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Switzerland
Nuclear-weapon-free state
Has not yet joined the TPNW
Status
Switzerland has not yet signed or ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).
National position
In March 2024, Switzerland’s federal council decided that “Switzerland will not join the TPNW for the time being” based on factors including “recent security policy developments in Europe and globally”. It reached similar decisions in 2018 and 2019.
The council said that it was “convinced that joining the TPNW is not in Switzerland’s interests, given the current international context and the war in Europe, which have highlighted the renewed urgency of security considerations”.
In response to the decision, several non-governmental organisations based in Switzerland, including ICAN, launched a popular initiative to advance Switzerland’s accession to the TPNW.
Switzerland has consistently abstained from voting on an annual UN General Assembly resolution since 2018 that welcomes the adoption of the TPNW and calls upon all states to sign, ratify, or accede to it “at the earliest possible date”.
Meetings of states parties
Switzerland attended as an observer the first meeting of states parties to the TPNW, held in Vienna in June 2022. It welcomed “the various statements to the effect that the purpose of the TPNW is to contribute to the implementation of the NPT provisions”.
It announced that a “new evaluation” of the Swiss position on joining the TPNW would begin later in 2022, based on the outcomes of the present meeting and the 10th NPT review conference. “Regardless of the result of this new evaluation, Switzerland intends to continue to engage constructively with the TPNW,” it said.
Political developments
In 2018, the Swiss government published a report on the implications of becoming a state party to the TPNW, which concluded: “At this stage, the reasons against an accession of Switzerland outweigh the potential opportunities accompanying a signature and ratification of this treaty.”
Both houses of the Swiss parliament subsequently instructed the government to proceed with signature and ratification of the TPNW without delay. The government responded by announcing in 2019 that it would review its decision by the end of 2020. However, the review will now take place in 2022.
In a letter to ICAN in 2020, the then-president of the Swiss Confederation, Simonetta Sommaruga, said that the federal council took note of the position of the parliament and agreed to re-evaluate the Swiss position on the TPNW “earlier than originally planned”.
Responding to a question in parliament in 2021, the head of the foreign ministry, Ignazio Cassis, said that “there will be no problem in joining this treaty” if concerns expressed by some other states about the TPNW’s impact on the NPT are “abandoned”.
Several Swiss cities, including Bern, Geneva, and Zurich, have appealed to the Swiss government to sign and ratify the TPNW.
In November 2022, 34 prominent Swiss citizens, including former government officials, federal councillors, and presidents and vice-presidents of the International Committee of the Red Cross, criticised the government’s failure to sign the TPNW to date as an “unjustifiable anomaly” and called on it to become a signatory immediately.
TPNW negotiations
Switzerland participated in the negotiation of the TPNW at the United Nations in New York in 2017 and was among 122 states that voted in favour of its adoption “because we share the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons”.
“We see the pressing necessity to take steps in this direction, an imperative that has been reinforced by the process on the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons that unfolded over the past few years,” it said. However, it also indicated that it was not fully supportive of the treaty text as adopted.
In its opening statement to the negotiating conference, Switzerland said that it “stands ready to actively participate in this endeavour, and help elaborate an instrument that brings us closer to the shared goal of achieving a world without nuclear weapons”.
In 2016, Switzerland abstained from voting on the UN General Assembly resolution that established the formal mandate for states to commence negotiations on “a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination”.
Before the negotiations
Prior to the adoption of the TPNW in 2017, nuclear weapons were the only weapons of mass destruction not subject to a comprehensive, globally applicable treaty prohibition. Switzerland supported calls in the UN General Assembly fill this “legal gap”.
A banner in Geneva, Switzerland, in 2013 declares that nuclear weapons will be the next category of weapons to be prohibited under international law. Photo: ICAN
Nuclear-weapon-free state
Has not yet joined the TPNW
[HIGHLIGHTS]
Status
Switzerland has not yet signed or ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).
National position
In March 2024, Switzerland’s federal council decided that “Switzerland will not join the TPNW for the time being” based on factors including “recent security policy developments in Europe and globally”. It reached similar decisions in 2018 and 2019.
