On Tuesday, January 27, Ghana hosted the West and Central African Regional Conference on the Universalisation and Implementation of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) in Accra.
The conference, jointly organised by the Governments of Ghana and Austria, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), brought together government representatives, regional organisations, civil society actors, and international partners to advance a nuclear-weapon-free world.
In her opening remarks, the Chief Director of Ghana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Khadija Iddrisu, emphasised the importance of multilateral approaches to global security amid rising geopolitical tensions.
“Sustainable security cannot be built on weapons of mass destruction but on cooperation and respect for human life,” she said. She highlighted Ghana’s historic commitment to nuclear disarmament, recalling the warning of the country’s first President, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, that nuclear weapons posed “the greatest threat to the survival of mankind.”
Ambassador Iddrisu also noted that Ghana’s unanimous parliamentary ratification of the TPNW in June 2025 reaffirmed its moral leadership. “The prohibition of nuclear weapons is not only a legal obligation, but a moral imperative owed to future generations,” she said.
The conference featured four thematic sessions examining Africa’s security concerns, the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons, TPNW provisions and obligations, and strategies for universalisation and implementation ahead of the Treaty’s First Review Conference later in 2026 under South Africa’s presidency.
Speakers included senior officials from the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Union (AU), national security institutions, academia, and civil society.
Discussions focused on the catastrophic humanitarian, environmental, and developmental consequences of nuclear weapons and the need to prioritise human security in global disarmament efforts.
Delivering remarks on behalf of partner states, the Deputy Head of Mission of the Austrian Embassy in Ghana, Sandra Gintsberger, described the Treaty as offering “a paradigm shift by empowering those most affected by nuclear risks.”
She urged African states to continue advancing universal adherence to the TPNW, stressing that “nuclear weapons do not provide sustainable security but instead represent an existential risk to humanity.”
In his closing remarks, Ambassador Francis D. Kotia, Acting Coordinating Director for Multilateral and International Organisations at Ghana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, commended participants for their engagement and reaffirmed Ghana’s commitment to disarmament.
He recalled President Nkrumah’s warning to the United Nations that nuclear weapons amounted to “a policy of genocide for the African people.”
Ambassador Kotia also called on West and Central African states to translate shared convictions into concrete national action, regional cooperation, and active participation ahead of the Review Conference.
The conference concluded with a renewed commitment to strengthen collaboration, support national implementation processes, and advance the universalisation of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons as a cornerstone of global peace and security.
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