MULTI-STAKEHOLDER WORKSHOP ON GHANA’S RATIFICATION ON TPNW – Ghana National Commission on Small Arms and Light Weapons (GNACSA)

Participants who took part in the meeting

By smallarms
/ July 7, 2021
/ archive

The National Commission on Small Arms and Light Weapons in collaboration with Foundation for Security and Development in Africa (FOSDA) with the support of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) organized a multi-stakeholder workshop with relevant institutions on Ghana’s ratification on the Treaty Prohibiting Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).

The workshop was held on Tuesday, 6^th July, 2021, in Accra, to develop a roadmap to facilitate Ghana’s speedy ratification of the Treaty which Ghana has already signed. It was attended by representatives from Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Ghana Armed Forces, Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, Nuclear Regulatory Authority, National Security Council, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom- Ghana (WILPF)Ghana.

The Executive Secretary of the Small Arms Commission, Mr. Jones Applerh, in his opening statement reiterated the importance and urgency for Ghana to ratify the Treaty.

According to him, the Treaty is consistent with Ghana’s longstanding commitment to nuclear disarmament. Ghana has been against the development and acquisition of nuclear weapons because of the existential threat it poses to the human race.

The Programs Manager, FOSDA, Mrs. Theodora Anti, shared the current status of TPNW. She revealed that twenty-nine (29) African States have signed the TPNW but only Eight (8) have ratified it.

In a solidarity message from the Operations Coordinator of International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), Celine Nahory, she elaborated on what it will mean if Ghana ratified the Treaty.

By ratifying the Treaty, she said, Ghana will convey total and universal rejection of nuclear weapons and would also transform the regional norm of the Pelindaba Treaty to a global one.

She further stated that Ghana has already made a legal undertaking to never acquire nuclear weapons and never assist other states in manufacturing nuclear weapons.