, January 24, 2021
From January 18 to February 14, four large billboards are going up around Seattle that proclaim “Nuclear Weapons Are Now Illegal. Get them out of Puget Sound!”
What can this possibly mean? Nuclear weapons may be unpleasant, but what is illegal about them, and how can they be in Puget Sound?
Since 1970, under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, most nations have been forbidden to acquire nuclear weapons, and those already possessing them or at least those party to the treaty, such as the United States have been obliged to “pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control.”
From January 18 to February 14, four large billboards are going up around Seattle that proclaim “Nuclear Weapons Are Now Illegal. Get them out of Puget Sound!”
What can this possibly mean? Nuclear weapons may be unpleasant, but what is illegal about them, and how can they be in Puget Sound?
Since 1970, under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, most nations have been forbidden to acquire nuclear weapons, and those already possessing them or at least those party to the treaty, such as the United States have been obliged to “pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control.”
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Lehigh Valley Quakers asking mayors to support treaty to ban nuclear weapons | Letter
Updated Jan 27, 2021;
Posted Jan 27, 2021
Member state flags fly outside the United Nations headquarters, Friday, Sept. 18, 2020, in New York. AP
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At its business meeting of Jan. 17, the Lehigh Valley Quaker Meeting approved a “minute,” or resolution, endorsing the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNR) and urging the mayors and councils of the Lehigh Valley to sign on in support of the treaty.
The minute reads in part, “Since the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki 75 years ago, countries throughout the world have advocated a ban on nuclear weapons. The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their work convincing 122 nations of the world to sign on to” the treaty.
COURTESY OF CHRIS H. PARK
A protester holds up the text of the TPNW that he plans to tape on the door of the Nichols House where University President Ronald J. Daniels resides.
Members of Prevent Nuclear War Maryland, a Baltimore-based anti-war, anti-nuclear weapons organization, protested the University’s involvement in nuclear weapons research with the U.S. government on Friday, Jan. 22.
The group also celebrated the ratification of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) a legally binding international treaty prohibiting the development, ownership and deployment of nuclear weapons by nations.
A United Nations working group was formed in 2016 with a mandate to devise legal provisions to create a nuclear-free world. While it was supported by 123 countries, the U.S., the U.K., France and Russia voted against the group alongside Israel, a country that is widely believed to be a nuclear power. China, India and Pakistan abstained.