A treaty to ban nuclear weapons garnered 51 signatures from United Nations member states this week after it became eligible Wednesday for signing, despite strong objections of the body’s nuclear-armed nations.
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which not a single nuclear-armed U.N. member supports, must be ratified by 50 nations to enter into force. Three U.N. member states had ratified the accord by deadline Friday: Guyana; the Holy See; and Thailand. The U.N. adopted the treaty on July 7.
The North Atlantic Council, the political decision-making body of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), panned the accord Wednesday.
“Seeking to ban nuclear weapons through a treaty that will not engage any state actually possessing nuclear weapons will not be effective, will not reduce nuclear arsenals, and will neither enhance any country’s security, nor international peace and stability,” the council stated. “Indeed it risks doing the opposite by creating divisions and divergences at a time when a unified approach to proliferation and security threats is required more than ever.”
Nations that ratify the treaty may not “Develop, test, produce, manufacture, otherwise acquire, possess or stockpile nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices,” according to the text of the accord posted online.
Parties to the treaty also may not host nuclear weapons belonging to other states, nor — in a prohibition that worries the Donald Trump administration — “Assist, encourage or induce, in any way, anyone to engage in any activity prohibited to a State Party under this Treaty[.]”
The United States and its allies strongly opposes the treaty. A White House official in August said the document was hastily and shoddily written, and might prohibit nations that ratify the measure from having a security relationship with nuclear-armed states.
“Advocates of the ban are fundamentally unserious about addressing the real challenges of maintaining peace and security in a complicated and dangerous world,” Christopher Ford, senior director for weapons of mass destruction and counterproliferation at the National Security Council, said last month in prepared remarks at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Ford also warned that signatories might have to prohibit businesses within their borders from dealing with nuclear-armed nations and their allies.
