03.05.2017 | Miroslav Tůma

A promising beginning of negotiations of a convention banning nuclear weapons

The first round of talks regarding the negotiations of a treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons (their use, production, ownership, etc.) took place on March 27–31, 2017, at the UN Headquarters in New York under the presidency of Ambassador Elayne Whyte Gómez of Costa Rica. The second, and final round of talks, during which the finalization and adoption of the proposed convention is expected, should take place in New York from June 15 to July 7, 2017.

The first round of negotiations was attended by around 130 countries, and representatives of several organizations, such as the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and a number of non-governmental organizations, as well as surviving victims of the US-caused nuclear explosion in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which are called Hibakusha in Japan.

A characteristic aspect of the first round of negotiations was a friendly cooperation of the representatives of states and non-governmental organizations together with a wide consensus on the majority of elements of the proposed convention, including the principles and goals of the international legal instrument.

Full reflection available here.

(This reflection follows up on International Law Reflections no. 10 from November 10, 2016, and no. 1 from March 1, 2017.)

 




Nahoru