{"id":30876,"date":"2023-06-03T18:08:36","date_gmt":"2023-06-03T16:08:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/?p=30876"},"modified":"2023-06-03T18:08:36","modified_gmt":"2023-06-03T16:08:36","slug":"a-united-civil-society-push-for-spain-to-join-the-tpnw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/?p=30876","title":{"rendered":"A united civil society push for Spain to join the TPNW"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .<\/p>\n

An article from The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons<\/a><\/p>\n

Forty-five civil society organisations in Spain have come together to form a coalition with a single mission: to persuade the Spanish government to adhere to the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). The\u00a0Alianza por el Desarme Nuclear <\/a>\u00a0(Alliance for Nuclear Disarmament), which has the backing of ICAN, was launched in Madrid on\u00a023\u00a0May. It will work to raise public awareness of the treaty\u2019s importance and lobby decision-makers to endorse it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/center><\/p>\n

Speaking at the\u00a0launch event<\/a>, the alliance\u2019s coordinator, Maribel Hern\u00e1ndez, urged the Spanish prime minister, Pedro S\u00e1nchez, to \u201ctake a courageous step forward\u201d and sign the TPNW \u201cas a symbol of our country\u2019s commitment to peace\u201d. She stressed the danger of \u201cnormalising the existence of nuclear weapons\u201d and promoting a security model based on the possession of such weapons. As a NATO member, Spain has repeatedly endorsed the notion that US nuclear weapons offer it \u201cprotection\u201d and could, in certain circumstances, be used on its behalf.<\/p>\n

Carlos Uma\u00f1a, a co-president of\u00a0International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War\u00a0<\/a> and member of ICAN\u2019s international steering group, recalled that S\u00e1nchez committed in 2018 to sign the TPNW, but this promise \u201cremains unfulfilled\u201d. It was part of a\u00a0deal\u00a0<\/a> struck with the leader of the Podemos political party, Pablo Iglesias. Uma\u00f1a also noted that a majority of Spaniards \u2013 89 per cent, according to a\u00a0YouGov poll\u00a0<\/a> in 2020 \u2013 want the government to sign the TPNW. \u201cWe are at the most worrying moment in history in terms of the risk of a possible large-scale nuclear war from which there would be no going back,\u201d he warned.<\/p>\n

(Continued in right column)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Question related to this article:<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n 
\nCan we abolish all nuclear weapons?<\/a> <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

(Continued from left column)<\/p>\n

A broad coalition of organisations<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Alliance for Nuclear Disarmament\u00a0comprises\u00a0<\/a> a diverse range of organisations and other entities working in the fields of peace and disarmament, human rights, the environment, and social justice, including\u00a0Centre Del\u00e1s d\u2019Estudis per la Pau,\u00a0the Spanish section of the Women\u2019s International League for Peace and Freedom, AIPAZ (Spanish Association for Peace Research), FundiPau, Fundaci\u00f3n Cultura de Paz, Greenpeace, Desarma Madrid, Ecologistas en Acci\u00f3n, General Commission for Justice and Peace, Mayors for Peace, Gernika Gogoratuz, Women in Black Madrid, Pressenza and MOC (Movement for Conscientious Objection).\u00a0Since its launch, many more groups and individuals have expressed an interest in joining the alliance.<\/p>\n

The groups are asking local\u00a0municipalities\u00a0<\/a> and regional parliaments to appeal to the Spanish government to join the TPNW. Barcelona and dozens of other cities and towns have already pledged their support, as has the autonomous community of Navarre. Pending Spain\u2019s accession to the TPNW, the alliance believes that the government should observe the official meetings of states parties to the treaty, held roughly every two years. The NATO members Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, and Norway observed the\u00a0first\u00a0<\/a> such meeting, held in Vienna last June. The second meeting will take place in New York this November.<\/p>\n

Spain and the TPNW<\/strong><\/p>\n

The TPNW was negotiated at the United Nations in New York in 2017 and adopted with the support of 122 states. Spain opted not to participate in the process and has not yet taken any steps towards becoming a state party. Ahead of the treaty\u2019s adoption, the foreign affairs committee of the Spanish congress of deputies passed a\u00a0resolution\u00a0<\/a> calling on the government to support the approval of the new treaty \u2013 but it was not heeded. In 2020, the same committee\u00a0welcomed\u00a0<\/a> the TPNW \u201cas an effort to move towards peace, security, and disarmament\u201d.<\/p>\n

Three former Spanish foreign ministers \u2013 Ana Palacio, Javier Solana, and Carlos Westendorp \u2013 signed an\u00a0open letter\u00a0<\/a> in 2020 with dignitaries from other NATO states and Japan calling on current leaders to \u201cshow courage and boldness \u2013 and join the [TPNW]\u201d. Solana is also a former NATO secretary-general. They noted in their letter that the TPNW does not prevent its parties from remaining in alliances with nuclear-armed states, such as NATO, \u201cbut we would be legally bound never under any circumstances to assist or encourage our allies to use, threaten to use, or possess nuclear weapons\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY . An article from The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons Forty-five civil society organisations in Spain have come together to form a coalition with a single mission: to persuade the Spanish government to adhere to the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). The\u00a0Alianza por el Desarme Nuclear \u00a0(Alliance … Continue reading A united civil society push for Spain to join the TPNW<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,75],"tags":[33],"class_list":["post-30876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-disarmament","category-europe","tag-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30876\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}