Workshop Ⅳ Achieving a world without nuclear weapons – the NPT framework and the role of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

Outline: We will have a heated discussion regarding the role of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons under the current Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) framework

Coordinators

Mr. Akira Kawasaki
Japan, Executive Committee member, Peace Boat
Ms. Jacqueline Cabasso
USA, Executive Director, Western States Legal Foundation North American Coordinator, Mayors for Peace ）

Panelists:
Masakatsu Ota
Japan, Senior Writer, Kyodo News
Daniel Högsta
Switzerland, Campaign Coordinator, International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear weapons (ICAN)
Tariq Rauf
Canada, Fomer Head, Verification & Security Policy, office of the Director General, IAEA
Masako Toki
USA, Research Associate and Project Manager, James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey
Nobuharu Imanishi
Japan, Director, Arms Control and Disarmament Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Thank you very much. Unlike the other reporters who had a day to prepare their reports, our session took place just before lunch, so I have not had time to prepare a formal report and I apologize for that. Let me try to do my best to summarize our discussions.
Our topic was the NPT regime and the role of Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. We talked first about recognizing the growing nuclear dangers that we are living with, nuclear conflicts or conflicts among nuclear-armed states taking place around the world that could escalate out of control on very short notice. We talked about the absolute refusal of the nuclear-armed states and their allies to even participate in the TPNW negotiations and their renunciations of the TPNW in its totality. We recognized many of the speakers in different ways, that we are living in a deeply divided world, that we are at a nuclear crossroads and that we have to recognize both realities – the growing nuclear dangers, and the promise of the TPNW. We also talked about the fact that the nuclear-armed states and their allies say that the TPNW undermines or weakens the NPT and all of our speakers except one, who was from the Foreign Ministry of Japan, refuted that contention. We believe that the TPNW actually strengthens and supports the NPT. It could even be looked at as an implementation provision for Article 6. In fact, the sanctity of the NPT is important to the TPNW endorsers, and it is enshrined in the preamble of the TPNW.
Masakatsu Ota from Kyodo News asked, “Why did Japan not engage in the TPNW negotiations?“ and he talked about the long history of close relations between United States and Japan beginning with the secret agreement in 1953 to allow US nuclear weapons to be carried by US aircrafts carriers in Japanese waters, and how this close and sometimes secret collaboration and Japanʼs continuing affirmation of the nuclear umbrella has been very continuous and it continues until this day.
Tariq Rauf reminded us again of the global risks. He also reminded us that nuclear weapons are unique as the only true weapons of mass destruction, the only weapons made by men that can destroy all life forms on

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