TPNW Third Meeting of States Parties

The Third Meeting of States Parties (3MSP) to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) convened at United Nations Headquarters in New York from 3–7 March 2025, presided over by Kazakhstan's Ambassador Akan Rakhmetullin. It followed the First Meeting (Vienna, June 2022) and Second Meeting (New York, November–December 2023), continuing the treaty's implementation cycle established under Article 8 of the TPNW, which entered into force on 22 January 2021.

The meeting brought together states parties, signatories, observer states, UN agencies, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and civil society organizations including the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). Core agenda items addressed:

• Universalization of the treaty and outreach to non-party states
• Victim assistance and environmental remediation under Articles 6 and 7, advanced by the work of the dedicated scientific advisory group and the informal working group co-chaired by Kazakhstan and Kiribati
• Complementarity with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and other disarmament instruments
• The gendered impact of nuclear weapons and inclusive participation
• Responses to nuclear threats and rhetoric, including condemnation of threats of nuclear weapons use

No nuclear-armed state attended, and NATO members largely stayed away, though some umbrella states such as Germany, Norway, and Australia had observed prior meetings. Civil society pressed for stronger language on extended nuclear deterrence and on disarmament verification.

The meeting adopted a political declaration reaffirming the humanitarian foundations of the treaty and a package of decisions advancing its implementation framework. It also took forward preparations for the First Review Conference, scheduled under Article 8(2) to be held within five years of entry into force. For MUN delegates and researchers, 3MSP is a key reference point for tracking the normative trajectory of nuclear prohibition and the tension between TPNW supporters and nuclear-deterrence-reliant states.