Actions taken:
New Zealand continued to cooperate with others to actively promote the total elimination of nuclear weapons as the only way to properly address the risks and catastrophic consequences of these weapons. In line with the proposed actions and progress indicators, New Zealand raised awareness of the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons and promoted the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), including through:
- National and group statements in meetings of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), TPNW, UN General Assembly and Conference on Disarmament, among other fora;
- Ongoing membership of core groups for several resolutions in the UN General Assembly First Committee (these continued to receive significant numbers of votes in favour) and voting in favour, including those relating to the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons, ethical imperatives for a nuclear-weapon-free world, and the TPNW;
- Early co-sponsorship and support for a successful new resolution, led by Kazakhstan and Kiribati, in the UN General Assembly First Committee in 2023 on the legacy of nuclear weapons;
- Successive joint Working Papers for NPT meetings;
- A video message by New Zealand’s then-Prime Minister to mark the 75th anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings;
- Co-chairing the informal working group on the implementation of Article 4 of the TPNW, and member of the coordinating committee and core group; and
- Bilateral and multilateral engagement, including for example our ministerial-level hosting of a Pacific roundtable in late 2021 ahead of the first meeting of States Parties to the TPNW.
New Zealand Red Cross contributed to panels for Hiroshima Day every year. The IHL Advisor also attended the NPT Review conference in NY in 2022 and contributed to communications and education work about the Treaty monitoring process afterwards. In 2023, the IHL Advisor and IHL Volunteers developed a module for use with young people about the humanitarian impacts of nuclear weapons, developed out of their experience at the Conference for the Future. NZRC also developed social media content on humanitarian impacts of NW.
