Latest developments
Spain voted against the UN General Assembly resolutions on the TPNW in 2018, 2019, and 2020. The Foreign Affairs Committee of the Lower House of the Spanish Parliament adopted a resolution on 21 December 2020 which welcomed the TPNW 'as an effort to move towards peace, security and disarmament'. The Spanish government agreed in September 2018 to sign the TPNW. The agreement was made during negotiations on the 2019 budget, when the left-wing party Podemos obtained a commitment from the government to sign the Treaty in exchange for Podemos’ support for the 2019 budget. During a meeting in 2020 with ICAN, Spanish government officials said that the government is not ready to sign the TPNW but willing to participate in the First Meeting of States Parties as an observer. Three former Spanish foreign ministers (Ana Palacio, Javier Solana and Carlos Westendorp) were among the signatories to an open letter in September 2020 calling on current leaders in umbrella states to 'show courage and boldness' and join the TPNW. Twelve Spanish cities including Barcelona have signed ICAN’s Cities Appeal. See: bit.ly/2TwCaOp, bit.ly/2koi0gA.
Recommendations
- Spain should ensure that nuclear weapons do not have a role in its national defence plans and security policies. It should 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 weapons of mass destruction.
- Spain 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.
