Latest developments
The Netherlands voted against the UN General Assembly resolutions on the TPNW in 2018, 2019, and 2020. In November 2018, the Dutch House of Representatives adopted a series of motions calling on the government to intensify its advocacy for nuclear disarmament, including to champion the TPNW within NATO and investigate the compatibility of the TPNW with existing Dutch legislation. In January 2019, the Dutch foreign and defence ministers informed the Dutch House of Representatives that there are no legal obstacles within Dutch law preventing the Netherlands from joining the TPNW. An opinion poll conducted in April 2019 shows that a large majority of Dutch citizens want the Netherlands to sign the TPNW. In January 2020, the Dutch minister of foreign affairs repeated that the government does not support the TPNW. See: bit.ly/2P730d7, bit.ly/2QVL4nB, bit.ly/3i3Z5eH.
Recommendations
- The Netherlands should ensure that nuclear weapons do not have a role in its national defence plans and security policies. It should ensure the removal of the foreign nuclear weapons on its territory, renounce the retention and potential use of nuclear weapons on its behalf, for instance through a declaratory statement, and refrain from endorsing future alliance statements in support of nuclear weapons.
- The Netherlands should urgently sign and ratify the TPNW, and encourage other states to adhere to the Treaty. Until it is in a position to do so, it should welcome the TPNW as a valuable contribution to the global disarmament and non-proliferation architecture, attend its meetings of states parties as an observer, and work with its states parties on practical steps towards disarmament.
