For Immediate Release 

Contact: Rinor Jani, Executive Project Director, and Program Coordinator for Nuclear Disarmament Advocacy and Research, Pathways To Peace

Email: [email protected]  |  [email protected] 

According to a new study, 98% of Albanian citizens want Albania to join the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), which bans the usage, possession, testing, and transfer of nuclear weapons under international law. The research also shows that 90% believe Albania should be among the first members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to ratify it.

One year ago, the TPNW entered into force after the ratification of Honduras as the 50th state. To honor that anniversary, Pathways To Peace, an international peacebuilding organization with UN ECOSOC Consultative Status, has recognized the need to gather the views of the Albanian civil society.

Pathways To Peace commissioned IDRA, a research and consulting firm based in Tirana, Albania, to conduct the survey. The poll was co-sponsored by the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and Së Bashku Foundation. 

From December 2021 to January 2022, 1,100 Albanian citizens in 12 different regions in Albania were polled through the online CAWI (Computer Assisted Web Interviewing) method.

The poll report shows that the majority of Albanians surveyed feel their country would not be prepared to handle a crisis if a nuclear detonation were to occur anywhere in the world. Considering their seat on the United Nations Security Council, Albanians feel their government should affirm its commitment to nuclear disarmament by joining the rest of the international community through ratifying the TPNW.

The catastrophic consequences of nuclear weapons remain an existential threat to humanity in the world, as recently witnessed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the capture of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, and the attack on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. This survey affirms that the Albanian government has an opportunity to help achieve a world free of nuclear weapons.

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Pathways To Peace works to raise awareness and advocate for nuclear disarmament and the adoption of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) globally and within Albania. It has been working for over 40 years locally and globally, intergenerationally and multi-culturally, to support Peacebuilding, Peacebuilders, and on initiatives to co-create a global culture of peace. PTP is an U.N.-designated Peace Messenger Organization and has Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and United Nations Department of Global Communications (DGC).