As Honduras becomes the 50th country to ratify an international treaty banning nuclear weapons, the United Nations has stated that the text will come into force after 90 days.
According to his spokesman, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described Honduras’s ratification as “the culmination of a worldwide movement to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons” while adding, “It represents a meaningful commitment towards the total elimination of nuclear weapons, which remains the highest disarmament priority of the United Nations.”
Activists who have pushed for this enactment are hopeful that it will have a gradual deterrent effect despite nuclear powers not signing up to the treaty.
On the 22nd of January 2021, the ban on nuclear weapons will come into force.