ECFA participation in the First Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) in Vienna (21-23 June 2022) and the Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons (June 20, 2022)

(Report by Dr. Yousry Abo Shady)

Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons “HINW”

This initiative is about the gravity of the use of nuclear weapons and their impact on humanity. It is an initiative that began in Oslo in 2013 and then in Vienna 2014, as Austria led a group of states calling for a comprehensive ban on nuclear weapons as a tool that could lead to the annihilation of humanity. This initiative, in cooperation with many people’s and non-governmental organizations, was able to reach the conclusion of a treaty banning nuclear weapons and submitting it to the United Nations General Assembly in 2016. Austrian Minister Alexander Schallenberg, Federal Minister for European and International Affairs, inaugurated this conference at the Austria Center Vienna, which was attended by large numbers of states and people’s organizations. Its main activities included the various seminars on the impact of the use of nuclear weapons, whether tactical with limited capacity or hydrogen, under the of mass destruction effect. A humorous question was presented about the reasons for the increase of the effects of radiation on women and children compared to men. The conference recommended supporting the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) and attempting to convince the states that own these weapons to abandon them through the peoples of these countries and spread awareness on the dangers to humanity in the event of their use.

First Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons “TPNW”

The meeting was opened in Vienna on June 21, 2022, in the presence of representatives from 83 states representing 49 signatories and ratifiers of the treaty, including the State of Palestine (out of 65), as well as 34 states as observers, including 14 states that have signed the treaty but have not yet ratified it (out of 24 states that have not yet ratified) and 24 non-signatory states, including states in NATO (Germany – Norway – Netherlands – Belgium) and others. Eight Arab countries participated in the conference (State of Palestine – Algeria – Libya – Qatar – Morocco – Iraq – Yemen – Mauritania). Dozens of international organizations and non-governmental organizations also participated in the conference. Although Egypt participated in 2017 in approving the adoption of this treaty in the United Nations General Assembly (among 122 countries), it did not sign the treaty due to the lack of agreement on the Egyptian international initiative regarding a Middle East free of all nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction and Israel’s rejection to sign the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Egypt did not participate in this conference.

The main decisions and recommendations reached by the conference include the following:

1. Forming a working group of a number of states and international organizations to set deadlines for the removal and destruction of all nuclear weapons and removing them from the territories of states that do not possess them.

2. Setting a period of 10 years for dismantling and destroying the nuclear weapons of the states that ratified the treaty, with an additional grace period of 5 years with the approval of the members of the treaty, and a maximum period of 90 days for states that have nuclear weapons owned by another state on their territory to transfer them outside their territory.

3. Establishing a professional international organization with technical capabilities that enable it to ensure compliance by the treaty member states with its provisions, especially through technical means of ensuring, similarly to international organizations responsible for the implementation of other treaties such as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA-NPT), the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

Brazil and Mexico submitted a draft proposal for the establishment, functioning and financing of this organization. The conference recommended the establishment of a scientific advisory group of 8 to 15 member states of the treaty as a step to propose a practical method for its application and verification.

4. Solidarity and support for the victims of nuclear tests of weapons and explosions and the elimination of their impact on the environment.

5. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is the cornerstone for getting rid of nuclear weapons (Article VI), and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is its complement.

6. Nominating Thailand and New Zealand as facilitators.

7. Nominating Mexico to chair the second conference of the treaty to be held at the United Nations headquarters in New York from November 27 to December 1, 2023. Mexico’s permanent representative to the United Nations in New York, Ambassador Juan Ramirez, was nominated as the chair of this conference. Kazakhstan was also nominated to chair the third conference.

8. The conference issued a declaration and a plan of action dubbed Vienna.

      In fact, out of the follow-up of the activities of the conference and the speeches of the speaker states, we can conclude that the gap between the treaty member states and the important nuclear states, especially the nuclear weapon states, or those on whose territory nuclear weapons belonging to other states, or states engaged in military alliances with major nuclear states, or states that suffer from nuclear power imbalance in some regions, especially the Middle East region – is a very big gap, and it may continue for decades until a nuclear catastrophe occurs using these weapons, whether intentionally or not. Therefore, it can be said that despite the formal success of the start of the implementation of this treaty, it will not add much to the process of getting rid of nuclear weapons, but it can have an important role in mobilizing a strong popular opinion against these weapons.