- Staff
Celebrating the 2nd Anniversary of the TPNW
January 2023
January 22, 2023 marked the second anniversary of the entry-into-force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). The Treaty — signed by 92 and ratified by 68 states parties to date — includes a comprehensive set of prohibitions on participating in any nuclear weapon activities. States parties to the TPNW are:
Prohibited from developing, testing, producing, acquiring, possessing, stockpiling, using or threatening to use nuclear weapons.
Prohibited from deploying nuclear weapons on national territory
Prohibited from providing assistance to any State in the conduct of prohibited activities.
Obliged to prevent and suppress any activity prohibited under the TPNW undertaken by persons or on territory under its jurisdiction or control.
Obliged to provide adequate assistance to individuals affected by the use or testing of nuclear weapons, as well as to take necessary and appropriate measure of environmental remediation in areas under its jurisdiction or control contaminated as a result of activities related to the testing or use of nuclear weapons.
Throughout the week of January 16-23, peace groups across the globe took action to thank the 68 brave nations who have already joined the Treaty, and to urge the United States to do the same. See photos from events worldwide at the Nuclear Ban Treaty Collaborative’s Facebook page. “It’s important to promote the Ban Treaty and to persuade the U.S. to sign it at this particular time, because the world is now embroiled, since the invasion of Ukraine, in the worst nuclear emergency since the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962,” said Jack Baldwin of The Manhattan Project for a Nuclear-Free World. “Two nuclear-armed superpowers are locked in a deadly confrontation in which nuclear weapons have not been taken off the table. The whole concept of nuclear weapons as a deterrent has been disproved by this new European war.”
PANYS was pleased to take part in this week of action to promote the TPNW and say THANK YOU to those 68 brave nations who are helping to move us another step back from the brink of nuclear disaster. Thank you to all those who participated!
Roses to Missions 2023
View a full list of endorsers here.
As part of the third annual Roses to Missions project in honor of the TPNW, PANYS members joined in visiting the NYC missions of new states parties to the Treaty, including Cabo Verde, the Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, the Dominican Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Grenada, Guatemala, Malawi, and Timor-Leste.
CLICK HERE to hear coverage from The News with Paul DiRienzo.
Rally for the TPNW in New York City
On Friday, January 20th, activists from a coalition of peace groups marked the second anniversary of the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) with a rally in Midtown Manhattan followed by a march to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. The demonstrators urged the U.S. to join the Treaty, which includes a broad set of prohibitions on the possession and use of nuclear weapons. 68 states parties – roughly 1/3 of the world’s nations – have already signed and ratified the treaty. Unfortunately, neither the U.S. nor any of the world’s 9 nuclear-armed states have done the same.
Gallery photos courtesy of Hideko Otake. View more photos here.
Upstate Rallies
Rochester Veterans For Peace, Chapter 23, Rochester (VFP23) and Genesee Valley Citizens for Peace (GVCP) joined forces to rally at the Kenneth B. Keating Federal Building and Courthouse in Rochester in support of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) on the 2nd Anniversary of its entry into force on 22 January 2021. Speakers presented demands to U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer (D) and Kirsten E. Gillibrand (D), and U.S. Representative Joseph Morelle (D-NY-25). Local politicians were also invited. Read coverage from The LCN.
"For too long, the discussion about nuclear weapons has been about policy, and about military force,” said Holly Adams of Genesee Valley Citizens for Peace. “This conversation masks the reality of nuclear weapons: if even a small fraction of them are used, the planet we live on will no longer sustain life. Hundreds of millions will die instantly; the rest will starve during the long nuclear winter that follows.”
Westchester Concerned Families of Westchester held a vigil in Hastings, NY on Saturday, January 21st in support of the UN Treaty, and distributed leaflets.