our protocols
Respect Our Stories. Walk Our Talk.
Rights, Respect & Reciprocity
Protocols for Seeking Nuclear Truth with Integrity.
We consider that protocols are how individuals, organisations and communities stay in right relationship with each other, building respectful, intentional, and two-way or reciprocal relationships. Protocols help us prepare ourselves and our spaces.
For communities impacted by nuclear harms, protocols help centre the lived experience of individuals in the processes to redress harm. We work to prepare ourselves and our spaces to be open, accountable, and safe.
For civil society workers, governments, scientists, medical or other professions from the outside, these Protocols offer general guidance when approaching work with affected community members, or a starting point for engagement.
Each community impacted by nuclear harms has unique lived experience expertise. Many will have their own customs or protocols about relating with people outside of community, and may have laws or practices that may apply when engaging on sensitive issues. Long-lived and intergenerational trauma and on-going health impacts must be considered in any approach to affected community members.
These Protocols aim to protect the vulnerable, shield from further trauma and harm, and ensure any efforts for remediation and assistance are centred in the work to redress both historic and any future harms from nuclear activities.
These Protocols are a living document, open to adoption or adaptation by communities, individuals, or organisations.
We advocate that those working towards nuclear truth and remedy within, alongside or in relation to victims/survivors, First Nations and Indigenous Peoples in nuclear impacted communities should undertake to consider and establish practices that follow these basic protocols – Rights, Respect and Reciprocity.
RIGHTS
There is an expectation that those coming to work alongside or with affected communities practice respectful communications and consultations, taking responsibility for their work, its anticipated impacts and follow through.
In addition, recognise that nuclear impacted communities and Peoples have the right to:
- Work with an understanding of established Indigenous rights frameworks (for example as outlined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples), and any local protocols and practices of the communities themselves to protect cultural continuity, survival and integrity
- Develop clear and consensual agreements on the collection, use, reproduction, and dissemination of information, as meets the expectations of culture, community and local laws
- Provide free, prior and informed consent for engagement, including the rights to refusal, withdrawal, and the right to remain anonymous
- Protect personal information and data, and maintain confidentiality as requested by individuals or a community
- Ensure that intellectual and cultural property rights are properly addressed and that attribution and credit for all knowledge that is shared by individuals or communities is made clear
RESPECT
Nuclear activities have inflicted considerable losses for many affected individuals and communities, including intergenerational traumas and harm, and that lived experience must be validated and respected. Understand that for many communities, the connection between people, animals and all living creatures, and the lands, air, oceans and waters are inseparable from one another in responsibility and care.
Those who come to work within, alongside or in relation to those in nuclear affected communities, consider committing to the following practices and principles with respect:
- Do nothing that foreseeably creates further harm or compounds existing harms
- Uphold principles of equity, fairness and justice in your approaches
- Commit to deep or active listening practices, working with spirit and integrity
- Be mindful of the need to communicate in a respectful manner. This may include providing for translation or interpretation, or taking into account the literacy requirements for individuals. Communicate on a level that can be understood and reciprocated, avoiding technical jargon
- Take care to learn and follow relevant practices around use of imagery, particularly for community members who may have passed
- Publish or adopt a platform only with the explicit or written consent of the person/people concerned, where applicable
- When approaching communities or individuals, demonstrate transparency in your motives, practices and anticipated outcomes
- Do not visit Elders or impacted communities if you are unwell
RECIPROCITY
(two-way relationship)
Two-way relations or reciprocity is a central principle for many communities. Work with intention to build respectful, reciprocal (two-way) and positive relationships, while avoiding extractive and colonial relationships, with intent to share and collaborate.
- Recognise that information and data (including stories, research, other) collected from individuals and communities involves knowledge transfer and production, and as such is a resource that has impacts for the communities
- Seek out any opportunities for resource and revenue sharing when possible, including through stipends or other support
- Build capacity wherever possible, for example through providing opportunities for local work, study, assistance, or skill building
- Work to ensure all data or material collected remains the property of the community, by ensuring that material is shared or transferred to the community members or representative organisations as well as the individuals who provided them
- Recognise that, like community members, outside researchers are accountable to those communities they are working alongside, for, or with.
translations & adaptations
background to the protocols
Following years of advocacy, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, entered into force in 2021.
