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The Albanian government has been putting pressure on municipalities not to support the campaign for Albania to join the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) and this Wednesday, 13 May, parliament’s Committee on Internal Affairs and Defence will hold a hearing on the issue.
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The pressure has been brought to light by the organisation Pathways to Peace which has obtained the letter from the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to mayors across the country that informs them that because Albania is a member of NATO, it chooses not to support the TPNW, which is the first legally binding international agreement to comprehensively ban nuclear weapons and all activities associated with them. In 2023, urged by Pathways to Peace, the city of Tirana signed the ICAN Cities Appeal, an initiative by the Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), and also joined the Mayors for Peace network. Since then, Albanian campaigners from Pathways to Peace, have worked with municipalities across the county to build grassroots support for the TPNW. Documents have now emerged showing that the central government has responded to this with pressure on municipalities not to support the treaty. Mayors have received a letter from the offices of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs instructing them not to join the campaign in support of the TPNW or any initiatives associated with it. Following a Freedom of Information request from Pathways To Peace to the government, the Prime Minister’s Office sent a signed copy of the official letter to Mr. Rinor Jani, Director of Nuclear Disarmament Advocacy and Research, at Pathways To Peace. Critics say this government move is undemocratic as city and municipal councils are independent bodies and directing elected local representatives not to exercise their lawful deliberative functions raises serious questions about the limits of central government authority. As ICAN conclusively demonstrated in a report published in 2021, membership of NATO does not prevent a country joining the TPNW. There is no mention of nuclear weapons in the North Atlantic Treaty and NATO countries have different policies on other treaties on controversial weapons, including the land mines and cluster munitions ban agreements. NATO membership does not prohibit municipalities or national governments from expressing support for humanitarian disarmament norms. Over 1,000 cities across NATO countries have joined the ICAN Cities Appeal, including over one hundred each in Albania's near neighbours, Greece and Italy, as well as the capitals of eleven members: Albania, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, and the USA. Pathways To Peace and the Committee on Internal Affairs and Defense will co-organise a hearing on nuclear disarmament and the TPNW at the Albanian Parliament on May 13, 2026. This will initiate an extensive dialogue on nuclear disarmament, the TPNW, the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons, and possible recommendations on nuclear policy. |
Further reading:
Almost three quarters of Swedes support joining UN Nuclear Ban Treaty and two thirds oppose hosting nuclear weapons – new poll finds
ICAN endorses Nobel Laureates’ Rome Declaration on AI and Nuclear Weapons
NATO leaders need to understand more nuclear weapons make them less safe – ICAN
Tonga becomes 100th country to join UN Nuclear Ban Treaty
Global spending on nuclear weapons increased 19% in 2025 to reach its highest recorded level at $118.8 billion
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