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The obligation to assist victims and remediate affected territory

States parties and civil society met frequently in 2023 to advance implementation of the TPNW’s Article 6 obligations to provide assistance to individuals affected by nuclear-weapons use and testing and to remediate contaminated environments. At the Treaty’s Second Meeting of States Parties (2MSP) in November–December 2023, Kazakhstan and New Zealand submitted reports about their national implementation measures, including initial assessments of harm to their territory and population, and national implementation plans. Fiji stated its intention to do so in the future.

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Inhabitants of Bakaka village in Tamana, Kiribati receive free medical services from a Chinese medical team that visited remote Kiribati islands in 2023. Photo: Handout via Xinhua/NTB

In most cases so far, communities affected by nuclear weapons have received inadequate support. The TPNW’s obligation to provide victim assistance and environmental remediation, articulated in Article 6(1), seeks to change this situation. The TPNW has brought about unprecedented international attention to the rights of people affected by nuclear weapons and the need for victim assistance and environmental remediation. States parties have taken steps to initiate implementation of the TPNW’s positive obligations, which in turn have already influenced priorities and discussions in forums beyond the Treaty itself.

TPNW states parties articulated the initial steps to implement Article 6 and 7 obligations in the Vienna Action Plan, adopted in June 2022 at the First Meeting of States Parties (1MSP). The Vienna Action Plan included 14 actions dedicated to implementing Articles 6 and 7: Actions 19–32. At the 1MSP, states parties also created a working group on victim assistance, environmental remediation, international cooperation and assistance ‘to coordinate and take forward the intersessional work’ co-chaired by two TPNW states parties where nuclear weapons were tested: Kazakhstan and Kiribati. In the intersessional period, the working group focused on Vienna Action Plan commitments 27–32, on developing voluntary reporting guidelines, discussing the feasibility of and proposing guidelines for an international trust fund, and national implementation measures, including initial assessments of harm in affected states and national implementation plans and the provision of international cooperation and assistance. The informal working group met seven times in 2023, with more than 30 states parties, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) joining the discussions.

At the 2MSP, all states parties adopted decisions to take forward the work into the next intersessional period. In their statements, several dozen states highlighted the ongoing humanitarian impacts of nuclear weapons use and testing and the need to address these impacts by working with affected communities.

For more information, see the 2023 edition of the Nuclear Weapons Ban Monitor.

ARTICLE 6 - INTERPRETATION
  • To address the ongoing suffering inflicted by the use and testing of nuclear weapons, Article 6(1) of the TPNW obligates each state party to provide ‘adequate’ assistance to individuals under its jurisdiction who are affected by the use or testing of nuclear weapons. Article 6(2) obligates states parties to take ‘necessary and appropriate measures’ towards the remediation of any areas in territory under their jurisdiction or control that have been contaminated as a result of activities related to the testing or use of nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.
  • Article 6 should be read in tandem with Article 7 which requires all states parties to cooperate on implementation of the Treaty, and all states parties in a position to do so to ‘provide technical, material and financial assistance’ to affected states parties, which will help them fulfil their victim assistance and environmental remediation obligations.

ARTICLE 6(1) - VICTIM ASSISTANCE

  • It is not required that the harm be caused by the state under whose jurisdiction they fall or that it occurred within that territory.
  • Assistance includes, but is not limited to, medical care, rehabilitation, and psychological support, as well as support for social and economic inclusion.
  • Assistance under Article 6(1) must be provided in accordance with applicable international human rights and humanitarian law. The paragraph requires that assistance in all cases must be age- and gender-sensitive and provided to all on the basis of need ‘without discrimination’. The duty of non-discrimination ensures that states parties do not adversely distinguish among recipients based on the basis of sex, race, religion, sexual orientation, disability, political opinion, or other status identified in international human rights law. (See: Art. 2(1), International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and Art. 5(2), Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, as well as the disarmament law precedent in Art. 5(2)(e), Convention on Cluster Munitions.)
  • Because addressing the human impacts of nuclear weapons is a complex and long-term humanitarian task, the TPNW facilitates the process by creating a framework of shared responsibility for victim assistance (as well as environmental remediation, discussed in the next section). The framework enables those who are willing to start addressing these issues to act together now. Affected states parties bear the primary responsibility for implementation as this protects their sovereignty and follows the precedent of international human rights law and humanitarian disarmament law. But other states parties in a position to do so are required to provide international cooperation and assistance to help affected states parties meet their victim assistance (and environmental remediation) obligations.
  • To make victim assistance more manageable, Article 6(1) can also be understood to allow affected states parties to realise some of their obligations, particularly those related to economic, social, and cultural rights, progressively. International human rights law requires a state to take steps to achieve those rights ‘to the maximum of its available resources’, while recognising that full realisation may be a gradual process. (See: Art. 2(1), International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.)

ARTICLE 6(2) - ENVIRONMENTAL REMEDIATION

  • Given that nuclear fallout causes significant levels of contamination that spread across time and space, the TPNW recognises that environmental remediation is a long-term commitment. It is typically difficult, and often impossible, to return areas affected by nuclear weapons to their pre-detonation condition. Accordingly, Article 6(2) stipulates that affected states parties must take ‘necessary and appropriate measures towards the environmental remediation of [contaminated] areas’. Although they may never achieve complete remediation, they must work in good faith towards that goal.
  • Certain interim activities, such as risk education, marking of contaminated areas, and national planning, can be accomplished in the near term. An essential step in each case is for a state party to conduct an environmental remediation needs assessment.

ARTICLE 6(3)

  • Article 6(3) makes clear that the TPNW’s victim assistance and environmental remediation obligations do not preclude affected states parties or individuals from seeking redress or assistance through other means, such as judicial measures or bilateral treaties with states not party.