The idea behind the group is that a comprehensive understanding of the humanitarian impacts of nuclear weapons, their risks, and technical guidance for eliminating nuclear weapons is crucial to implementing the treaty. 

Disarmament Verification 

One area in which scientific advice has been and will continue to be invaluable is implementing the treaty’s provisions in Article 4 on verifying the destruction and removal of nuclear weapons. The first Meeting of States Parties advanced a timeline for disarmament by deciding on deadlines to eliminate nuclear weapons once a nuclear-armed state joins the treaty and to remove nuclear weapons should a country hosting another’s nuclear weapons join. Actions 15-18 of the Vienna Action Plan commit states to further advance this plan through discussions in the intersessional period on international authority to verify compliance with dismantlement and the designation of national contact points within ninety days on this subject. The treaty has already provoked fresh research on nuclear disarmament verification, including a new UN Institute for Disarmament Research report presented at the first Meeting of States Parties with expert contributions on implementing verification under the treaty.

Looking Ahead

The TPNW first Meeting of States Parties laid the groundwork for implementing the treaty and advancing toward total nuclear disarmament. The adoption of the Vienna Action Plan signals, like no other disarmament treaty action plan, the serious commitment of state parties not just to the ultimate goal of humanitarian nuclear disarmament but also to the inclusion of civil society and Indigenous peoples, gender equality, and more.

States parties have set themselves concrete, achievable goals. They have come up with a work structure in the time before the next Meeting of States Parties, already scheduled for November 27-December 1, 2023, under the presidency of Mexico’s Juan Ramón de la Fuente. Informal working groups will meet regularly to move the ball forward on universalization, victim assistance, environmental remediation (led by Kazakhstan and Kiribati), international cooperation and assistance, as well as the implementation of steps toward the total elimination of nuclear weapons, including the designation of competent international authority to verify elimination. Ireland, acting as an informal coordinator, will explore areas of cooperation between the TPNW and the NPT and all state parties will emphasize the complementarity between the TPNW and the entire existing disarmament and non-proliferation regime. 

As states gather in New York in August for the 10th NPT Review Conference, they can look to the success of the first Meeting of States Parties of the TPNW as a model for cooperative and productive work. This Action Plan is only the beginning. It is a “to-do list” for all states committed to achieving nuclear disarmament. All states serious about getting rid of weapons of mass destruction should join the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and take part in its framework of collective action to make it happen.

Alicia Sanders-Zakre is the Policy and Research Coordinator at the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). She directs and coordinates research on the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons and general nuclear weapons policy. ICAN received the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize for its work to draw attention to the humanitarian impacts of nuclear weapons and its efforts to establish the TPNW.

Ruth Rohde is the Policy and Research Intern at the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons and an M.A. student in the department of International History and Politics at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland. Ruth is also a co-founder and program-manager of the youth-led Corruption Tracker project, which seeks to document corruption in the global arms trade.

Image: Reuters.