The controversial treaty banning nuclear weapons came into force on Friday. It is decided by 122 of the 193 countries of the United Nations and prohibits the possession, acquisition, development and stationing of such weapons. All nuclear powers and all NATO countries, including Germany, continue to reject it. It remains ineffective for the time being, at least as far as concrete disarmament steps are concerned.

Important step towards freedom from nuclear weapons UN Secretary General António Guterres welcomed the entry into force of the treaty. The first multilateral nuclear disarmament treaty in more than two decades is “an important step towards a world without nuclear weapons and a strong demonstration of support for a multilateral approach to nuclear disarmament,” said Guterres on Friday in New York, according to the statement. The Prohibition Treaty received on Friday 90 days after ratification by the 50. Contracting State its validity. The agreement was initiated by the Ican peace network after disarmament efforts had stalled on the basis of existing agreements such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in force since 1970. It is supposed to exert political pressure on the nuclear powers.

According to the latest estimates by the peace research institute Sipri from the beginning 2020 there are still 13. 400 Nuclear weapons in nine countries, most of them in the USA (5800) and Russia (6375). All of these countries are boycotting the Nuclear Weapons Prohibition Treaty. The USA, Russia, China, Great Britain and France continue to regard the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as the best basis for concrete disarmament steps. It also prohibits all contracting states except these five from acquiring nuclear weapons. At the same time, the nuclear powers undertake to negotiate concrete disarmament steps up to the complete destruction of their weapons.

Federal government objects Germany follows the arguments of the nuclear powers. In a current response to a request from the left-wing parliamentary group in the Bundestag, the federal government even makes it clear that it considers the new treaty to be counterproductive because it results in a subordinate treatment of existing agreements. “From the point of view of the federal government, this can lead to a fragmentation and a real weakening of international disarmament efforts in the nuclear field.”

Germany is not a nuclear power, but participates in NATO’s nuclear deterrent. According to estimates, there are still 20 US atomic bombs stored at the air base in Büchel in Rhineland-Palatinate, which in an emergency “tornado” stationed there – Bundeswehr fighter jets are to be dropped.

(mho)