We would like to draw your attention to a new book, The 2017 Nuclear Ban Treaty, on the recently negotiated UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). This is the first scholarly book-length analysis of the treaty. It brings to bear a range of perspectives, including from international relations, international law, civil society, diplomats, and specialists in the field. The contributors include IPPNW Co-President, Associate Professor Tilman Ruff, from the Nossal Institute for Global Health at Melbourne University Australia, and founding international and Australian Chair of ICAN, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017.

The 2017 Nuclear Ban Treaty: A New Path to Nuclear Disarmament has just been published by leading international publisher Taylor & Francis/Routledge. The book is edited by Professors Joseph Camilleri and Michael Hamel-Green from Australia, and Professor Fumihiko Yoshida from Japan.

Aspects covered include: the rationale and significance of the treaty; the role of civil society; verification; and national and regional perspectives. A concluding chapter discusses the prospects for the new treaty.

The book was launched in Melbourne on December 13th 2018 by former Australian High Court Judge, Hon. Michael Kirby, who noted that the new treaty would serve to “stigmatise nuclear weapons, strengthen existing humanitarian law, and eventually eliminate such weapons. He added: “I agree with President Ronald Reagan that the use of nuclear weapons is so perilous to the survival of the world and our species that it is unthinkable and must never happen. It is therefore beyond time that the world made ‘the possession, use and threat of use’ of nuclear weapons a crime under international law. This would not eliminate them overnight. But, as with landmine and chemical weapon treaties, it could help restore the stalled momentum towards non-proliferation and elimination”.