'Britain, Trident, and a Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty'

On Monday, 14 November 2016, the David Davies Memorial Institute welcomed Rebecca Sharkey, the UK Coordinator for the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) to the Department of International Politics at Aberystwyth University.  Ms. Sharkey gave a talk entitled 'Britain, Trident, and a nuclear weapons ban treaty', a particularly relevant topic given the recent vote in the UN in favour of opening the way for negotiations on a new treaty to ban nuclear weapons.  The talk was attended by an enthusiastic audience, eager to learn about the possibility of a world free of nuclear weapons, and about various ICAN initiatives to realize this future. 

Ms Sharkey argued that while nuclear weapons may be a global problem, the United Kingdom still bears responsibility for failing to facilitate progress towards disarmament.  In the recent UN vote, the UK voted against the motion to hold a conference in March 2017 in order to negotiate a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination.  Ms Sharkey suggested that the UK’s ‘no’ vote was not entirely consistent with its obligations under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which mandates, among other things, that signatories pursue negotiations toward general disarmament.

ICAN hopes that stigmatizing nuclear weapons will create momentum for a ban treaty, which will, in turn, help bring about their eventual elimination.  In support of this agenda, Ms Sharkey highlighted the environmental and humanitarian threats that nuclear weapons pose worldwide.  She pointed out that even if the UK never used its stockpile of nuclear weapons in an act of war, an accident arising from their storage or transportation still could adversely affect the health of the population and environment.  In light of these risks, ICAN would like to see Britain take on an active role in promoting a global ban, and to this end seeks to foster participation among politicians, civil society and academics.  Ms Sharkey concluded her talk by taking questions form the audience.  These included questions about the relevance of a ban treaty whose signatories did not include any nuclear states, the problems of enforcement and of asymmetrical disarmament, and the role of NATO should it become a non-nuclear-armed security coalition.