Nuclear Weapons

Photo: Veterans for Peace members at January 2009 protest vs. Israeli attacks on Gaza. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

U.S. Accused of 'Blithely Ignoring' NPT Obligations

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – Veterans For Peace (VFP) has strongly criticised the U.S. refusal to take part in negotiations at the United Nations to ban nuclear weapons and accused it of "efforts to derail the ongoing" talks to "reach an agreement on a treaty to ban nuclear weapons."

VFP believes that it would be "diplomatically more prudent" to use the UN talks "as an opportunity to engage Iran and North Korea in discussions to determine if there is some common ground on which to proceed and lessen tensions in the Middle East and the Far East."

Photo: Kim Jong Un, with what North Korea claims is a miniaturized silver spherical nuclear bomb, at a missile factory in early 2016. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Eradicating North Korea’s Nuclear Bombs

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) - There are 29 states which have at one time or another set about becoming nuclear weapons powers or have explored the possibility. Most have failed or drawn back. Only the U.S., Russia, France, UK, China, India, Israel, Pakistan and North Korea have crossed the threshold. But only the first five have long range, nuclear-tipped, missiles. North Korea wants to walk in their footsteps.

The common belief that when a state has decided to do so it goes for it as fast as it can is wrong. Sweden, Japan, Algeria, Australia, Italy, Yugoslavia, West Germany, Egypt, Iraq, Switzerland, Syria, Brazil, Argentina, Taiwan, South Korea, Norway, South Africa, Pakistan and India all sought to acquire nuclear weapons but their pace and commitment were different.

Photo: Atomic Bomb Dome by Jan Letzel and modern Hiroshima. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

UN Institute Pleads for Global Nuclear Non-Proliferation

By Jamshed Baruah

GENEVA (IDN) – "The lack of nuclear weapons use since Hiroshima and Nagasaki cannot on its own be interpreted as evidence that the likelihood of a detonation event is minimal," warns the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), an autonomous institute within the United Nations based in Geneva.

The Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on which the United States dropped atomic bombs on August 6 and 9, 1945, embody the abhorrent humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons use, warning of the brutal consequences should such weapons of mass destruction be ever deployed again.

Photo: The MGR-1 Honest John was the first nuclear-tipped rocket developed by the U.S. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Three NGOs Urge Ban on Funding Nuclear Weapons Production

By J Nastranis

This is a revised version of the report titled 'Ban Treaty Should Stop Funding Nuclear Weapons Production' carried on April 2, which inadvertently failed to source quotes properly. In a separate report, we will discuss the origins of the proposal to prohibit the financing of nuclear weapons production. – The Editor

NEW YORK (IDN) – Global consensus on a legally-binding treaty on prohibiting the production of nuclear weapons has yet to be achieved. But three non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are pressing for a ban on the financing of atomic arsenals when such a legal instrument is agreed.

Photo: Sergio Duarte, then UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, speaks to journalists on the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty on 23 September 2011 at the United Nations, New York. Credit: UN Photo/JC McIlwaine

Banning Nuclear Weapons – An Auspicious Start

By Sergio Duarte, former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs*

NEW YORK (IDN) - Despite being shunned by the nine possessors of nuclear weapons and most of their allies, the first part of the negotiations mandated by the United Nations General Assembly on a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination, ended on an optimistic tone on March 31.

Delegations from 120-plus States will return to New York in mid-June to start discussing the draft treaty to be presented by the President of the Conference, Ambassador Elayne Whyte-Gomez of Costa Rica.

Ban Treaty Should Stop Funding Nuclear Weapons Production

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – Prohibiting the financing of nuclear weapons production was one of the issues discussed at the first session of the UN conference to negotiate a nuclear weapons prohibition treaty from March 27 to 31 at the world body's headquarters in New York.

The proposal has its origins in a working paper submitted by the Dutch peacebuilding NGO PAX to the Open Ended Working Group (OEWG) in 2016: Closing our wallets to nuclear weapons: the necessity of including explicit language on financing in a nuclear weapons prohibition treaty or framework of agreements. This led to the inclusion of this concept in the final document of the OEWG, which includes explicit language raised in the working paper.

Photo: UN General Assembly Hall. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

UN Takes First Major Step Towards a Nuclear Ban Treaty

By Rodney Reynolds

NEW YORK (IDN) – Despite an organized boycott by over 40 countries, including four major nuclear powers, a UN conference aimed at negotiating an international treaty to ban nuclear weapons made a significant breakthrough in its first-ever attempt at a legally-binding instrument to eliminate one of the world’s deadliest weapons of mass destruction (WMDs).

Even without the participation of nuclear states, the ban treaty will have a powerful impact, predicted the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). “Treaties often change the behavior of non-party States, including the ban on WMDs and Law of the Sea”.

Photo: An atmospheric nuclear test conducted by the United States at Enewetak Atoll, Marshall Islands, on 1 November 1952. Photo: US Government

Nuclear Weapons Contradict Aspirations For Peace and Security

By Kim Won-soo

Following are excerpts from remarks by UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Kim Won-soo at the opening of the United Nations Conference to negotiate a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination on March 27, 2017. He represented Secretary-General António Guterres who was travelling on official business.

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) - This conference is taking place against a backdrop of rising international tension, renewed arms competition and an absence of results in disarmament bodies.

The Secretary-General recognized these developments when he recently described our world as one of “new and old conflicts woven in a complex, interconnected web” where “global tensions are rising, sabres have been rattled and dangerous words spoken about the use of nuclear weapons.”

Photo: Jasmin Nario-Galace of Pax Christi Philippines reading out public statement on behalf of the faith communities on March 28 at the United Nations Conference in New York to negotiate "a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination". Credit: Soka Gakkai.

Faith Communities Call For Banning Nuclear Weapons

By Jaya Ramachandran

NEW YORK (IDN) – Faith communities have called for heeding the voices of the world's Hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors) and stressed the need for the five-day United Nations Conference at the UN headquarters in New York to negotiate "a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination".

A statement on March 28, second day of the conference, endorsed by more than 20 organizations and individuals, pleaded for developing "a treaty text that clearly and explicitly" prohibits the use, possession, development, production, acquisition, transfer and deployment of nuclear weapons, as well as any inducement, encouragement, investment or assistance with those prohibited acts. "The new instrument should also provide for an obligation for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons, and a framework to achieve it."

Disarmament Groups Join 130 Nations For Abolition Of Nukes

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – Civil society disarmament groups threw in their weight for ushering in a world free of the atomic arsenal of mass destruction as more than 130 nations gathered on March 27 at the United Nations headquarters in New York to participate in the first round of five-day negotiations aimed at achieving a treaty banning nuclear weapons in international law. The second round is scheduled for June 15 to July 7, 2017.

While the majority of the world's governments gathered in the room, President Donald Trump's UN envoy, Nikki Haley, held a protest together with two of the five permanent (P5) veto-wielding members of the Security Council – the UK, France – and a number of Eastern European allies who feel threatened by Russia.