Disarmament

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Swedish Foreign Minister hosts ministerial meeting for Stepping Stones approach

On Tuesday, 11 June, Foreign Ministers from 15 countries meet in Stockholm to discuss how to make progress on nuclear disarmament. The impetus for this meeting is the Swedish ‘Stepping Stones’ implementation approach, which seeks to revive the blocked disarmament pathway in the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

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Report: Stepping Stones to Disarmament – Making Progress in a Polarised International Climate

The Stepping Stones Approach seeks to engage all members of the international community in a cooperative and inclusive process that nudges the nuclear possessor states away from arms racing dynamics and in a more positive direction, with the intention of reducing the salience of nuclear weapons in postures, achieving incremental disarmament and progressively building up the capacity for further steps.

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Report: Reporting on Nuclear Disarmament – Success and Failure in 25 Years of Disarmament Diplomacy

Nuclear disarmament has fallen off the public agenda. Media attention is sporadic and reactive, focusing on short-term trends like summits with North Korea or sanctions on Iran. But the longer-term process of global disarmament rarely features in the news cycle and where there is reference it is treated with disdain as unrealistic. This has serious costs to public engagement and democratic accountability.