Sudan has become the 82nd state to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, confirming the move at the United Nations in New York on Wednesday 22 July. Sudan will now complete its domestic process for officially joining the Treaty in the future.
The Ban Treaty was negotiated by the United Nations in 2017. 122 states voted in favour of the Treaty at the final stage and since then many votes at the United Nations have confirmed the position of the international community in opposing nuclear weapons. The Treaty will ban nuclear weapons on the ground of their humanitarian consequences, in the same way that chemical and biological weapons have previously been banned.
Sudan was one of the states which took part in the negotiations and voted in favour of the Treaty. The Treaty will enter in to force when 50 states complete the ratification process, so far 40 have done so.
So far more than a quarter of the states who have signed the Treaty are African, with Sudan becoming the 21st state to do so. Five of those have completed the ratification process, including Botswana who joined the Treaty earlier in July.
So far the nuclear-armed states, including the UK, have refused to engage with any processes around the TPNW. Please join us as we thank God not only for the move of Sudan to sign but also that the UK and others would engage with the Treaty, leading to the eventual elimination of nuclear weapons.
