ARMAMENTS

Photo: A meeting of the Executive Council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons on April 13 in The Hague. Credit: OPCW.

Chemical Weapons Must Not Be Used – Ever

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

NEW YORK (IDN) - In the current stage of evolution of international law and universally accepted norms of civilised behaviour, the use of any weapon of mass destruction by any actor whatsoever affronts the conscience of mankind and cannot be tolerated.

The responsibility for the recent episode of the use of chemical weapons in Syria has not yet been clearly established. But the posturing of the players in this dramatic episode sometimes obscures the appalling reality that a weapon of mass destruction with such cruel and indiscriminate effects still exists in national arsenals of a handful of countries or in clandestine caches.

: Sergio Duarte; UN INSIDER; 14 April 2017

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.

: J Nastranis; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 10 April 2017

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.

: Sergio Duarte; OPINION; 06 April 2017

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.

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 02 April 2017

Kazakhstan Aims at a Global Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | NEW YORK (IDN) - Both Japan and Kazakhstan have suffered from nuclear weapons: Japan through the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 and Kazakhstan through the fallout from 456 nuclear test explosions conducted at the Semipalatinsk, the former Soviet nuclear test site near what is now the village of Semey.

The two countries are therefore committed to realizing a world free of nuclear weapons – for example through entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) – and consider it a main goal of humanity in the 21st century. This was reaffirmed during the first session of the UN conference to negotiate a nuclear weapons prohibition treaty, from March 27 to 31 at the UN headquarters in New York. The second session is scheduled for June 15 through July 7.

: Ramesh Jaura; UN INSIDER; 31 March 2017

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”.

: Rodney Reynolds; UN INSIDER; 31 March 2017

Photo: Alice Slater | Credit: channer.tv

A Shift in the Public Conversation to Ban the Bomb

Viewpoint by Alice Slater

Alice Slater is New York Director of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, who serves on the Coordinating Committee of World Beyond War.

NEW YORK (IDN) – This week (March 27-31) the UN General Assembly held the opening session of a ground-breaking conference “to negotiate a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination” just as the world has already done to ban biological and chemical weapons as well as landmines and cluster bombs.

The historic conference began with a bizarre Trumpian boycott on its first day, when Nikki Haley, Trump’s newly appointed U.S. Ambassador to the UN , flanked by the ambassadors from the UK and France stationed in front of the closed doors to the UN General Assembly, where 132 nations were about to start negotiations, staged a press event, with no questions permitted.

: Opinion Editor; ARMAMENTS; 31 March 2017

Nakamitsu's Choice As UN Disarmament Chief Is Significant

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) - Izumi Nakamitsu, whose appointment UN Secretary-General António Guterres announced on March 29 as the world body's next disarmament chief is the second woman and third Japanese to be nominated for the post. A veteran UN official, she will succeed Kim Won-soo of the Republic of Korea as Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA).

Kim Won-soo, whom Ban Ki-moon appointed in June 2015, took over as Angela Kane of Germany (2012-2015) vacated the chair. Her predecessors were: Brazil's Sergio Duarte (2007-2012); Japan's Nobuaki Tanaka (2006-2007), Japan's Nobuyasu Abe (2003-2006), and Sri Lanka's Jayantha Dhanapala (1998-2003).

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 31 March 2017

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.”

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 29 March 2017

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."