Victim Assistance under the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons: An Analysis

Abstract

The article analyses the provision of victim assistance present under the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) by examining the nature and scope of positive obligation on States Parties (affected states, user states and other states) to provide assistance and the constituents of assistance. Throughout the analysis, the author assesses where the Treaty has surpassed the previous humanitarian disarmament treaties in its formulation and where it has lessened the scope of its normative framework for victim assistance. The paper also investigates the specific aspect of victim assistance which helped in fulfilling the humanitarian goals of the Treaty such as including age and gendered approach, protecting the rights of indigenous communities, applying the principles of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and International Human Rights Law (IHRL). The article highlights the contemporary developments in the provision of victim assistance as contributed by the TPNW by introducing the unprecedented obligation on user states and some of its possible reforms for future such as aiming at more robust implementation and transparency measures.

Keywords

• nuclear weapon
• disarmament
• victim
• victim assistance
• international humanitarian law
• cluster munitions