1. The Birth of a Ban
Lessons learned from past weapons prohibitions to inform the future of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
Alicia Sanders-Zakre

2. 1925 Geneva Protocol model Interim measure
Took decades for weapons possessors to sign
More limited in scope than TPNW, fewer signatories
Norm building
Comprehensive elimination conventions followed
Soldiers with the British Machine Gun Corps wear gas masks
in 1916 during World War I’s first Battle of the Somme
Source: General Photographic Agency/Getty Images

5. Lessons for TPNW – Geneva Protocol
Could strengthen the norm against the weapon
Could take decades for a follow on nuclear elimination convention with the support of weapons possessors
Norm may be violated in the meantime
Opening for signature of the CWC in 1993.
Source: United Nations

6. Landmine Ban Treaty/ Cluster Munition Convention model
Humanitarian focus
Non-traditional process
Non-traditional actors
Intended to be the definitive weapons ban
Landmine clearing signal
Source: United Nations

9. Lessons for TPNW – Landmine/Cluster Munitions model
Strong treaty adherence by states-parties
Weapon possessing states likely will not join the ban immediately, but it may have some impact on their behavior
Continued civil society involvement
May be too soon to tell
Jean Chretien, Canadian prime minister, presents instruments for
ratification at the opening for signature ceremony of the Landmine Ban
Treaty, December 3, 1997.
Source: United Nations

10. Conclusions Unlikely that ban will harm progress towards elimination
All states can take steps to strengthen the norm against nuclear possession and use to advance shared goal
Restarting U.S./Russian arms control dialogues
Advocating for CTBT and FMCT
Implementing 2010 NPT Action Plan
Constructive engagement in 2020 NPT Review Cycle
Sustained civil society involvement
Izumi Nakamitsu, UN undersecretary-general and high representative
for disarmament affairs, addresses the NPT preparatory committee
meeting in Vienna, as Ambassador Henk Cor van der Kwast of the
Netherlands, the committee chairman, looks on.
Source: Agata Wozniak/ UNIS Vienna