Governments need more resources to help their citizens impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Nuclear-armed states' decision to divert public resources from health care to weapons of mass destruction is unconscionable. We break down the vital resources the billions of dollars being spent each year by France, the United Kingdom and the United States to maintain, upgrade and develop their nuclear arsenals could pay for.

In a speech outlining his vision for France’s nuclear deterrence strategy, President Macron touted the role of nuclear weapons in European security policy and dismissed calls for their global abolition as an ‘ethical debate’ that lacked ‘realism in the strategic context.’ Meanwhile, Elysee has yet to respond to an invitation to meet renowned Hiroshima survivor Setsuko Thurlow, while she is in Paris next week.

On Thursday, Belgian MPs will vote on a resolution proposing to remove US nuclear weapons stationed in the country, and join the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

UPDATE 17/01: Despite a close-run vote, the resolution did not pass (74 against vs 66 in favour).  The close margin indicates how controversial the presence of US nuclear weapons on Belgian territory is to both citizens and the 66 elected representatives that voted in favour of removing those weapons and joining the UN #nuclearban treaty.

In the last two weeks, 13 more countries have signed or ratified the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), bringing it closer to its entry into force. In the same period, several of the world’s nuclear weapon states engaged in shows of nuclear force, deliberate acts that contribute to a dangerous escalation in the nuclear arms race.

September 18, 2019

August 29, 2019

Today, 2 August 2019, the governments of the US and Russia have missed a troubling deadline: the end of the six-month notice period that began when both countries announced their withdrawal from the INF Treaty earlier this year.

On 18 June 2019, lawmakers in Russia’s State Duma voted to support a decree by President Vladimir Putin to suspend the country’s participation in the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, citing a need to protect Russia’s national interest. The Treaty is scheduled to terminate on 2 August 2019, after the six-month notice period expires following the US and then Russian withdrawals from the Treaty.