Sending a letter or email to your government officials can encourage them to take action to ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons at the earliest opportunity. Your letter could be addressed to the foreign minister, president, prime minister, or members of the foreign affairs committee of the national legislature.

Here are a few tips:

• If you are sending your letter as an individual, be sure to explain what motivated you to write.
• If you are sending your letter on behalf of an organisation, include why your organisation is concerned about the threat of nuclear weapons and how many people your organisation represents.
• Letters signed by a large number of individuals or organisations are generally more likely to attract the attention of the government and prompt action.
• Consider including a request for a meeting or phone call.

Sample letter to your government

Dear [Name],

I write with respect to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), which 122 countries voted to adopt at the United Nations on 7 July 2017. As you would be aware, this is the first globally applicable multilateral agreement to prohibit nuclear weapons comprehensively, and it will enter into force once 50 countries have ratified it.

Ratification of the TPNW is a simple but important step that every state can – and should – take to help bring the era of nuclear weapons to a permanent end. Given the unique existential threat that nuclear weapons pose to humanity and the lack of recent progress towards the elimination of such weapons, achieving the entry into force of the TPNW is an urgent imperative.

Nuclear disarmament is a cause that all countries must embrace. No country is immune to the radioactive fallout that would transcend national borders if these weapons are ever used again. No country is immune to the climate disruption, agricultural and economic collapse, mass human displacement and famine that would inevitably follow even a so-called “limited” nuclear war.

By ratifying the TPNW, [country] can help strengthen the global norm against the use and possession of nuclear weapons by any country and make an important contribution to their total elimination. Nuclear weapons serve no legitimate military or strategic purpose, and they cannot be used in conformity with international humanitarian law, given their indiscriminate nature.

I trust that you will do everything in your power to ensure that [country] ratifies the TPNW at the earliest opportunity. This will be an important contribution to the achievement and maintenance of a world free of nuclear weapons.

Yours sincerely,

[Name]