban treaty offers a way out (15 Jan 2021)
- UK is urged to sign UN nuclear-weapons treaty (Church Times 14 January 2021)
- Catholic Bishops call on UK to ‘forsake its nuclear arsenal’ (11 Jan 2021)
- The nuclear ban treaty: why international law matters (comment from Marigold Bentley, QPSW, 18 Dec 2020)
- Nuclear prohibition: Changing Europe’s calculations (25 November 2020)
- How I Came to Support the Treaty Prohibiting Nuclear Weapons (19 November 2020)
- Anglican Bishops call on government to sign the Ban Treaty (16November 2020)
- Nuclear disarmament : from ‘open-ended talks’ to ratification and beyond (28 October 2020)
- Nuclear weapons declared illegal under international law (press release from Quakers in Britain, 25 October 2020)
- Treaty to ban nuclear weapons made official with 50th UN signatory (25 October 2020)
- There is one clear shortcut to a nuclear-free Scotland … (22 October 2020)
In relation to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)
- Five nuclear weapon states vow to prevent nuclear war while modernizing arsenals – Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, January 2022
- The Stepping Stones Approach, the TPNW, and the Value of Complementarity for Sustainable, Verifiable Disarmament (BASIC blog), January 2022
- Boris Johnson ‘violating international law’ with plan to build more nuclear weapons (Independent comment, march 2021)
- The Relationship between the NPT and the TPNW
- The NPT and the TPNW: Compatible or conflicting nuclear weapons treaties?