We are in a crisis…the response cannot be business as usual

[IPPNW’s statement to the 11th Review Conference to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was delivered on 1 May by Magritte Gordaneer, the director of the nuclear weapons abolition program at IPPNW’s US affiliate, Physicians for Social Responsibility.]

Honorable Chair, Distinguished Delegates, and Civil Society Colleagues, 

We are in a crisis — you wouldn’t know that walking into this room. 

In January, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists set the Doomsday Clock to 85 seconds to midnight — the closest we have ever been to nuclear war in human history. Every second, we stand on the precipice of annihilation. 

There’s only one way to turn back this clock. NPT Member States – especially the five recognized nuclear weapons states – must act on their Article 6 obligations at this Review Conference. 

On behalf of tens of thousands of health professionals worldwide committed to protecting human and global health, I remind you that there is no humanitarian response to any use of nuclear weapons. Even a single detonation would usher in a catastrophic new era — resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths, severe injuries, and an unrecognizable radioactive wasteland. A nuclear war, no matter the scale, would threaten the lives of every person on this planet — immediately and forever after. 

Despite decades of evidence on their catastrophic impacts, the nuclear-armed states are brandishing warheads and threatening the planet — acting with impunity and disregard for international law — holding the rest of the world at their mercy as they test their limits. In the last year alone: 

• –  The last remaining US-Russia arms control treaty expired, leaving no binding limits or structured arms control dialogue between the two largest nuclear-armed states — or indeed any of them; 
• –  All nine nuclear-armed states have modernized or expanded their nuclear arsenals, investing an estimated $100 billion in 2025 alone; while 
• –  The majority of the nine nuclear-armed states have engaged in deadly, destabilizing armed conflict. 

The response to this manufactured chaos cannot be business as usual. 

This Review Conference faces a choice: allow the P-5 to keep their arsenals in perpetuity, making future use of nuclear weapons inevitable, or to act with the urgency this moment demands.

Today, we call on each of you — especially nuclear weapons states — to turn statements into action, take responsibility for our collective future, and fulfill your Article 6 obligations in good faith. Join the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons without delay. If we fail to act now, we may not have another chance. 

IPPNW’s recommendations to the 11^th NPT Review Conference