The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
How the nuclear ban treaty was created, why nuclear-armed states reject it, and the growing divide between nuclear haves and have-nots.
The Humanitarian Approach
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), adopted in 2017 and entering into force in 2021, is the first legally binding international agreement to comprehensively prohibit nuclear weapons. It bans the development, testing, production, stockpiling, transfer, use, and threat of use of nuclear weapons. The treaty emerged from the 'humanitarian initiative,' a movement that reframed the nuclear debate around the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any nuclear use.
The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), the civil society coalition that drove the treaty process, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017 for its efforts. The campaign drew strength from testimony by Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors (hibakusha), nuclear testing victims, and Red Cross/Red Crescent assessments that no humanitarian response could adequately address a nuclear detonation. By shifting the debate from strategic deterrence to humanitarian impact, the movement changed the political dynamics.
