By Caroline Mwanga NEW YORK (IDN) – Rejecting the existential threat to humanity that nuclear weapons pose, a wide coalition of faith-based communities from around the world has hailed the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), the first international treaty to comprehensively ban nuclear weapons. Over 160 organizations endorsed a joint interfaith […]
Watchdog Indicates Barriers to UN Ban on Nuclear Weapons
By Jamshed Baruah GENEVA (IDN) – Most of the world’s states can become a party to the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) and comply with the Treaty without making any changes to their existing policies and practices, says Nuclear Weapons Ban Monitor (NWBM). But 42 states around the world currently engage […]
75 Years On The First UN General Assembly Resolution
Viewpoint by Sergio Duarte The author is Ambassador, President of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs and former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs. NEW YORK (IDN) – Seventy-five years ago, in January 1946, the United Nations General Assembly met for the first time after the signature of the Charter. Its first resolution was […]
The Nuclear Weapon States Urged to Advance Disarmament
By Bernhard Schell AMMAN (IDN) – The upcoming Review Conference (postponed to August 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic) of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is expected to be characterised by deep divisions among the nuclear-weapon states (NWS), and between them and the non-nuclear-weapon states (NNWS), which are deeply disappointed with the lack of progress […]
Iran Joins China, Russia, EU, France, Germany and UK in Reaffirming Commitment to ‘Nuclear Deal’
By Robert Johnson BRUSSELS (IDN) – Amid speculations about Iran’s reaction to the assassination of the country’s eminent nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh on a road outside of Tehran on November 27, participants in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) have reiterated their commitment to preserving the agreement and stressed their respective efforts in this […]
A New Handbook on Parliamentary Action for Disarmament
By Jamshed Baruah GENEVA (IDN) – Nearly one-and-half years after UN Secretary-General António Guterres launched Securing Our Common Future: An Agenda for Disarmament in May 2018, a new handbook to support disarmament for security and sustainable development has been released. Its approach and focus draw primarily on the Agenda. Titled Assuring our Common Future, published […]
Doubts Whether Space Is Being Used Only for Peaceful Purposes
By Ramesh Jaura BERLIN | NEW YORK (IDN) – A Soviet cosmonaut and an American astronaut shook hands high above the planet Earth, on July 17, 1975, where the Soviet spaceship Soyuz-19 and the U.S. spacecraft Apollo had met and docked. In a message of greeting, the Soviet leadership described the “joint flight of the […]
Missile Defence Plans Threaten to Trigger Arms Race
By J C Suresh TORONTO | WASHINGTON (IDN) – President Trump’s legacy is far from inspiring. Joe Biden and his team face numerous crucial decisions. Arms policy experts believe that one of the momentous decisions confronting the new administration is “whether and how to move forward with Trump-era plans to expand the U.S. national missile […]
Faith-based & Other NGOs Look Forward to Entry into Force of the Nuclear Ban Treaty
By Ramesh Jaura BERLIN (IDN) – When she learned that the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) reached the 50 states parties required for its entry into force, Setsuko Thurlow said: “I was not able to stand. I remained in my chair and put my head in my hands, and I cried […]
A Rallying Call for Nuclear Weapons Elimination By 2045
By J Nastranis NEW YORK (IDN) – Kazakhstan’s Permanent Representatives to the United Nations in New York has joined the call of civil society for achieving the global elimination of nuclear weapons at least by 2045, arguing that setting the 2045 goal would provide a global rallying call to build a strong movement and that […]