What is the Nuclear Ban Treaty?
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was adopted at the United Nations on July 7th, 2017. The treaty is the product of over a decade of advocacy by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) and their partners. Its importance cannot be overstated. Prior to the treaty’s adoption, nuclear weapons were the only weapon of mass destruction not subject to a comprehensive ban, yet they are the most dangerous and indiscriminate weapon ever created.
The Treaty makes it illegal to:
Develop, Test, Produce, Manufacture, Acquire, Possess, Stockpile, Transfer, Receive, Use, or even threaten to use nuclear weapons or explosive nuclear devices.
And signatories can’t help, urge, support or supply anybody else to do any of those things, either, or allow any of it to happen in their jurisdiction or under their control. Period.
This includes companies that build, banks that finance, and investments that support nuclear weapons. You can read more about the Nuclear Ban Treaty through this link.
The US, our NATO allies, and the other nuclear armed states all boycotted the treaty negotiations, and are actively working to undermine it’s success. However, civil society can organize themselves, their institutions, cities, and states to strive to comply with the Nuclear Ban Treaty even if their federal government won’t. By making the commitment to divest from and boycott the 26 companies making nuclear weapons we can put moral and economic pressure on the companies that produce and maintain nuclear weapons, and in the process, educate our communities on the threat imposed by nuclear weapons. To become “Treaty Aligned” an entity (whether an individual, organization, or city) must divest from and boycott the 26 companies producing nuclear weapons; inform these companies of their decision; and commit to future stance of divestment and boycott until they decide to leave the nuclear weapons business. We are here to help walk you through this process and answer your questions along the way. Just follow our interactive Treaty Compliance process below.