Initiative to sign Switzerland up to UN nuclear arms ban treaty submitted

Citizens will decide whether Switzerland will join the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). A citizens' committee submitted more than 135,000 signatures to the Federal Chancellery in Bern on Tuesday. The TPNW came into force in 2021 and bans nuclear weapons under international law. It closes a loophole in international humanitarian law: nuclear weapons are now explicitly prohibited like other weapons of mass destruction. +Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox Switzerland took part in the negotiation of the treaty, supported its adoption at the UN in 2017, and Parliament called on the government to accede to it in 2018. Despite this, the governing Federal Council is against Switzerland joining. Security at stake According to Annette Wildi, a member of the Swiss Alliance for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), the TPNW is the most appropriate instrument for ...