‘Acrimonious‘ UNGA Agrees to Negotiate Nuke Prohibition

Analysis by PNND

This was the most acrimonious UN General Assembly I have seen in the nearly 30 years I have been observing the Disarmament and International Security Committee at the UN.” – Alyn Ware, PNND Global Coordinator.

NEW YORK (IDN) – On October 27, the Disarmament and International Security Committee of the United Nations General Assembly adopted a ground-breaking resolution Taking forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations.

The resolution establishes a UN conference in 2017to negotiate a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination.’

Kazakh Award for Jordanian King Backs WMD-Free Middle East

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – “At a time when the international community is seeing a renewal of big-power rivalry and debating the pros and cons of nuclear technology, the initiative of Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev in establishing the Nazarbayev Prize for a Nuclear-Weapons-Free World and Global Security is both prescient and timely,” says Ong Keng Yong, Ambassador-at-Large at the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He is referring to the decision to award the Nazarbayev Prize for a Nuclear-Weapons-Free World and Global Security to King Abdullah II of Jordan who has worked tirelessly to secure peace and stability in the Middle East where efforts to declare the region free of weapons of mass destruction including nuclear weapons failed in 2015.

Learning from the Reykjavik Summit 30 Years On

By Lowana Veal

REYKJAVIK (IDN) – At a time when there is a sharp deterioration in relations between the United States and Russia, triggered by disputes over Ukraine, the Crimea and Syria, the capital of Iceland hosted experts, diplomats and researchers on October 10-11 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the historic Reykjavik Summit between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev.

IDN, a flagship agency of the International Press Syndicate group, spoke to some of the participants of the commemorative event, the initiative for which came from the International Peace Institute (IPI) in New York. What prompted them to organize the event?

The Legacy of the Reykjavik Summit – The Road Ahead

By Jayantha Dhanapala*

This is an expanded version of thoughts expressed by the author at a conference organized by the International Peace Institute (IPI) with the Foreign Ministry of Iceland on October 10-11 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Summit meeting between U.S. President Ronald Reagan and his Soviet counterpart Mikhail Gorbachev.

REYKJAVIK (IDN) – Richard Rhodes, the famous author of several books on nuclear weapons, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning “The Making of the Atomic Bomb” (1986), has written a play entitled “Reykjavik” dramatizing the famous Summit. At the conclusion he has Gorbachev say, “Reykjavik is not a failure – it’s a breakthrough”.

Gorbachev: ‘Worst Thing” Collapse of Trust Between Major Powers

REYKJAVIK – At an IPI seminar in Reykjavik, Iceland on October 11, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev said via video, “I would like to emphasize something, with all the emotions I have in my soul: the worst thing that has happened over the past few years is the collapse of trust in relations between the major powers, which, according to the UN Charter, bear primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security, and which still have enormous stockpiles of nuclear weapons and must reduce them, up to and including their elimination.”

Atomic Bombing Survivors Want a Ban on Nukes

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – The ‘International Hibakusha Appeal Signature Campaign’, launched early 2016, aims to collect hundreds of millions of signatures by 2020 in the hope that a treaty to prohibit and eliminate nuclear weapons will be achieved in their lifetime. As of October 1, 2016, the Campaign had gathered 564,260 signatures in Japan and in several other countries around the world.

The Campaign was initiated on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Japan Confederation of A-and H-Bomb Sufferers’ Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo).

UN Security Council Bans Nuke Tests But Not Bombs

Analysis by Ramesh Jaura

NEW YORK (IDN) – One day ahead of the twentieth anniversary of the opening for signature of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), the United Nations Security Council adopted a Resolution reinforcing the de facto global ban on nuclear weapons testing established 20 years ago.

The 15-member body – comprising the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France as permanent (P5) members with the right to veto and 10 non-permanent members elected by rotation for a period of two years – adopted the Resolution after extensive discussions on September 23 by a vote of 14 in favour and none against but one abstention by Egypt on the ground that the text of the Resolution did not stress on the need for nuclear disarmament.

CTBT 20 Years On: Finishing the ‘Unfinished Business’

Analysis by Tariq Rauf

Tariq Rauf is Director of the Disarmament, Arms Control and Non-Proliferation Programme at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), formerly the Head of Verification and Security Policy Coordination at the International Atomic Energy Agency.

STOCKHOLM (IDN) – On September 21, three days before the 20th anniversary of the opening for signature of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty’s (CTBT), several foreign ministers and other high-level representatives of UN Member States met in New York and united in a call for the prompt entry-into-force of the treaty.

Security Council Close to Reinforcing Ban on Nuke Testing

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – Spurred by North Korea’s fifth nuclear weapon test explosion on September 9, the UN Security Council is expected to adopt before the end of September a resolution reinforcing the de facto global ban on nuclear weapons testing established 20 years ago by the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

According to the Washington-based Arms Control Association, the Council’s five permanent members (P5) – the United States, UK, France, Russia and China – would complement the resolution by a separate political statement reiterating their support for the object and purpose of the CTBT.

DPRK Nuke Test Calls For Dumping Cold War Responses

Analysis by Kalinga Seneviratne

BANGKOK (IDN) – Even before the ink dried up on a statement issued in the Laotian capital Vientiane by the East Asia Summit (EAS) on nuclear proliferation, North Korea announced the successful testing of a nuclear bomb that has focused attention in the region on increasing militarization.

Pyongyang’s latest weapons testing came less than a day after the EAS leaders adopted a statement urging it to give up its nuclear and missile programs. It was the first time that the 18-member regional body, which also includes the United States, China, Russia and Japan, adopted a single-issue statement other than the chairman’s statement.

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