HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo - Mail Packet - 10/4/2022 - Memorandum From Megan Valliere Re: Council Follow Up: Treaty On The Prohibition Of Nuclear Weapons
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MEMORANDUM
DATE: September 29, 2022
TO: Mayor and City Council
THRU: Kelly DiMartino, City Manager
Ginny Sawyer, Senior Project and Policy Manager
FROM: Megan Valliere, Graduate Management Assistant
RE: Council Follow-up: Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
Bottom Line
The following memo summarizes the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in
response to public comment by Paul Gessler during City Council September 20, 2022, regular
meeting.
Staff followed up with Mr. Gessler regarding meeting space and current City practice to not
open our non-rentable facilities to outside groups. Mr. Gessler is aware of other meeting spaces
and is hoping the City will consider his request. Consistent with current practice, City staff does
not recommend opening meeting space for outside groups.
UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
The UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (abbreviated to the TPNW) prohibits
member states from developing, testing, producing, acquiring, possessing, stockpiling, using, or
threatening to use nuclear weapons. It also includes specific prohibitions on assisting other
states with these activities and mandates that states provide aid to individuals affected by the
testing of nuclear weapons within their state and address any environmental impacts related to
nuclear weapons development. For states that possess nuclear weapons when they ratify or
accede to the treaty, the text of the TPNW sets forth a scheduled framework for the destruction
of nuclear weapons and irreversible conversion of nuclear facilities.i The TPNW was adopted by
a conference of the United Nations on September 7, 2017, and entered into force on January
22, 2021, after 50 states had ratified the treaty through their own domestic legislative processes.
Currently, the TPNW possesses 68 state parties who are legally bound by the provisions of the
treaty.ii Of the nine states that are confirmed of possessing or suspected to possess nuclear
weapons (the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, North Korea, Israel, Pakistan,
India, and China), none have ratified the treaty nor signaled their support as a signatory state.
While signatory states are not legally bound by the treaty s specific provisions, they agree to act
in good faith not to defeat the purpose of the treaty.iii The United States has consistently
advocated against the TPNW since it entered into effect.
2
i United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, September 7, 2017,
https://www.un.org/disarmament/wmd/nuclear/tpnw/
ii United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs. (n.d.). Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons . Office for
Disarmament Affairs. Retrieved September 26, 2022, from https://treaties.unoda.org/t/tpnw
iii Inside Justice. (2010, March 17). Legal Obligations of Signatories and Parties to Treaties. Equal Justice Under Law.
Retrieved September 26, 2022, from
https://www.insidejustice.com/intl/2010/03/17/signatory_party_treaty/#:%7E:text=The%20State%20submits%20t
his%20instrument,a%20party%20to%20the%20treaty.&text=A%20signatory%20State%20agrees%20to,and%20pur
pose%E2%80%9D%20of%20the%20treaty.