'It's Never Been More Urgent To Eliminate Nuclear Weapons'

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In September Melissa Parke, moved to Geneva from Australia, to head ICAN (International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons). One of her first missions is to urge heads of state, foreign ministers and other representatives at the United Nations General Assembly held in New York late September, to join the Nuclear Weapons ban Treaty.

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was launched in 2017 with the aim to ban nuclear weapons entirely ICAN received the Nobel Peace prize that same year for drawing attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons.

Since, out of 197 eligible states, 97 states have taken steps to join the treaty and 69 ratified, less than half of the world's total.

And there are no signs that the States which possess nuclear weapons (the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea) will give them up for their own security. The countries relying on a nuclear umbrella, a guarantee by a nuclear weapons state to defend a non-nuclear allied state, have also shown little signs they are ready to ratify the Treaty.

Today, more than 12,500 nuclear weapons remain. Of these, the United States possesses 5244 and Russia holds 5886.

In one of her first interviews to the media, Parke talks about the dangers of the geopolitical situation today and why the world needs to rid itself of nuclear weapons.

SWI swissinfo.ch : How do you perceive the current global security landscape?

Melissa Parke: I think at a time of increased tensions and conflict, it's never been more important or urgent to eliminate nuclear weapons. The treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons provides a pathway to their elimination. What we're seeing at the moment is a ramping up of tensions, an escalation of militarisation, a modernisation and expansion of nuclear arsenals. What we really need, is more diplomacy, enhanced negotiations, and de-escalation. The treaty provides a pathway to that.

SWI: Has the war in Ukraine rendered the path towards a nuclear-free world more difficult?

M.P: Yes, indeed. There are heightened tensions around now, and we're seeing nuclear weapons being used to coerce and intimidate, not to keep the peace. So, I believe it's a fallacy that nuclear weapons make the world safer. They make the world infinitely more dangerous because, as long as they exist, there is a chance they will be used. We know that any use will have catastrophic humanitarian and environmental consequences.

SWI: How are new technologies impacting nuclear weapons and how do they affect discussions and negotiations on the Non-Proliferation Treaty?

M.P: You've got so many more risks now. We saw during the previous decades many incidents involving nuclear weapons, where any one of those could have resulted in a full-blown nuclear war. So, there have been lots of accidents, miscalculations, and misunderstandings. In addition, there are additional threats coming from unhinged leaders, terrorist groups, and cyber-attacks. The arrival of artificial intelligence also questions whether machines will be making decisions to use nuclear weapons. It is a much more dangerous environment, even more so than during the Cold War. That's why discussions and negotiations around the Non-Proliferation Treaty are completely stalled.

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