The Status Of The UN's Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons

The United Nations has initiated several treaties in order to ban or restrict the use of nuclear weapons around the world. The following infographic illustrates some of the differences between two of these: The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

The NPT (opened for signature in 1968 and entered into force in 1970) focuses on limiting nuclear weapon stockpiles. It has been ratified by 191 states, including five of the nine nuclear-weapon states: the United Kingdom, Russia, the United States, France and China. Under the treaty, the non-nuclear-weapon states agree that they will not build or own nuclear weapons, while the nuclear powers agree to pursue global disarmament. At the same time, state parties are allowed to cooperate on peaceful uses of nuclear technology.

Several countries remain outside of the NPT, including South Sudan, India, Israel and Pakistan. The latter three are all nuclear powers and in order to be able to join the treaty would need to dismantle their nuclear weapons and place the materials under international safeguards. Although North Korea is included in the 191 ratified states, having joined in 1985, it is no longer a part of the agreement, having announced its withdrawal in 2003.

The TPNW (adopted in 2017), however, asks all member states to pledge to not “develop, test, produce, manufacture, otherwise acquire, possess or stockpile nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices” - i.e. to stop the possession and use of nuclear weapons altogether. It has 93 signatories, 73 of whom have either ratified it or acceded to it. Importantly, this treaty has not been signed by any of the nine states that have nuclear weapons.

The three distinctions highlighted on the map are between the states that have signed the treaty, ratified the treaty or acceded the treaty. Where the initial signature indicates a state’s intention to become a party to the agreement, ratification formalises the decision and is legally binding. Accession allows a state to join a treaty at a later date and is equal to being ratified.

The UN also has the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban-Treaty (adopted in 1996), which prohibits “any nuclear weapon test explosion or any other nuclear explosion” anywhere in the world. It has been signed by 187 nations and ratified by 178. According to the Arms Control Association, in order for the treaty to formally enter into force, it needs to be ratified by 44 specific nations, the following nine of which are yet to do so: China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, Israel, Iran, Egypt, Russia and the United States. Russia had previously ratified the treaty but withdrew in 2023.