SCOTLAND will take a seat at a table of parliamentarians from all over the world as states renew their commitments to ditch nuclear weapons.
Among the diplomats and parliamentarians travelling to Vienna for the First meeting of States Party (FMSP) to discuss the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), is SNP MSP Bill Kidd.
And in the run up to conference, Kidd met with Canadian Senator Marilou MacPhedran on Monday to discuss the event.
Kidd said: “Senator McPhedran and I look forward to strengthening the Scottish Canadian joint efforts towards nuclear disarmament, and will be proactively engaged in the 1st MSP meeting at the United Nations, Vienna, next week. We intend to amplify the voices of the majority of Scots and Canadians who are strongly opposed to nuclear weapons."
The treaty was adopted by an overwhelming vote in the UN back in 2017 and has received support from Nicola Sturgeon when she signed the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) parliamentarian pledge to support the agreement.
Around 70% of Scottish parliamentarians have signed up to the ICAN pledge, despite the UK Government opting to abstain from all TPNW deliberations in 2017.
In light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Scotland’s position on nuclear weapons and the positioning of the UK’s nuclear submarine base at Faslane has been cast back under the spotlight but the war has not changed the SNP’s stance on ridding Scotland of the arsenal.
Janet Fenton, ICAN Scottish liaison, said: “The FMSP is the first opportunity for countries which have already prohibited any nuclear weapons activity to get together and firm up the blueprint for a nuclear weapons-free world, under the jurisdiction of the United Nations.
"It will be a wonderful day when an independent Scotland, simply by acceding to this Treaty, can be protected from any participation in a game that is insanely dangerous for everyone involved.”
