Armed Conflict and Civilian Protection Initiative
The start of 2025 has been tumultuous, with recent shifts in US foreign policy raising alarm within the humanitarian disarmament community and beyond. The Trump administration’s suspension of US demining programs threatens ongoing efforts to remove explosive remnants of war and landmines, putting civilian lives at risk. Meanwhile, Google’s decision to drop its pledge against developing artificial intelligence (AI) for weapons and surveillance has sparked renewed concerns over autonomous warfare. These developments, alongside ongoing discussions on the threat of nuclear weapons, highlight the urgent need for global action to mitigate the human and environmental costs of conflict.
In case you missed it:
- On January 15, the Forum on the Arms Trade hosted a webinar featuring four experts discussing strategies to advance humanitarian disarmament in these uncertain times. The panelists emphasized the need not only to urge states to sign treaties but also to ensure norms are set and defended. Watch the video recording and read the event report.
- A new report, entitled Assessing Environmental Degradation from Explosive Weapons in Southern Ukraine, was released on January 16 by the Conflict and Environment Observatory and Norwegian People’s Aid. It highlights the devastating environmental impact of explosive weapons. The study finds evidence of “significant pollution, infrastructure damage, and threats to agriculture and ecosystems” and an “urgent need for recovery and remediation efforts.”
- On January 25, the US State Department announced a three-month suspension of global mine-clearing programs—a decision with potentially dire consequences. The New York Times article, “‘A Good Chance People Are Going to Die’ after U.S. Halts Funding for Mine Clearing,” examines the impact of this decision on demining efforts in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.
- In response, on January 28, the US Campaign to Ban Landmines issued a press release expressing deep concern about the “global impact of President Trump’s 90 day stop work order for U.S. foreign assistance programming that suspends U.S.-funded mine clearance programs.” The organization urged the administration to “act quickly to end the stop-work order” to ensure that deminers can continue their vital work of “making the world a safer place.”
- On January 27, Thailand became the 88th country to endorse the Political Declaration on Protecting Civilians from the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas. The International Network on Explosive Weapons calls on all states to follow Thailand’s example and join the declaration.
- The Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists moved its annual Doomsday Clock to 89 seconds to midnight, the “closest it has ever been to catastrophe.” With regard to nuclear weapons, the board highlighted that wars in Ukraine and the Middle East present a risk of the use of nuclear weapons, that nuclear armed states are expanding their arsenals, that “the nuclear arms control process is collapsing,” and that states that do not already possess nuclear weapons are considering developing them.
- A February 2 blog post by Susi Snyder of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) draws lessons from the experiences of 2024 and examines how to advance humanitarian disarmament in 2025. Snyder recommends, among other points, promoting inclusivity and “addressing the financial incentives driving weaponization.”
- On February 4, Google updated its ethics policy and dropped its pledge not to employ or develop AI technologies for weapons and surveillance. Stop Killer Robots tweeted that this policy change will make the world less safe: “With the trend of increasing autonomy in weapons, legal safeguards are needed” urgently.
- On February 18, ICAN and PAX released their annual Don’t Bank on the Bomb report, entitled this year At Great Cost: The Companies Building Nuclear Weapons and Their Financiers. The report revealed that the number of financial institutions supporting the nuclear weapons industry has decreased by 23 percent since the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) was adopted in 2021.
- On February 24, in advance of the TPNW’s Third Meeting of States Parties (3MSP), ICAN released an update on the progress made under the TPNW since its last meeting of states parties. The piece, which also links to numerous useful resources, sets the stage for the 3MSP, which will take place from March 3-7 at UN Headquarters in New York. ICAN expects that the meeting will lead to the issuance of a “strong condemnation of nuclear deterrence, and the new nuclear arms race.”
To accompany TPNW’s upcoming 3MSP, ICAN is organizing Nuclear Ban Week, a week of related civil society events that starts with ICAN’s campaigner’s meeting on March 2. The same week, the Convention on Conventional Weapons Group of Governmental Experts on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems will convene at the UN in Geneva for its first session of 2025. For background on the latter meeting, refer to Reaching Critical Will’s CCW Report.
This post expresses the views of the author and does not necessarily represent the views of Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic or Harvard University.