The Nuclear Weapons Ban Monitor, a research project of Norwegian People’s Aid that tracks progress towards a world free of nuclear weapons using progress under the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) as an indicator, released its 2022 edition this week.

Tracking the unacceptable increase in the global arsenal of nuclear weapons available for use by world’s the nine nuclear-armed states, in the context of increasing nuclear risk, the Ban Monitor also notes progress made by the TPNW over 2022, including the landmark first Meeting of States Parties and countries continuing to join the Treaty.

As well as comprehensive prohibitions, the TPNW also contains positive obligations on states parties, including on victim assistance, environmental remediation and international cooperation and assistance: obligations to address the ongoing impacts of nuclear weapons use and testing that are contained in articles 6 and 7 of the Treaty.

Article 36, alongside colleagues from the International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School and Pace University, contributed this year to the Ban Monitor’s sections on ‘The obligation to assist victims‘, ‘The obligation to remediate affected territory,’ and ‘The obligation to cooperate with and assist other states parties‘.

The year of 2022 saw saw unprecedented attention at the international level to the rights of people affected by nuclear weapons and the need for victim assistance, as well as to the issue of environmental remediation, and international cooperation and assistance to support affected states and communities. At the TPNW 1MSP, states parties took steps to initiate implementation of the Treaty’s positive obligations through establishing principles and actions, which in turn have already influenced priorities and discussions in forums beyond the Treaty itself. There were, however, fewer developments at the national level – and commitments on international cooperation and assistance must be followed by more tangible progress in order to advance implementation of victim assistance and environmental remediation under the Treaty.

You can download the full 2022 edition of the Nuclear Weapons Ban Monitor here.

Image: the front cover of this year’s Nuclear Ban Monitor (NPA)