ARMAMENTS

Photo: United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres addresses the Conference on Disarmament’s High-Level Segment 2019, in Palais des Nations, Geneva on February 25, 2019. Credit: UN Photo by Antoine Tardy.

New Report Warns of Resurfacing Nuclear Risks

By Jaya Ramachandran

NEW YORK (IDN) – In the run-up to the 50th anniversary of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) in 2020, arms control experts have warned that "the risk of nuclear use is increasing and … critical nonproliferation and disarmament norms are eroding".

Assessing Progress on Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament in 2016-2019, the Arms Control Association, says: "While there have been some modest gains on safeguards, there has been significant backsliding on the standards related to arms control and risk reduction."

: Jaya Ramachandran; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 13 July 2019

Photo: President Donald Trump shakes hands with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un on 30 June 2019, as the two leaders meet at the Korean Demilitarized Zone. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)

What After the Trump-Kim Meeting at the Demilitarized Zone?

Viewpoint by Kelsey Davenport

The author is director for nonproliferation policy at the Arms Control Association. This article is being reproduced from the Association’s Website.

WASHINGTON, DC (IDN| INPS) – U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un met at the demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating North and South Korea June 30 and agreed to restart negotiations on denuclearization and peacebuilding in the region. Trump was in South Korea for talks with President Moon Jae-in and had planned to visit the DMZ, but his invitation to Kim to meet at the border was publicly announced in a last-minute tweet June 28.

: UN Bureau; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 03 July 2019

Photo: Caribbean Experts with Nobel Peace Prize 2017 representatives. Credit: ICAN

Caribbean States Vow to Facilitate Swift Entry into Force of Nuclear Ban Treaty

By Jaya Ramachandran

GENEVA (IDN) –Seventy countries have signed and 23 ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) since it was opened for signature at the UN headquarters in New York on September 20, 2017, nearly two-and-a-half months after it was adopted by 122 states. The Treaty will enter into legal force 90 days after 50 nations have signed and ratified it.

The TPNW was adopted in the wake of a decade of advocacy by ICAN, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, and its partners around the world.

: Jaya Ramachandran; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 30 June 2019

Photo: U.S. President Donald Trump's national security adviser John Bolton meets with Russian President Vladimir at the Kremlin on 23 October 2018. Credit: en.kremlin.ru

Trump Should Beware of Bolton’s Bid to Sabotage START

By Daryl G. Kimball

This analysis by Daryl G. Kimball, Executive Director of the Arms Control Association (ACA) first appeared on June 28, 2019 in ArmsControl.org

WASHINGTON, DC (IDN-INPS) – Last year, President Donald Trump told reporters that he wanted to work with Russian President Vladimir Putin “to discuss the arms race, which is getting out of control.”

Unfortunately, Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, stiff-armed a proposal supported by the Defense and State departments to engage in strategic stability talks with Moscow. Bolton also persuaded Trump, without a viable plan B, to terminate the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in response to alleged Russian violations of the treaty.

: Daryl G. Kimball; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 30 June 2019

Photo: Youth Group members with the CTBTO Executive Secretary Lassina Zerbo in the centre in the second row. Credit: CTBTO

How Youth Can Help Entry into Force of the CTBT

Viewpoint by Ilya Kursenko

VIENNA (IDN) – For the first time, the youth had a strong presence at the five-day CTBT: Science and Technology 2019 Conference (SnT2019, seventh in a series, in which scientists, industry leaders, policymakers, civil society and academia participated. They gathered in the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, to exchange knowledge and share advances in the monitoring and verification technologies relevant to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) in a state of limbo for 23 years.

: UN Bureau; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; CTBTO; 29 June 2019

NPT Review Conference Will Benefit from CTBT's Entry into Force

By Jamshed Baruah

VIENNA (IDN) – Strongly pleading for a legally binding universal prohibition of nuclear tests, CTBTO Executive Secretary Lassina Zerbo has said that an early entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) in a state of limbo for 23 years will positively influence the outcome of the 2020 NPT Review Conference.

Zerbo was opening a five-day multidisciplinary conference on intended to further enhance the strong relationship between the scientific and technological community and policy-makers as well the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban-Treaty Organization (CTBTO).

: Jamshed Baruah; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; CTBTO; 24 June 2019

Photo: Izumi Nakamitsu, UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) addressing the High-Level Panel “CTBT: Science and Technology in a Changing World” on 24 June at Hofburg Palace, Vienna, as part of the Science and Technology Conference2019 (SnT2019) 24 June-28 June 2019. Credit: CTBTO

Science & Technology Can Contribute to Nuclear Disarmament and Non-Proliferation

Viewpoint by Izumi Nakamitsu

The following are extensive excerpts from the statement by Izumi Nakamitsu, UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) at the High-Level Panel “CTBT: Science and Technology in a Changing World” on 24 June at Hofburg Palace, Vienna, in the opening session of the Science and Technology Conference2019 (SnT2019) 24 June-28 June 2019.

VIENNA (IDN-INPS) – The world is witnessing a technological revolution through which an unparalleled convergence in scientific and technological innovations are changing almost every aspect of people’s daily lives. Communications, logistics, manufacturing and, yes, war and peace-making have all been, and will continue to be, revolutionized in our lifetimes.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 24 June 2019

Trump Administration Should Rethink its Failing Iran Policy

Viewpoint by Kelsey Davenport and Daryl G. Kimball

Iran has announced that it will exceed a limit on enriched uranium set by the 2015 multilateral nuclear agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The following is the text of a statement by Kelsey Davenport, director for nonproliferation policy and Daryl G. Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association.

WASHINGTON, DC (IDN-INPS) – Iran’s decision to breach caps imposed by the accord is a troubling but predictable response to the Trump administration’s systematic campaign to deny Iran any benefit from the nuclear deal over the past year.

: Jaya Ramachandran; OPINION; 17 June 2019

Photo: Sergio Duarte, then UN High Representative for Disarmament, opening the 6th Conference on Facilitating the Entry into Force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), on 24 September 2009, in New York. Photo # 411972. Credit: UN Photo/Sophia Paris.

Resist Erosion of NPT to Rid the World of Atomic Bombs

Crumbling Security Landscape Ahead of the 2020 Review Conference

Viewpoint by Sergio Duarte

Ambassador Sergio Duarte is President of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, and a former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs. He was president of the 2005 Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference.

NEW YORK (IDN) – The forthcoming 50th anniversary of the entry into force of the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) provides the opportunity to look for lessons to be learned from its history and from its review cycles.

: Sergio Duarte; OPINION; 17 June 2019

Photo: Review and Extension Conference of the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Opens at UN Headquarters in New York. Seated on the podium from left to right are: Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali; Ambassador Jayantha Dhanapala (Sri Lanka), President of the Conference; Prvoslav Davinic, Secretary-General of the Conference. 17 April 1995. Photo # 68537. Credit: UN Photo/Evan Schneider

1995 NPT Review and Extension Conference in Retrospect

Viewpoint by David Krieger

The author is President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. The following article originally appeared on the organisation's website on April 9, 2019.

SANTA BARBARA, CA | USA (IDN-INPS) – The Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was opened for signatures in 1968 and entered into force in 1970. Despite its name, the NPT sought not only to prevent nuclear weapons proliferation, but also, in Article VI, called for good faith negotiations for an end to the nuclear arms race at an early date, for nuclear disarmament, and for general and complete disarmament.