G20 leaders affirm in Delhi that nuclear weapons threat or use is inadmissible - or did they?
Posted: 13th September 2023
Next steps: The UN High Level Meeting on September 26 and the UN First Committee in October
G20 leaders meeting in Delhi from September 9-10, adopted the G20 New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration which affirms that ‘The threat or use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible.’
This affirmation was originally made by the leaders of the G20 countries at their previous Summit in Bali in November 2022. The Bali Declaration was a phenomenal breakthrough, considering that the G20 includes 6 nuclear-armed countries and 7 nuclear allied countries.
NoFirstUse Global highlighted the breakthrough in Bali, and launched a global campaign to:
This affirmation was originally made by the leaders of the G20 countries at their previous Summit in Bali in November 2022. The Bali Declaration was a phenomenal breakthrough, considering that the G20 includes 6 nuclear-armed countries and 7 nuclear allied countries.
NoFirstUse Global highlighted the breakthrough in Bali, and launched a global campaign to:
- Maintain this affirmation in the face of expected back-sliding;
- Strengthen the affirmation by enshrining it as a dictate of international law;
- Call on all states to comply fully with this affirmation by modifying their security policies and practices in order to rule-out the initiation of nuclear war including any first-use of nuclear weapons.
The Delhi Declaration – affirmation or backwards slide?
It is understood from private conversations with representatives of a number of the G20 countries following the adoption of the Bali Declaration, that there was considerable counter-action from within G20 nuclear armed countries – particularly from the defence establishments – against the blanket (and principled) condemnation of the threat or use of nuclear weapons agreed in Bali.The Bali affirmation arose primarily from concern by all G20 members that the Russian war against Ukraine might escalate into a nuclear war. Defence establishments (and other pro-nuclear forces) in the G20 nuclear armed countries were therefore pushing for this affirmation to only refer to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
The Delhi Declaration appears to be a compromise. The affirmation on the inadmissibility of nuclear weapons threat or use is not strictly limited to the conflict, but it appears at the end of paragraph 8, which opens with ‘Concerning the war in Ukraine...’ As such, the affirmation is linked strongly to the conflict.
The political maneuvers between the Bali and Delhi G20 Summits demonstrate the importance of the NoFirstUse Global campaign to prevent back-sliding, enshrine the affirmation as a dictate of international law, and move nuclear armed and allied states to modify their security policies accordingly.
Next step: The UN High Level Meeting on the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, Sep 26
The next appropriate forum to build support for the inadmissibility of the threat or use of nuclear weapons is the UN High Level Meeting on the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons which will take place on September 26, 2023.UNFOLD ZERO and NoFirstUse Global encourage you to call on your government to speak at the event at the highest level (President/Prime Minister/Foreign Minister) in support of the Bali statement, and also in support of additional effective measures to prevent nuclear war and achieve a nuclear-weapon-free world.
- Sample letter to your government for the UN High Level Meeting on September 26;
- Other actions for the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.
UN First Committee in October
Nuclear Taboo from Norm to Law calls on the UN General Assembly, to enshrine the inadmissibility of threat or use of nuclear weapons as a dictate of international law. An appropriate time to do this would be through the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) which meets to discuss and adopt disarmament resolutions from 2 October–3 November 2023.NoFirstUse Global is exploring with some of the like-minded G20 members the possibility of such a resolution being introduced this year. Steering Committee member Carlo Trezza explores this in an article Passo avanti. Nel comunicato finale del g20 l’arma nucleare è inammissibile, published September 13 by Avvenire (English translation – A step forward. In the final communiqué of the G20, nuclear weapons are inadmissible).
NoFirstUse Global is a network of organizations, academics, policy makers and civil society advocates working cooperatively for the adoption of no-first-use policies by nuclear-armed States, the support for such policies from nuclear allied countries, and the implementation of such policies to help achieve broader nuclear risk-reduction, non-proliferation and disarmament measures.