The last country to ratify the document was Honduras.
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) will enter into force on 22 January 2021. The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) announced this on its official website on Saturday.
“The Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty has been ratified by 50 countries. It will enter into force on 22 January 2021”, – the statement said. The last country to ratify the treaty on Saturday was Honduras. The day before the treaty was ratified by Jamaica and Nauru. It is noted that the treaty will enter into force 90 days after the deposit of the 50th instrument of ratification.
A report on the website underlines that before the adoption of the NPT, nuclear weapons were the only weapons of mass destruction not prohibited under international law, despite the “catastrophic humanitarian consequences”.
“This is a new chapter in nuclear disarmament. Dozens of years of active work have achieved what many thought was impossible: nuclear weapons are banned”, – said ICAN Executive Director Beatrice Fin.
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was adopted in New York on 7 July 2017 with the support of 122 UN Member States following negotiations in which nuclear powers, including Russia, UK, China, USA and France did not participate. According to the text of the document, the parties to the Treaty undertake “never and under any circumstances” to develop, test, produce or stockpile nuclear weapons, and not to use or threaten to use them. Countries that have acceded to the agreement will also be prohibited from stationing on their territory nuclear weapons of other states.
ICAN is a coalition of public organisations from more than 100 countries. It was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017 “for drawing attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and for its incredible efforts to secure a treaty banning such weapons”.