Is the international community poised to outlaw the most destructive weapons ever created? In this podcast, we report on the progress made at the May session of a special UN working group on nuclear disarmament in Geneva. There the vast majority of nations declared a readiness to start work on a treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons.

Despite the unparallelled danger that nuclear weapons pose to all humanity, they remain the only weapons of mass destruction not yet prohibited under international law. But that might soon change. In February 2016, talks began at the United Nations in Geneva on developing a new legal instrument to advance a nuclear-weapon-free world. This groundbreaking diplomatic process will continue in May and August. In this podcast, we report on the progress made so far. Which nations have been championing a ban? Which have been standing in the way? And would this new instrument bring about change even if nuclear-armed nations refuse to sign on?

Fifteen thousand, eight hundred nuclear weapons spread across 14 nations. One thousand, eight hundred ready to be launched within minutes of a warning. This is not the cold war, but the present reality – the daily existential threat with which we have learned to live. This podcast describes what has become known as the “humanitarian initiative”: an effort by governments, the Red Cross and civil society organizations to re-awaken the global public to this unparallelled danger, and to establish a treaty that outlaws nuclear weapons once and for all.