Vanuatu's parliament has unanimously passed the ratification of the United Nations ban on nuclear weapons.
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was signed by 122 countries last year, although none of the countries with nuclear weapons supported it.
A statue at the entrance to Vanuatu's parliament in the capital, Port Vila. Photo: RNZI / Jamie Tahana
The foreign minister, Ralph Regenvanu, said Vanuatu was party to numerous disarmament treaties and conventions, and the country needed to support the total elimination of nuclear weapons.
The opposition leader, Ishmael Kalsakau, said that since independence in 1980, Vanuatu had a firm anti-nuclear stand with its protests against French testing in the Pacific.
