Ban Nuclear Arms For World Peace

The ‘Nuclear Ban Week 2025’ kicked off in New York on March 1 ahead of the third Meeting of State Parties (3MSP) to the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. The 3MSP is a group of countries that have signed and ratified the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of the Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). In the week-long events, civil society groups from across the world are engaged in various activities, calling for the total ban of the nuclear arms proliferation, testing and use. Nuclear weapons are the most fatal weapons of mass destruction, which must be completely banned, for which the civilised people across the world need to join hands and work collectively.  The anti-nuke campaign marks the cluster of activities, seeking to raise higher awareness about the negative consequences of nuclear weapons for world peace, security, human health, environment, and human civilisation.

The ‘Nuclear Ban Week 2025’ is a part of the overall movement of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), which has been advocating actively to ban proliferation and testing of all kinds of nuclear weapons. The world has been under the fear of possible nuclear holocaust ever since the United States dropped atomic bomb in Hiroshima city of Japan in 1945 and three days after in Nagasaki. The two bombs caused untold devastation in these two cities. This sowed the seed of nuclear arms race as other countries, too, started nuclear arms proliferation. 

Nuke tests 

The United States is the pioneer country to proliferate, test and use the nuclear weapons. America first conducted the atomic weapons test ‘Trinity’ on July 16, 1945, followed by the Soviet Union (now Russia) testing its first nuclear bomb the "First Lightning," in Kazakhstan on August 29, 1949. During the Cold War, these two countries, which were also known as super powers, vied in proliferation of nuclear arms. As rivalry between the two superpowers or US and Soviet Union intensified during the Cold War, they competed to enlarge their nuclear arsenals and develop new generations of nuclear weapons, which are much more powerful than the older ones. Some other countries later developed nuclear capabilities and joined this nuclear club that included the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel. 

According to the ICAN, nine nuclear-powered countries have a total of 12,500 nuclear weapons in their armory, of which about 9585 are in a ready state for use. If the current stockpiles of nuclear weapons with these nine nuclear powers are used, they are more than sufficient to annihilate the entire humanity and destroy the planet earth. Given the devastating consequence of nuclear weapons, an international campaign to prevent nuclear arms proliferation and its use started in the 1960s. The Disarmament Committee of the United Nations prepared a draft of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT), which was finalised in 1968. The Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty was finally opened for signature on July 1, 1968, and it came into force on March 5, 1970.  

The NPT is a significant development in the international campaign for nuclear non-proliferation, which seeks to prevent a nuclear arms race and ultimately eliminate nuclear arms. The creation of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is another initiative for nuclear safety and non-proliferation. The IAEA conducts inspections and monitors to ensure that nuclear developments are in compliance with the NPT and are only for peaceful energy purposes. The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) is an important initiative that came into effect in 1996, which seeks to ban all kinds of nuclear explosions whether for military or peaceful purposes. 

Apart from these treaties, some bilateral agreements were reached between the United States and Russia to limit and discourage nuclear weapon proliferation. However, these arrangements and treaties failed to completely prevent the proliferation and tests in the absence of universal ratification, sincerity on the part of the nuclear states, and weak enforcement mechanism, as some countries including major nuclear powers have either not signed or ratified these treaties.  As a result, these treaties are not universally binding. Moreover, some countries continued to possess nuclear arms and some are seeking to proliferate more, which is unfortunate for the entire humanity.

Given the urgency to save humanity from any kind of new nuclear devastation, the UN General Assembly adopted yet another Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, or TPNW on 7 July 2017, outlawing the proliferation and use of nuclear weapons under any pretext in 2017. The TPNW came into force as the legally binding international instrument that prohibits the proliferation and use of nuclear weapons and also seeks to create a nuclear-weapon-free world. Despite its noble cause, some countries, including the nine nuclear powers, are not yet signatories to the treaty, while some are only signatories but have not been state parties. It shows the lack of commitment to the abolition of nuclear weapons. Nepal is a signatory to the TPNW but has not yet ratified it. 

Important step

The TPNW is an important step towards the abolition of nuclear weapons. If all non-nuclear countries join hands collectively and become state parties, this will certainly exert pressure on the nuclear powers to abandon their nuclear programmes and limit their arsenals, ultimately leading to the complete elimination and abolition of nuclear weapons. This is a noble cause that needs wholehearted support from all countries for the security and well-being of the entire humanity. The TPNW, thus, needs universal ratification that would make obligatory for all countries to give up and abolish nuclear weapons.

Nepal is a landlocked country sandwiched between two nuclear powers — India and China. These two countries are strategic rivals and have already fought a border war and minor border skirmishes take place occasionally between them.  Pakistan is another distant neighbour that is also a nuclear power. India and Pakistan are arch foes that have fought four wars since 1947. There is always fear of conflict between these nuclear powers. In such a case, Nepal may be caught in the crossfire. This also demands that Nepal be more vocal and proactive in the campaign to abolish nuclear weapons. Since Nepal is only a signatory to the TPNW but not a state party, it bodes well if Nepal ratifies the TPNW at the earliest so that it would be a proud member in the comity of nations as a champion for nuclear a free world.   

(The author is the former chief editor of this daily and former ambassador. lamsalyubanath@gmail.com)