Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) , NPT एंड इंडिया

The Ban Treaty could start an honest discussion about the utility and effectiveness of nuclear weapons

प्रतिबंध संधि परमाणु हथियारों की 

• उपयोगिता 
• प्रभावशीलता के बारे में एक ईमानदार चर्चा शुरू कर सकती है

International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons 

In the United Nations calendar, September 26 is the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons. 

This year’s General Assembly agenda 

includes a session on the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), or the Ban Treaty,

 as distinguished from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, NPT. 

UN is bitterly divided ? 

1 — over the war in Ukraine; over the Israel-Palestine conflict; and in responding to accelerating climate change and other related inequalities. 

2 Nuclear possession — threats or their use — threads through all these divisions. 

3 इसलिए, भारत समेत वे देश जो टीपीएनडब्ल्यू से बाहर रहे हैं, इस चर्चा पर किस तरह प्रतिक्रिया देते हैं

 यह बहुत मायने रखेगा। अगर वे संधि के समर्थकों को प्रतिबंध संधि  / Ban Treaty’s footprint  के दायरे को बढ़ाने के अपने प्रयासों को जारी रखने की अनुमति देते हैं, तो संधि का लक्ष्य - पूर्ण परमाणु निरस्त्रीकरण / total nuclear disarmament  - को बढ़ावा मिलेगा। 

लेकिन अगर संधि को कमजोर किया जाता है, तो परमाणु हथियार और अधिक मजबूत हो जाएंगे, और परमाणु उपयोग की छाया लंबी हो जाएगी।

What the Ban Treaty says

Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons VS  NPT   

1 TPNW which came into force in 2021, has once again divided the nuclear haves and their allies, and the nuclear abstainers.

2 signatories are barred from 

• developing, 
• testing, 
• producing, 
• stockpiling, 
• transferring, 
• using, 
• deploying, 
• keeping, or threatening to use any nuclear explosive devices. 

3 Thus, it goes beyond the NPT, which bans proliferation, but only promises to consider disarmament, and is silent on nuclear use, including deterrence.

The TPNW came from 

कैसे करके इसकी डिमांड उठी ? 

a collection of UN agencies and NGOs coming together under the Humanitarian Initiative to highlight the lasting and 

• pernicious / harmfull consequences of nuclear weapons,
•  covering development, 
• deployment, 
• use on people, 
• health, 
•  environment. 

legally binding प्रोविसिन के लिए विशेष सत्र 

 

 Discussions moved to the UN, with the General Assembly mandated to convene a conference in 2017 to negotiate ‘a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination’. 

यह एकमात्र संधि , पर जिनके पास हथियार हैं वो इससे बाहर हैं ? 

Thus the only treaty that legally bans all nuclear weapons and their use was adopted, but without the participation of nuclear weapons states and their allie

All of them registered their opposition to the treaty during its negotiation .

thereby establishing themselves as ‘persistent objectors’ who could not be bound by the treaty’s provisions and who do not consider it as contributing to customary international law.

कुछ देश जो खतरा बन  रहे ? 

Recent nuclear developments, such as 

1. Russia’s nuclear sabre-rattling, 
2. China’s rising weapons count, 
3. Iran’s continuing uranium enrichment, 
4.  North Korea’s tests

NATO states की तरफ से डिमांड  

A group of former leaders and officials of NATO states published an open letter urging their countries to join the treaty and thereby “place nuclear weapons on the same legal footing as chemical and biological weapons”. 

Among the former Prime Ministers and other officials are two former NATO Secretaries-General and a former UN Secretary General. These are significant voices.

अभी क्या स्थिति है ? 

As of July 2024, the TPNW had 70 states parties. Another 27 had signed but not yet ratified it. 

This support from 97 states represents almost 50% of states and parties bound to the legal framework on weapons of mass destruction. 

मांग कबसे बढ़ रही है ? 

since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Despite China and Russia’s ‘friendship without limits’, Chinese President Xi Jinping made public his opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s nuclear sabre-rattling. 

Treading a fine line

भारत क्या सोचता है ? 

India has not signed the NPT. New Delhi perceives the NPT to be discriminatory, believes that it does not promote disarmament, and is contrary to India’s interests. 

However, India has arguably benefited from the NPT’s curbing of the spread of nuclear weapons. It has never actively undermined the treaty — rhetoric and abstention notwithstanding.

TPNW has weaknesses

chiefly, the lack of a robust enforcement mechanism, but its normative potential in delegitimising nuclear possession and deterrence should not be underestimated. 

If the treaty eventually succeeds in relegating nuclear weapons to the same pariah status as chemical and biological weapons, that will make us all much safer. This will certainly not happen during the General Assembly session or any time soon

. The norm against nuclear use has solidified over decades; nuclear testing is gradually being delegitimised by the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, even if it has not come into force. The Ban Treaty could similarly start an honest discussion about the utility and effectiveness of nuclear weapons.

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