FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte on November 30, 2020. TOTO LOZANO/ PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO
MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday hailed the Senate for concurring in the ratification of a treaty that would ban the development and use of nuclear weapons.
In a statement from the Office of the President, Duterte described the ratification of the Treaty of the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) as a “milestone”, reinforcing the country’s resolve together with the international community in pursuing a world free of nuclear weapons for peace, security, and the survival of all humanity.
Duterte said that as State Party to the TPNW, the Philippines is faithful to the policy of freedom from nuclear weapons in our territory as enshrined in the 1987 Constitution.
Statement on the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) and the 75th anniversary of Resolution 1 of the UN Security Council
We are facing “the beginning of the elimination of nuclear weapons.”
On January 22, the Treaty of the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) will enter into force. It will specifically prohibit States Parties from developing, testing, producing, manufacturing, acquiring, possessing, deploying, using or threatening to use nuclear weapons and assisting or encouraging such acts. The treaty will reinforce existing international law that obliges all states not to test, use or threaten the use of nuclear weapons.
NATO Rejects New UN Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons, Defends Deterrent
On 12/15/20 at 12:39 PM EST
NATO has said it must remain a nuclear-armed alliance and has opposed a United Nations treaty coming into effect next month that aims to eliminate nuclear weapons.
The Treaty of the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) also known as the Ban Treaty, was approved by 122 countries in July 2017 and starts from January 22 2021 but no nuclear-armed state has backed it.
Countries that have ratified it are prohibited from developing and testing nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.
But the alliance says the agreement would weaken the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) struck five decades ago, which it considers to be the benchmark global framework on nuclear arms control.