NGO alliance ICAN launches popular initiative to ban nuclear weapons
Published: Saturday, Nov 4th 2023, 14:01
Updated At: Sunday, Nov 5th 2023, 00:53
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Switzerland should join the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, as Parliament called for five years ago. To achieve this, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) is launching a popular initiative.
ICAN plans to examine the exact content of the initiative and the coalition by the end of the year in order to begin the preliminary examination by the Federal Chancellery at the beginning of 2024, as the international alliance of non-governmental organizations based on the outskirts of Geneva announced on its website.
According to ICAN, it is convinced that Switzerland can and should make an important contribution to the global abolition of nuclear weapons.
Switzerland is already a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1970. This treaty includes a ban on the proliferation of nuclear weapons, a commitment to disarmament and the right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
Last year, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons entered into force alongside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Switzerland is not a member of this treaty. The official and de facto nuclear powers as well as the NATO states, with the exception of the Netherlands, did not take part in the negotiations and did not sign the treaty later either.
As an observer state, the question arises as to whether this new treaty can find its place in the architecture built around the Non-Proliferation Treaty, said Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis in New York in August.
The Federal Council argues that it could be counterproductive if the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, as a universally recognized instrument for nuclear disarmament, were to be burdened by the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
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