Second meeting of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons begins today

The Second Meeting of States Parties (2MSP) to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) will take place from 27 November to 1 December 2023 at UN Headquarters in New York City.

The TPNW, which was adopted in 2017 and entered into force in 2021, is a ground-breaking legal instrument that outlaws the possession, development, testing, use, and threat of use of nuclear weapons among other things. It’s also the first international law related to nuclear weapons that acknowledges disproportionate harm to Indigenous Peoples and gendered harms of nuclear weapons, and to include provisions on victim assistance and environmental remediation.

Among other things, 2MSP will hear updates from intersessional working groups about the implementation of the Action Plan adopted at 1MSP, and set the course for future work on the Treaty. It will also adopt a Declaration and encourage new countries to join the TPNW. During the meeting, Reaching Critical Will is going to be posting documents and statements online, and will also provide reporting and analysis of discussions through the Nuclear Ban Daily—subscribe now to receive updates and check out the preview edition now. For details about side events at 2MSP, please see the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), which is the civil society coordinator for this meeting.