A message from ICAN campaigner Setsuko Thurlow, a survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, an anti-nuclear activist and a retired social worker.

How can a state that wields weapons of mass destruction – weapons that it has acknowledged have “catastrophic humanitarian consequences” – preach to others about doing no harm?

On Thursday, 13 October, a cross-regional group of nations formally submitted a draft resolution to the First Committee of the UN General Assembly to establish a mandate for negotiations in 2017 on a “legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination”.

On 14 October, ICAN, together with the permanent missions of Brazil and Guatemala to the UN, held a side event at UN headquarters in New York on the possible elements for a treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons. It also evaluated the potential impact of such a treaty on different states, from those that are nuclear-free to those that possess nuclear weapons or include them in their security doctrines.

ICAN statement delivered to the First Committee of the United Nations in support of the resolution tabled by Mexico, Austria, Ireland, Brazil, Nigeria and South Africa, calling for negotiations to commence in 2017 on a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) today urged nations to act on the recommendation of the UN open-ended working group to convene negotiations in 2017 on a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons.

A group of governments have submitted a draft UN General Assembly resolution to start negotiations on a treaty banning nuclear weapons.

Austria’s foreign minister, Sebastian Kurz, announced on Wednesday that his country would join other UN member states in tabling a resolution next month to convene negotiations on a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons in 2017.