Agency Report –
Berlin – Germany has decided not to take part in a UN conference in New York to review a landmark treaty on nuclear weapons prohibition.
“The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons dates back to a time before the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine,” the Foreign Office told dpa in Berlin on Tuesday. “The intention and ambition of the treaty no longer reflect the current reality in security policy.”
The treaty was signed in 2017 and came into force in 2021. There are currently 94 signatories and 73 states parties, according to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).
Germany does not possess nuclear weapons but is allied with three nuclear powers in NATO: the United States, France and the United Kingdom.
Berlin is not a signatory to the prohibition treaty, but it participated in previous conferences as observers.
However, the Russian war in Ukraine has demonstrated “that nuclear deterrence is indispensable for our security,” the Foreign Office said.
The ministry pointed to Moscow’s actions such as the adaptation of its nuclear doctrine, cancelling its commitment to disarmament and its development of new weapons systems such as the Oreshnik.
This “poses challenges that the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is not up to,” the Foreign Office added.
Germany instead continues to emphasize the importance of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which was passed in 1968.
“This boycott by the German government sends a fatal signal,” said Hubertus Sonntag, board member of ICAN Germany. “It marks a dramatic step backwards in Germany’s role as a proponent of international disarmament diplomacy and contradicts the goal of a world without nuclear weapons, which the German government has repeatedly stated.”
