Thailand and Ireland co-hosted an online panel discussion on TPNW Complementarity: reinforcing and strengthening international law.

On 28 May 2024, Ireland and Thailand, the informal co-facilitators on Complementarity, co-hosted an online panel discussion: “TPNW Complementarity: reinforcing and strengthening international law”.   The panel discussion aimed to identify and explore aspects of complementarity, as mentioned by States and other stakeholders that “the Complementarity of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) goes beyond disarmament and non-proliferation regimes, as obligations under the treaty overlap with various international instruments on human rights, sustainable development and the environment.”

Panelists included Ms. Grisselle del Carmen Rodriguez Ramirez, Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Panama; Dr. Marcos A. Orellana, Special Rapporteur on toxics and human rights; Ms. Kathleen Lawand, Executive-in-residence, Global Fellowship Initiative, GCSP; Ms. Susi Snyder, Programme Coordinator, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN); and Ms. Aigerim Seitenova, Co-founder of Steppe Organisation for Peace: Qazaq Youth Initiative for Nuclear Justice.

Panelists emphasised that TPNW is among the first disarmament treaties that highlights compliance of international human rights law, and obliges States to provide victim assistance in accordance with applicable international humanitarian and human rights laws. The synergy between TPNW and those field of international laws was also reflected in the UN Human Rights System, including the treaty bodies and the Human Rights Council, particularly in the work carried out by Special Procedures and Universal Periodic Review. States and human rights experts echoed the needs to address adverse effects of nuclear use and nuclear testing on the full enjoyment of human rights have been underpinned.

The panel discussion also examined the impacts of nuclear legacies’ hazardous substances on internationally protected human rights, such as the right to life, right to health and right to clean, healthy and sustainable environments in different regions; how victims and their future generation strive for legal and social protection; and how business could contribute to disarmament and non-proliferation through adherence to human rights instruments, including the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.