The Third Meeting of States Parties (3MSP) to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) will convene from 3 to 7 March 2025, with Ambassador Akan Rakhmetullin of Kazakhstan presiding. Discussions will focus on advancing the Treaty’s implementation and fostering multilateral cooperation for nuclear disarmament. There is a strong Scottish civil society contingency planning on attending 3MSP this year. Scottish WILPF (SWILPF) will be represented by two delegates, Ãine Beattie and Janet Fenton. We hope to amplify that there is support in Scotland regarding the effort to eliminate nuclear weapons and recognise their gendered harms.
2025 marks the 80th year since the invention of nuclear weapons and their first use, and the risks surrounding them have grown significantly. There has been a great deal of progress on the Treaty since the last Nuclear Ban Week in New York. The TPNW has grown, with four ratifications (São Tomé, Indonesia, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands) and one signature (Solomon Islands). There has also been a robust intersessional period advancing issues including victim assistance and the security concerns of States party to the Treaty. Yet in the face of rising nuclear tensions and increasing misogyny globally, our attendance has never been more important. This conference is an opportunity to use the meetings, panels, artistic and youth events to draw attention to these gendered risks, and serves as a reminder that there is a solution through the TPNW.
The TPNW is the first and unique treaty that has hardwired gendered perspectives into it. It specifically acknowledges the disproportionate impact on women, girls and indigenous people in the preamble, including harms from ionising radiation. It recognises that equal, full and effective participation is essential for sustainable peace and security, and supports and strengthens the participation of women in nuclear disarmament.
In terms of the UN resolution 1325 Women, Peace and Security Agenda, disarmament lags behind progress made in other fora and pillars. The third Irish National Action Plan is the only one globally to condemn both conventional weapons and weapons of mass destruction. This is a testament to the changes countries can make, but much more must be done to achieve gender equality in disarmament. We hope to see more meaningful, impactful change like this at 3MSP.
Nuclear Ban Week, New York 2025, will kick off with an International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) Campaigner meeting at the iconic Riverside Church on Sunday 2 March. At 3MSP, Scottish WILPF delegates will attend a full schedule of side events. This will give us the opportunity to speak to experts in the field, learn from them, and engage while sharing a feminist peace perspective on the proceedings and raising awareness of WILPF’s values, goals, projects and strategic vision.
WILPF rejects militarism in all its forms. Militarism is a destructive and oppressive system that diverts society’s resources towards weapons and war; a mindset and culture that weaponises security and gender relations; and a leading contributor to armed conflict and violence in countries and communities worldwide (WILPF 2024). Nuclear weapons are perhaps the most obvious manifestation of militarism; seen as a “symbol of masculine strength,” and a political representation of power. WILPF is working to transform attitudes towards militarism and advance intersectional feminist perspectives that promote systems and structures offering lasting peace and security.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres recently stated, “Humanity’s future depends on investing in the machinery of peace, not the machinery of war” (Guterres 2025), on the International Day for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Awareness. As small cogs in the machinery of peace, we at SWILPF hope to advocate for meaningful change and feminist peace this year at 3MSP.
Ãine Beattie, 1 March 2025