The Treaty represented a groundbreaking moment in international diplomacy, centring the humanitarian consequences of nuclear war in the otherwise militaristic world of ‘national security’.
The Treaty’s development was a significant step forward in official recognition of government responsibility for “victim assistance and environmental remediation” (Articles 6 and 7):
“... A State Party that has used or tested nuclear weapons or any other nuclear explosive devices shall have a responsibility to provide adequate assistance to affected States Parties, for the purpose of victim assistance and environmental remediation.”
During 2021, a small group of affected community members and organizational leaders began discussing what those articles in the Treaty meant in terms of the increasing demands being made on them.
The term ‘lived experience expertise’ reflects the unique capabilities and knowledge of affected community members.
It signifies community members who have lived through and been affected by nuclear harms, either directly, or intergenerationally through their parents, grandparents or other family members.
It also recognises the powerful impact affected community members have and continue to have on advocacy for nuclear abolition.
Our Protocols began to emerge as a way of ensuring engagement with affected community members was being practiced in good faith. Led by affected community members, the Nuclear Truth Project began developing our Protocols in 2021.
Community consultations continued throughout 2023.
We engaged several Indigenous and affected communities members to work within their communities at their own pace and focus around the Protocols.
By sharing information between these communities, and seeking online feedback, we strengthened our connections around the globe.
The results of these conversations are detailed in the 2023 report, Talking Protocols: a report and an evaluation on the findings of consultations with affected communities and individuals on the Nuclear Truth Project Protocols.
The Nuclear Truth Project has also supported affected communities in the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons meetings in 2023 and 2025.
talking protocols report
Talking Protocols: a report and an evaluation on the findings of consultations with affected communities and individuals on the Nuclear Truth Project Protocols (July 2023)
This report from the Nuclear Truth Project (NTP) shares the process of the development of Protocols for working with affected communities.
The NTP began in 2021 working with a small group of affected community members and organisational leaders from a diverse range of international groups, to discuss challenges when working within, alongside or for communities and individuals impacted by nuclear harms.
With an increase in recognition of the centrality of affected communities, advocates for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and members of nuclear impacted communities were noting significant increases in demands on lived experience expertise. The NTP identified a need to establish protocols to ensure any consultations and asks of affected communities were being practiced in good faith and with a ‘do no harm’ approach to engagement.
Over a period of eight months involving consensus-based discussions, a working group of frontline affected peoples and allies developed a draft set of Protocols. These were launched in June 2022 at the First Meeting of States Parties, and then underwent a year-long process of community review by the Nuclear Truth Project.
A number of different methods were used to engage people in this review:
- An online survey (open for one year) with 11 questions
- NTP coordinators and facilitators sought one-on-one interviews
- Regional facilitators conducted community consultations or conversations involving people from affected communities and allied activists in three regions – the USA, Australia and the Pacific.
The regional facilitators were all from affected communities themselves, many of whom were seeking these conversations with Elders and others intergenerationally. This took significant courage and skill, and the NTP is grateful for the efforts of all the facilitators who worked to make this possible.
We are especially grateful for the generosity of affected community members who offered feedback, advice and lived experience expertise to develop and shape these Protocols. Additionally, the Protocols continue to be shared globally with allied activists, anti-nuclear groups, media, and concerned individuals to gauge their usability.
The results of the feedback in these regional conversations is now offered to our communities, allies and partners in this report, with story and statistics, heart and analysis.
translations & adaptations
In 2024 and 2025, we worked to translate and adapt the Protocols for affected communities across three regions:
- English
- Japanese
- Qazaq
- Russian
- Adaptations for Ma’ohi Nui (formerly French Polynesia) in French and Reo Tahiti
Organizations can sign onto the Protocols here.
archived protocols
The original Protocols, June 2021-October 2023 are archived here for community reference.
The Working Paper on the original Protocols that was submitted to the UN First Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in June 2022 can be found here.
