On 7 July 2017 the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) became a new international instrument in the United Nations by an overwhelming majority vote.
Just weeks later, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear weapons (ICAN) was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for “its work to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and for its ground-breaking efforts to achieve a treaty-based prohibition of such weapons.”
The TPNW is the first instrument of international law to clearly outlaw the development, possession, hosting, transfer, use and threat of use of nuclear weapons. The treaty is a crucial element in ongoing global efforts to stigmatise, prohibit and eliminate nuclear weapons. ICAN began in Melbourne, Australia in the mid-2000s.
Come and meet some of the founders to discuss how the campaign began and then built to become the international movement now in over 100 countries around the world.
Hear how the ban treaty was developed, and learn what the challenges are and what needs to be done from here.
