SGI Welcomes Landmark 50th Ratification of UN Nuclear Ban Treaty

The ratification of the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) by the 50th member state, Honduras, on October 24, 2020, UN Day, is being lauded as a historic step by the Soka Gakkai International (SGI). The Treaty will enter into force 90 days later, on January 22, 2021.

The TPNW is the first international instrument to comprehensively ban the development, testing, production, stockpiling, stationing, transfer, use, and threat of use of nuclear weapons. It was adopted at the UN in July 2017, with the support of 122 member states and numerous civil society groups. It is hoped that the Treaty’s entry into force will signal the beginning of the end of the era of nuclear weapons.

In a statement, SGI Director General for Peace and Global Issues Hirotsugu Terasaki asserts: “The entry into force of the TPNW establishes the fundamental norm that nuclear weapons are subject to comprehensive prohibition. This has a profound historical significance.”

The statement calls upon nuclear-weapon and nuclear-dependent states, including Japan - the only country to have experienced the devastation caused by nuclear bombing during wartime - to attend as observers the first meeting of parties to the TPNW to be held within one year from its entry into force.

The full statement can be found here.