The council said that it was “convinced that joining the TPNW is not in Switzerland’s interests, given the current international context and the war in Europe, which have highlighted the renewed urgency of security considerations”.
In response to the decision, several non-governmental organisations based in Switzerland, including ICAN, launched a popular initiative to advance Switzerland’s accession to the TPNW.
Switzerland has consistently abstained from voting on an annual UN General Assembly resolution since 2018 that welcomes the adoption of the TPNW and calls upon all states to sign, ratify, or accede to it “at the earliest possible date”.
Meetings of states parties
Switzerland attended as an observer the first meeting of states parties to the TPNW, held in Vienna in June 2022. It welcomed “the various statements to the effect that the purpose of the TPNW is to contribute to the implementation of the NPT provisions”.
It announced that a “new evaluation” of the Swiss position on joining the TPNW would begin later in 2022, based on the outcomes of the present meeting and the 10th NPT review conference. “Regardless of the result of this new evaluation, Switzerland intends to continue to engage constructively with the TPNW,” it said.
Political developments
In 2018, the Swiss government published a report on the implications of becoming a state party to the TPNW, which concluded: “At this stage, the reasons against an accession of Switzerland outweigh the potential opportunities accompanying a signature and ratification of this treaty.”
Both houses of the Swiss parliament subsequently instructed the government to proceed with signature and ratification of the TPNW without delay. The government responded by announcing in 2019 that it would review its decision by the end of 2020. However, the review will now take place in 2022.
In a letter to ICAN in 2020, the then-president of the Swiss Confederation, Simonetta Sommaruga, said that the federal council took note of the position of the parliament and agreed to re-evaluate the Swiss position on the TPNW “earlier than originally planned”.
Responding to a question in parliament in 2021, the head of the foreign ministry, Ignazio Cassis, said that “there will be no problem in joining this treaty” if concerns expressed by some other states about the TPNW’s impact on the NPT are “abandoned”.
Several Swiss cities, including Bern, Geneva, and Zurich, have appealed to the Swiss government to sign and ratify the TPNW.
In November 2022, 34 prominent Swiss citizens, including former government officials, federal councillors, and presidents and vice-presidents of the International Committee of the Red Cross, criticised the government’s failure to sign the TPNW to date as an “unjustifiable anomaly” and called on it to become a signatory immediately.
TPNW negotiations
Switzerland participated in the negotiation of the TPNW at the United Nations in New York in 2017 and was among 122 states that voted in favour of its adoption “because we share the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons”.
“We see the pressing necessity to take steps in this direction, an imperative that has been reinforced by the process on the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons that unfolded over the past few years,” it said. However, it also indicated that it was not fully supportive of the treaty text as adopted.
In its opening statement to the negotiating conference, Switzerland said that it “stands ready to actively participate in this endeavour, and help elaborate an instrument that brings us closer to the shared goal of achieving a world without nuclear weapons”.
In 2016, Switzerland abstained from voting on the UN General Assembly resolution that established the formal mandate for states to commence negotiations on “a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination”.
Before the negotiations
Prior to the adoption of the TPNW in 2017, nuclear weapons were the only weapons of mass destruction not subject to a comprehensive, globally applicable treaty prohibition. Switzerland supported calls in the UN General Assembly fill this “legal gap”.
A banner in Geneva, Switzerland, in 2013 declares that nuclear weapons will be the next category of weapons to be prohibited under international law. Photo: ICAN
[PARTNERS]
Business and Rights Conform (BHCR)
ICAN Switzerland
KLAR! Schweiz
Physicians for Social Responsibility (Switzerland)
Ärztinnen und Ärzte für Umweltschutz (AefU)
Sortir du nucléaire Suisse Romande
World Federation of Public Health Associations
Friedenskraft.ch
[LOCALSUPPORT]
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Business and Rights Conform (BHCR)
-
ICAN Switzerland
-
KLAR! Schweiz
-
Physicians for Social Responsibility (Switzerland)
-
Ärztinnen und Ärzte für Umweltschutz (AefU)
-
Sortir du nucléaire Suisse Romande
-
World Federation of Public Health Associations
-
Friedenskraft.ch
-