Foreign Minister Schallenberg Attends First Meeting of Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) in Vienna

AUSTRIA, June 20 - On 21 June 2022, Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg represented Austria at the first meeting of the parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) in Vienna. The three-day conference, which was attended by 49 signatory states and 33 observers, and chaired by Ambassador Alexander Kmentt as Austria’s representative, was intended to create the structures for implementing the contractual agreements.

In light of the recent threatening nuclear gestures from Russia, Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg once again underlined the urgent need for a ban on nuclear weapons.

This should be a day for celebration. However, not since the end of the Cold War has the nuclear threat been as present as it is today. It is high time to do away with the myth that nuclear weapons provide security. The Sword of Damocles hanging over our heads is too great a threat. We must eliminate nuclear weapons before they eliminate us,

warned Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg.

For Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg, the TPNW represents a “new norm” in opposition to the nuclear powers’ continued faith in the logic of nuclear deterrence, and it shows that the majority of states do not accept this logic. Therefore, he said, the TPNW must be “the beginning of the end for these devastating and threatening weapons”.

During the conference, Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg also noted Austria’s role as a leader in nuclear disarmament. At the 2014 Vienna Conference on the humanitarian impact of nuclear arms, Austria called for a ban on nuclear weapons due to their humanitarian impact – thereby laying the cornerstone for the TPNW, which has now been ratified by 65 states. Just the night before the meeting, Cabo Verde, Timor-Leste and Grenada became the three most recent signatories to the treaty.

Through this historic treaty, we have fulfilled our promise. We can be proud of what we have accomplished together – all of us, both states and civil society,

said Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg. 

In order to further advance these joint efforts to achieve a world free from nuclear weapons, Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg also held bilateral talks with Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Eduardo Rodriguez Parrilla, UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu, New Zealand Minister for Disarmament and Arms Control Phil Twyford, and the Prime Minister of Fiji, Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama.

The TPNW, which took effect on 22 January 2021, is the first internationally binding ban on the possession, use, and threatened use of nuclear weapons, such as already exists for biological and chemical weapons of mass destruction. At the same time, the treaty provides a basis for steps towards nuclear disarmament, and it opens up a path for nuclear-weapons states to eliminate their arsenals. Based on current scholarly findings about the serious humanitarian impact and risks of nuclear weapons, the treaty questions the concept of nuclear deterrence as a sustainable foundation for peace and international security. It also contains provisions for aiding victims and remediating environmental damage caused by the use and/or testing of nuclear weapons.