The ban treaty, two years after: A ray of hope for nuclear disarmament
Posted: 2nd February 2023
By Alexander Kmentt | January 23, 2023
UN Secretary-General António Guterres (right) greets South African President Jacob Zuma at the signing ceremony for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons on July 7, 2017. (UN Photo/Kim Haughton)
Two years ago, on January 22, 2021, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) entered into legal force after Honduras became the fiftieth country to ratify it. Already at that time, nuclear dangers were considered very high. The Doomsday Clock stood at 100 seconds before midnight. The 2021 statement pointed to a dark nuclear landscape against which the entry into force provided a glimmer of hope.
Since then, this landscape has only darkened further.