Bill Kidd along with parliamentarians from eight European countries met in Oslo to advance the mission of the Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty (TPNW). The conference was co-hosted by the Christian-Democratic Party, the Liberal Party and the Socialist Left Party of Norway.
Here are three key points from the conference:
- As the only international treaty to explicitly prohibit the threat of using nuclear weapons, the TPNW contributes to strengthening the nuclear taboo. In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, parliamentarians should use the TPNW as a tool to condemn nuclear threats.
- All governments should support the TPNW, support its implementation and join the treaty as soon as possible. As a preliminary step, governments should observe the second meeting of states parties to the TPNW in November 2023.
- In addition to condemning nuclear threats, nuclear disarmament must be a political priority for 2023. The G7 summit in the symbolic city of Hiroshima in May 2023 should become the starting point for the resumption of negotiations on global nuclear disarmament.