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Nuclear Weapons

Disarmament Expert Proposes Kazakh Capital City Astana as Venue for Talks on Korean Peninsula

Interview with Jayantha Dhanapala*, former UN Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs

BERLIN | ASTANA (IDN) – Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has done a great deal in terms of nuclear disarmament, and has offered Kazakhstan as a venue for dialogue on Syria, could propose Astana as a setting for the resumption of the six-party talks on the Korean Peninsula, said Jayantha Dhanapala in a video interview with IDN on August 28, 2017 during the Pugwash Conference on Confronting New Nuclear Dangers in Astana. There are strains in the China’s relationship with the DPRK, and the Americans are “unfairly leaning on China,” as if China had a ‘magic wand’ to wave with regard to the Korean issue, he argued. Watch Video

Nuclear Weapons

Opening for Signature of the UN Treaty a Milestone for Prohibiting Nuclear Weapons

By Sergio Duarte, Ambassador, former U.N. High Representative for Disarmament Affairs*

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – The opening for signature of the Treaty on the Prohibitions of Nuclear Weapons on September 20 at the United Nations in New York marks a milestone in the long history of efforts by the international community to eliminate the most destructive and cruel of all weapons invented by man.

The wide adherence to the negotiating process of the Treaty, carried out with the strong support of civil society organizations, reflected a growing global recognition that a ban on nuclear weapons is an integral part of the normative framework necessary to achieve and maintain a world free of such weapons. It is not a hasty or impromptu movement born out of frustration for the protracted lack of concrete progress on nuclear disarmament or by humanitarian considerations. Rather, it responds to a longstanding aspiration of humanity.

Nuclear Weapons

Trump’s UN Speech Arouses Fear of a ‘Dark and Difficult Phase’ in Reducing Nuclear Threat

By Devendra Kamarajan

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) –”Trust within and among countries is being driven down by those who demonize and divide. We are a world in pieces. We need to be a world at peace,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres in his address to the General Assembly on September 19.

In contrast, the U.S. President Donald Trump warned North Korea: “The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea.” He also threatened Iran and Venezuela.

Reacting to these threats, the Arms Control Association criticised Trump’s address as a failure of nuclear leadership. “Trump’s address is yet another sign that we are entering a dark and difficult phase in the long-running effort to reduce the threat posed by nuclear weapons,” said Daryl G. Kimball, Executive Director of the organization based in Washington, D.C.

OPINION

Scotland Might Pave the Way out of Brexit

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – “It’s not over until the fat lady ends her song” – so goes the adage, referring to the often-overweight soprano who sings the last aria in Wagner’s opera, Götterdämmerung.

British Prime Minister Theresa May is not fat in a bodily sense, but she is fat-headed, convinced of her own righteousness over Brexit, although she herself voted Remain in the Brexit referendum and then changed her opinion so she could win enough votes from Brexit members of parliament to become Prime Minister.

OPINION

Heed the Voices of the Hibakusha Urging All States to Sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

By Dr. Daisaku Ikeda, President, Soka Gakkai International (SGI)

TOKYO (IDN) – The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, adopted this past July at the United Nations, will soon be opened for signature. The negotiations that produced this Treaty saw the participation of nearly two-thirds of all UN member states, and it is deeply moving to witness the first concrete steps toward the Treaty’s entry into force. I earnestly hope that the initial 122 countries that supported its adoption will be joined by other states becoming signatories to the Treaty, so that it can become international law as quickly as possible.

The quest for a world without nuclear weapons was the focus of the first UN General Assembly Resolution adopted in January 1946, soon after the birth of the United Nations. In the more than seven decades since, nuclear disarmament has been the subject of repeated resolutions.

OPINION

Ratify the CTBT – Ban Nuclear Testing

By Didier Reynders, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belgium, Ibrahim Al-Jafari, Foreign Minister of Iraq and Lassina Zerbo, Executive Secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO).

The nuclear test conducted by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) on September 3, 2017 sent shockwaves not only through the inner layers of the earth, but also throughout the international community – particularly as initial estimates of the magnitude of the blast were released.

The treaty prohibiting nuclear testing was signed 20 years ago, but is still not in force. While North Korea continues to develop its nuclear capacity by testing, it seems more urgent than ever to ratify it. The international community would do well to strengthen international law. Belgium, Iraq and the CTBTO will do their part.

UN INSIDER

Over 110 Countries Commit to Halt Land Degradation

By Jaya Ramachandran

BERLIN | ORDOS CITY, China (IDN) – Land degradation is one of the planet’s most pressing global challenges. A third of the world’s land is degraded. But the good news is that by the end of the 13th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 13) to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) on September 16, 2017 in China’s Ordos City, 113 countries had agreed to specify concrete targets, with clear indicators, to reverse degradation and rehabilitate more land.

A new global roadmap to address land degradation was also agreed. The UNCCD 2018-2030 Strategic Framework is regarded as the most comprehensive global commitment to achieve Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) in order to restore the productivity of vast swathes of degraded land, improve the livelihoods of more than 1.3 billion people, and to reduce the impacts of drought on vulnerable populations.

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