By Ramesh Jaura
BERLIN | 4 March 2025 (IDN) — The West’s preoccupation with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine three years ago on 24 February and the spectre of a nuclear clash has put out of sight the urgent menace of 2,100 nuclear warheads nine states — Russia, United States, China, France, United Kingdom, Pakistan, India, Israel and North Korea — wield. Over 9,500 are in active military stockpiles, according to the Federation of Atomic Scientists’ 2024 State of the World’s Nuclear Forces.
The third Meeting of States Parties to The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) from 3 to 7 March at the UN headquarters in New York comes at a critical juncture against that backdrop. This Meeting is bringing together governments and civil society from all around the world, offering a beacon of hope as we continue to build on the Treaty’s vision of the total elimination of nuclear weapons as the world marks the 80th anniversary of the start of the nuclear threat.
The TPNW adopted on 7 July 2017 at the United Nations with the overwhelming support of the international community — which entered into force on 22 January 2021 — seeks to evade hell being let loose on humanity.
It was the first multilateral nuclear disarmament treaty negotiated in over two decades. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called the Treaty “an important step towards the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons and a strong demonstration of support for multilateral approaches to nuclear disarmament”.
While Russia has the most confirmed nuclear weapons, with over 5,500 nuclear warheads, the United States follows behind with 5,044, hosted in the US and five other nations: Turkey, Italy, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. The total nuclear warheads these two countries alone own count for nearly 90% of atomic weapons in the world.
The number of warheads for North Korea and Israel is unconfirmed. However, estimates are that North Korea has enough fissile material to develop between 40-50 individual weapons, whilst Israel has material for up to 200, with an estimated 90 existing warheads.
Despite a significant decline from the approximately 70,000 warheads the nuclear-armed states owned during the Cold War, from 1947 until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, nuclear arsenals are expected to grow over the coming decade. Today’s bombs are several times more destructive than those dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Article 8(2) of the Treaty specifies that “the Secretary-General of the United Nations shall convene the first Meeting of States Parties within one year of the entry into force of this Treaty. Further meetings of States Parties shall be convened by the Secretary-General of the United Nations on a biennial basis unless otherwise agreed by the States Parties.”
Meetings of States Parties
The first Meeting of States Parties occurred in Vienna, Austria, from 21 to 23 June 2022. The Meeting adopted a Declaration entitled “Our commitment to a world free of nuclear weapons” and the Vienna Action Plan for further implementation of the Treaty. The Meeting also took several additional decisions, including notably the establishment of deadlines for the removal from operational status and destruction of nuclear weapons and other nuclear explosive devices and their removal from national territories, as required by Article 4 of the Treaty. The report of the first Meeting (TPNW/MSP/2022/6) contains a record of all decisions taken.
The second Meeting of States Parties was held at United Nations Headquarters in New York from 27 November to 1 December 2023. It conducted thematic discussions on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons and adopted a Declaration entitled “Our commitment to upholding the prohibition of nuclear weapons and averting their catastrophic consequences”. The Meeting took several decisions, including establishing a consultative process on security concerns of States and working towards establishing an international trust fund for victim assistance and environmental remediation at the third Meeting. The report of the second Meeting (TPNW/MSP/2023/14) contains a record of all decisions taken at the Meeting.
Kazakhstan
The fact that Ambassador Akan Rakhmetullin of Kazakhstan is presiding over the third Meeting lends it added significance.
Kazakhstan, which had 1,410 Soviet strategic nuclear warheads and an undisclosed number of tactical nuclear weapons on its territory, was one of the Soviet Union’s two major nuclear test sites located at Semipalatinsk — officially closed in 1991 — where at least 460 nuclear tests took place.
Ever since the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been maintaining control of the nuclear-weapons-usable materials located in the country. Currently, it possesses no nuclear weapons. The Central Asian Republic is the only Soviet successor state to have signed the TPNW.
Considering that to date, 73 States have ratified or acceded to the Treaty and 94 have signed it, there are miles to go before achieving the TPNW’s objective as Article 1 requires “each State Party undertakes never under any circumstances to (a) develop, test, produce, manufacture, otherwise acquire, possess or stockpile nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices;
(b) indirectly transfer to any recipient whatsoever nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices or control over such weapons or incendiary devices directly or (c) receive the transfer of or control over nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices directly or indirectly;
(d) use or threaten to use nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices; (e) assist, encourage or induce, in any way, anyone to engage in any activity prohibited to a State Party under this Treaty;
(f) seek or receive any assistance, in any way, from anyone to engage in any activity prohibited to a State Party under this Treaty; and (g) allow any stationing, installation or deployment of any nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices in its territory or at any place under its jurisdiction or control.
Meanwhile, in a Joint Statement faith organisations have urged “all nations, particularly those currently possessing nuclear weapons or under their deterrence umbrellas, to join the Treaty without delay, to formalise the commitment that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought”. [IDN-InDepthNews]
Image: UN negotiating conference for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, 2017. Source: UN.
