By J Nastranis NEW YORK (IDN) – The announcement by President Donald Trump to abandon the Iran nuclear deal is “a costly mistake that can hold wide-ranging ramifications beyond its strictly nuclear parameters,” the 1995 Nobel Peace Prize winner Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs have warned. The decision undoes many years of constructive […]
Faith Communities Urge Geneva Conference to Pave the Path to a Nuclear-Weapons-Free World
By Jamshed Baruah GENEVA (IDN) – Diverse faith-based organizations and individuals are appealing to States gathered at the UN in Geneva to spare the world a nuclear catastrophe and foster sustainable development for the good of humanity affirming moral and ethical imperatives. Twenty groups and individuals from different faiths, including Christian, Quaker, Muslim and Hindu […]
UN and CTBTO Hail End to Nuclear Testing by North Korea, Denuclearization Remains a Mirage
By Ramesh Jaura BERLIN | VIENNA (IDN) – UN Secretary-General António Guterres and Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) Executive Secretary Lassina Zerbo have welcomed the announcement by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to halt its nuclear testing programme and to dismantle the test site. The announcement came six days ahead of the DPRK […]
Strong Plea for Early Entry into Force of Nuclear Ban Treaty
By Jamshed Baruah GENEVA (IDN) – On the eve of a crucial international conference, an eminent Buddhist organization advocating a nuclear-weapon-free world has called for the signing, ratification and early entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) adopted by 122 UN member states as a sign of their resolve […]
Pressure Mounts on Japan to Join the Nuclear Ban Treaty
By Katsuhiro Asagiri TOKYO (IDN) – Japan is coming under pressure from within to sign and ratify the UN Nuclear Ban Treaty, which acknowledges the “unacceptable suffering” of the hibakusha – survivors of hitherto the first ever atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. 122 member nations of the United Nations adopted what […]
Campaign For Moving ‘Nuclear Weapons Money’ to Boost Peace
By J Nastranis NEW YORK (IDN) – While governments meet in New York for the first ever United Nations High-Level Conference on Nuclear Disarmament from May 14-16, 2018 campaigners for ‘zero nuclear weapons’ will be busy counting one million specially designed notes each of $1 million value, adding up to $1 trillion. The amount of […]
Experts Stress Importance of UN High-Level Conference on Nuclear Disarmament
By Santo D. Banerjee NEW YORK (IDN) – The increasing fragility of international peace and security is accentuating the critical need for persistent dialogue and relentless diplomacy to deter multiple conflicts triggering nuclear confrontation, disarmament experts and campaigners say. Conflicts related to nuclear weapons, including in Northeast Asia, between the U.S. and NATO on the […]
U.S. Undermining the Global Nuclear Testing Taboo
By Ramesh Jaura BERLIN | GENEVA (IDN) – A new document that outlines U.S. nuclear policy, strategy, capabilities and force posture for the next five to ten years proclaims that the Trump Administration does not intend to ratify a global treaty banning nuclear weapons tests. Nor does it rule out resuming such tests. The document, […]
Kazakhstan Signs Ban Treaty After Security Council Debut
By J Nastranis UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – Kazakhstan, known as an active and staunch supporter of a world free of nuclear weapons, became 57th country to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons on March 2. The Treaty, which opened for signature on September 20, 2017, will remain open indefinitely. It will enter […]
Striving to Build a Broader Support for the Nuclear Ban Treaty
By Ramesh Jaura BERLIN | TOKYO (IDN) – The second session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2020 NPT Review Conference in April and the UN High-Level Conference on Nuclear Disarmament in May will draw the focus of the international community in the coming weeks as it moves toward paving the way for a nuclear-weapons […]