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1 1 (October 29, 2020)

handle is hein.crs/govdciq0001 and id is 1 raw text is: I Congressional Research $evice The Nuclear Ban Treaty: An Overview Updated October 29, 2020 Since the founding of the United Nations in 1945, the UN General Assembly (UN GA) has called for the elimination of nuclear weapons. UNGA Resolution A171/258 (2016) called on UN member states to negotiate in 2017 a legally binding Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), also known as the nuclear ban treaty. Negotiations ended on July 7, 2017, when 122 countries voted to approve the treaty. Singapore abstained, and the Netherlands voted against it, citing conflicts between the treaty and its commitments as a member of NATO. The United States and 40 other states did not participate in negotiations. To date, 84 countries have signed and 50 countries have ratified the treaty. In accordance with Article 15, the TPNW will enter into force 90 days following the 50th ratification, which will be on January 22, 2021. Civil society groups advocated for a nuclear ban, and in 2017, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the nongovernmental International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) for its advocacy role. Article 1 of the TPNW says that adherents would never develop, produce, manufacture, otherwise acquire, possess or stockpile nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices. This includes a prohibition on hosting nuclear weapons that are owned or controlled by another state. Nor would states parties transfer, receive control over, or assist others in developing nuclear weapons. They also would not use or threaten to use nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices. Article 7 requires states to give assistance to individuals affected by the use or testing of nuclear weapons and provide for environmental remediation. Article 2 requires a declaration stating whether or not the member state had possessed nuclear weapons in the past. In addition, Article 4 requires states with nuclear weapons to submit within 60 days a time- bound plan for the verified and irreversible destruction of that State Party's nuclear-weapon program, to be verified by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Some argue that would-be treaty members should devise disarmament details after joining the treaty, because establishing a norm against nuclear weapons possession and use is the highest priority. Other observers say it is appropriate that the treaty does not delineate disarmament steps, as none of those states affected are participating in the negotiations, and it would be more effective for each state be able to determine its own timeline. Some critics are concerned that the new treaty would undermine the NPT's verification system of IAEA safeguards. The near-universal NPT, signed in 1968 and entered into force in 1970, commits the five officially recognized nuclear weapons states (United States, United Kingdom, Russia, France, and China) to disarmament but is not an outright ban on possession. Nonnuclear weapon NPT states foreswear nuclear weapons and place nuclear materials and facilities under international safeguards. The NPT nuclear weapon states, also the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, oppose the TPNW. The United States, UK, and French UN Permanent Representatives issued a joint press release stating: A purported ban on nuclear weapons that does not address the security concerns that continue to CRS NS GHT Prepared for Members and Cornrite s -!, Con~gress

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