The Nuclear Ban Treaty Needs Work if It’s to Deliver on the Environment

May 25, 2017 | Doug Weir
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In March this year, 132 states began negotiations on a treaty banning nuclear weapons, seeking to resolve an anomaly that had seen other forms of weapons of mass destruction or indiscriminate effect banned, while leaving the most destructive and indiscriminate largely unaddressed. The second round, which will take place in July, will consider a draft treaty text that was released this week. The text is similar in structure to those developed for other forms of indiscriminate weapons, with a strong focus on the humanitarian imperative for prohibition. In bizarre scenes during the negotiations, the nuclear weapons states (NWS) have been outside the room protesting, while civil society has been inside, contributing constructively to the process with states tired of the lack of progress towards nuclear disarmament under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The draft text and the ban process are of relevance to anyone with an interest in the environmental and derived humanitarian consequences of armed conflicts and military activities. Nuclear weapons have an unmatched potential to damage human health and the environment throughout their lifecycle, from production and testing, to their use or disposal, and it is vital that the eventual treaty text reflect these harms. Should this be achieved, the normative value of the treaty could prove beneficial for the developing debate on the Protection of the Environment in Relation to Armed Conflicts (PERAC) – a topic currently being studied by the International Law Commission (ILC).