ICAN nuclear ban treaty

January 1, 2019

ICAN: Nuclear ban treaty will take effect in 2019

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190102_01/

The founding chair of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons predicts that a treaty banning nuclear arms will go into effect this year.

The UN adopted the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in 2017. The pact will need to be ratified by 50 members before it can take effect. Nineteen countries had already gone through that process by the end of 2018.

ICAN co-founder Tilman Ruff told NHK that 69 countries and territories have signed the pact, and are moving towards ratification.

The Nobel Peace prize-winning group has also launched a campaign to seek support from cities in nations that have not signed the treaty.

Ruff says the pact is becoming even more important and urgent because the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty between the United States and Russia is under threat.

US President Donald Trump announced last year that Washington will pull out of the nuclear missile treaty with Russia.