page_title: International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
section_title: Milestones
hierarchical_section_title: International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons / Milestones
caption_attribution_description: English: Representatives of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons meet in Nayarit, Mexico, for the Second Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons, in February 2014
context_page_description: The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons is a global civil society coalition working to promote adherence to and full implementation of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. The campaign helped bring about this treaty. ICAN was launched in 2007 and counts 541 partner organizations in 103 countries as of 2019.
  The campaign received the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize "for its work to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and for its ground-breaking efforts to achieve a treaty-based prohibition of such weapons."
context_section_description: 6 October 2017: The Nobel Peace Prize for 2017 was awarded to the ICAN. The committee stated: "for its work to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and for its ground-breaking efforts to achieve a treaty-based prohibition of such weapons" as the reason for selecting ICAN for this award.
  7 July 2017: The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) is adopted at the United Nations by a vote of 122-1. The Treaty, which prohibits the development, testing, production, manufacture, acquisition, possession, stockpiling, transfer, use, and threatened use of nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices, will enter into force once it has been ratified by 50 states. The ICAN calls the TPNW "a landmark international agreement that outlaws, categorically, the worst weapons of mass destruction and establishes a pathway to their elimination."
  27 October 2016: UN First Committee adopts a landmark, ICAN-supported resolution to launch negotiations in 2017 on a treaty outlawing nuclear weapons. ICAN calls on all states to participate in the negotiations, stating that "every nation has an interest in ensuring that nuclear weapons are never used again, which can only be guaranteed through their complete elimination."
  February–August 2016: ICAN campaigns actively at UN Open-Ended Working Group in Geneva, which recommends by a large majority of 107 participating States that the General Assembly authorize negotiations on "a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination." ICAN calls the OEWG recommendation "a breakthrough in the seven-decade-long global struggle to rid the world of the worst weapons of mass destruction."
  2 November 2015: UN General Assembly establishes Open-Ended Working Group to review the evidence of catastrophic humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons and to make concrete recommendations for taking forward multilateral nuclear disarmament. ICAN calls on the OEWG "to begin the serious practical work of developing the elements for a treaty banning nuclear weapons."
  November 2015: After mobilizing campaigners behind the Humanitarian Pledge for almost a year, ICAN takes significant credit for bringing 127 onto the Pledge as signatories; another 23 States vote in favor of Pledge goals at General Assembly.
  6–7 August 2015: ICAN campaigners organize worldwide events to commemorate the 70th anniversaries of the atomic bombings of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
  December 2014: More than 600 ICAN campaigners gather in Vienna on the eve of the Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons. ICAN tells conference participants "a new legal instrument prohibiting nuclear weapons would constitute a long overdue implementation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty." At the conference conclusion, Austria issues historic Humanitarian Pledge to work with all stakeholders "to fill the legal gap for the prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons."
  26 October 2014: 155 States, an increase of 30 from the previous year, submit joint humanitarian appeal for nuclear disarmament at UN General Assembly.
  1 July 2014: Beatrice Fihn is appointed ICAN Executive Director.
  February 2014: Nayarit Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons attended by 146 States and more than a hundred civil society campaigners. ICAN tells participants "the claim by some states that they continue to need these weapons to deter their adversaries has been exposed by the evidence presented at this conference…as a reckless and unsanctionable gamble with our future." At conference conclusion, Mexico calls for the start of a diplomatic process to negotiate a legally binding instrument prohibiting nuclear weapons.
  30 August 2013: UN working group highlights humanitarian concerns about the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of nuclear detonations and the need for non-nuclear nations to push forward.
  March 2013: ICAN coordinates civil society participation at historic Oslo Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Wea
caption: ICAN campaigners in Mexico in 2014.
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