For many years, as a key player in the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), PAX worked towards an international ban on nuclear weapons. And with result: In January 2021, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) entered into force. This landmark global treaty prohibits nations from developing, testing, producing, manufacturing, transferring, possessing, stockpiling, using or threatening to use nuclear weapons, or allowing nuclear weapons to be stationed on their territory.
Through public outreach campaigns, publications, political advocacy, and more, we encourage the Dutch government to sign and ratify the nuclear ban treaty. The government should also remove the US nuclear bombs that are still stationed at the Volkel Air Base in the Netherlands. We also continue to participate in global efforts to increase the stigma around these inhumane weapons and generate momentum towards their elimination. We furthermore coordinate the Don’t Bank on the Bomb research, which provides regular updates on the banks, pension funds, and other financial institutions that make money available to the nuclear weapons industry.
Towards a world free of nuclear weapons
Global work
Global tensions and risks of nuclear conflict are on the rise. No state or agency would be able to address the catastrophic immediate or long-term consequences of the detonation of a nuclear weapon. Yet, all nuclear armed states continue to modernize their nuclear arsenals.
As an International Steering Group member of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), PAX is a key player in a growing global movement that challenges states’ continued reliance on nuclear weapons for their security. In 2017, ICAN received the Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts “to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons” and its “ground-breaking efforts to achieve a treaty-based prohibition of such weapons”. ICAN works for the abolition of nuclear weapons, by seeking to increase global support for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) and encourage its full implementation.
Local work
Around 10 to 15 B61 US nuclear bombs are stored at Volkel Air Base in The Netherlands. A squadron of Dutch fighter pilots are assigned to the Dutch nuclear task and are trained to be ready to drop these nuclear weapons. The US nuclear bombs will be or may already have been replaced by B61-12 models. These new bombs allow for the destruction of smaller targets with more precision. This may, however, only lower the threshold for their actual use, which would have catastrophic humanitarian consequences. To date, despite calls for more transparency from parliament, the Dutch government continues to refuse to confirm or deny the presence of nuclear weapons in the Netherlands.
By collecting more than 45.000 signatures in the Sign Against Nuclear Weapons’ citizen’s initiative (Teken tegen kernwapens burgerinitiatief), started in 2014, PAX brought a brief demonstration of democracy to the nuclear weapons debate. The initiative required Parliament to hold a debate on a national ban on nuclear weapons and resulted in Dutch participation in negotiations for the landmark Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). The Netherlands, however, voted against the adoption of the Treaty.
Thus far, the Dutch government has been unwilling to sign the TPNW, maintaining that that NATO is a “nuclear alliance” and will – as long as nuclear weapons exist – remain this way. NATO members, however, would face no legal impediments to joining the TPNW.
PAX continues to undertake efforts to persuade the Dutch government to join the TPNW and remove US nuclear bombs from its territory.
What can you do?
If you want to be involved in the movement to abolish nuclear weapons, you can encourage your city or municipality to sign the ICAN Cities Appeal.
Timeline
This timeline gives an overview of our work on nuclear arms since 1983.
New nuclear weapons in the Netherlands
Forty years after the largest demonstration ever held in the Netherlands, when 550,000 people gathered in The Hague in October 1983 to protest against the deployment of nuclear weapons, it is happening again. In the utmost secrecy. You hear nothing about it on the news. It is hardly a topic of debate. But new nuclear weapons are coming to the Netherlands. Perhaps they are already here.
Don’t Bank on the Bomb
The report shows that between January 2022 and August 2024, 260 financial institutions had significant financing or investment relations with nuclear weapon producers.
Partners
Contact
Alejandra Muñoz, Senior Project Officer Humanitarian Disarmament, nukes@paxforpeace.nl