Sumar calls for Spain to join the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, rejected by Spain in 2018

Eduardo González The Sumar Plurinational Parliamentary Group has called for Spain to join the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), a text adopted in 2017 by the UN General Assembly and which, to date, has been rejected by the nine countries with nuclear weapons and by all NATO members, including Spain. In a non-legislative motion presented on January 23 by the MPs Agustín Santos Maraver (former Spanish ambassador to the UN) and Teslem Andala Ubbi for debate in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Congress, Sumar recalls that, despite the bilateral agreements adopted at the end of the Cold War by the United States and Russia to reduce these weapons, “there are still more than 13,000 nuclear bombs, with a destructive capacity greater than those of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.” Likewise, the formation led by the vice president Yolanda Díaz warns that “in the last 20 years we are experiencing a setback in international commitments in nuclear matters,” which coincides with the beginning of an “arms race for which there are no control mechanisms on the proliferation of tactical or non-strategic nuclear weapons.” In this context, she continues, “the war in Ukraine places the European continent as a possible scenario for the use of nuclear weapons, as it was during the Cold War.” The motion also recalls that, in recent years, “countries that possess nuclear weapons are renewing their arsenals with a wide range of weapons with a lower nuclear charge and therefore less damage, so their use may be more feasible and credible.” As a result, “concern about the use of these less powerful weapons has increased.” “Not only are nuclear arsenals being renewed, but aircraft that transport them are also being modernized, missile silos and submarines are being renewed, hypersonic missiles are being developed and, in addition, artificial intelligence is beginning to be used, without us knowing the limits of its use,” it continues. For all these reasons, Sumar - a minority party in the current coalition government - considers “an international instrument such as the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) to be essential, as it is of extraordinary importance to advance towards models of society that are committed to building peace.” “After decades of demands by the anti-nuclear peace movement, an essential first step was achieved, the approval of the TPAN on July 7, 2017 by the United Nations General Assembly (122 votes in favor),” Sumar recalls. “Despite the non-participation in the Conference and the vote against by the countries with nuclear weapons and NATO member states, since January 22, 2022, the TPAN entered into force with the signature and ratification of 51 States,” he continues. Specifically, the text entered into force on January 22, 2021, after ratification by Honduras. “Therefore, the TPAN is already part of international law and should allow for subsequent legal and technical negotiations for the elimination of such weapons in the spirit of the United Nations Charter,” he adds. “To achieve this objective, the commitment of States to peace and nuclear disarmament is essential, and the most concrete commitment inevitably involves States, including Spain, adhering to the TPAN, as requested by the anti-nuclear peace movement and, more specifically, by the entities integrated into the Alliance for Nuclear Disarmament,” the motion continues. For all these reasons, the Non-Law Proposal of the Sumar Plurinational Parliamentary Group urges the Government “to begin the process for Spain’s accession to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPAN).” Spain’s rejection In February 2018, the then Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alfonso Dastis (PP), assured the Congress that the Government was not going to ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons because he considered that it was following a “wrong path,” out of “solidarity with NATO allies” and because it would “undermine” the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). In that debate, the current Minister of Social Rights, Consumption and Agenda 2030 and then spokesperson for Podemos in the international arena, Pablo Bustinduy, recalled that “two thirds of the United Nations” had shown their support for the NPT, including “countries such as Austria, South Africa, Uruguay, Brazil, Ireland and many others”, and that the campaign to ban nuclear weapons internationally (ICAN) had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017. Nuclear weapons have not yet been banned globally, unlike chemical and biological weapons, anti-personnel landmines and cluster munitions. The 1968 Non-Proliferation Treaty contains only partial bans.

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