Setsuko Thurlow: The TPNW – A Game Changer in Nuclear Disarmament The following is the text of the Statement by Setsuko Thurlow, a survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and long time campaigner for nuclear-weapons abolition, as the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) reached the 50 states parties required for its entry into force. ICAN, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons published the Statement on its website. [2020-10-28]Read More The U.S. Should Embrace TPNW’s Vision of a More Democratic World  The following is text of the Statement of Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy (LCNP) and Western States Legal Foundation (WSLF) are affiliates of the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms (IALANA), a partner of the 2017 Nobel Peace laureate International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). [2020-10-28]Read More Mongolian NGO Greets 50th Ratification of TPNW  ULAANBAATAR (IDN) – Blue Banner, Mongolian NGO and a partner organization of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), welcomes the 50th ratification of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) on October 24 as a major political impulse and a step in making this most dangerous weapon of mass destruction illegal under international law. [2020-10-28]Read More Soon Nuclear Weapons Will Be Prohibited Viewpoint by Sergio DuarteThe writer is President of Pugwash. Former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs.  NEW YORK (IDN) – The 50th instrument of ratification of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) was deposited on October 24 – coinciding with the 75th anniversary of the United Nations Charter. In accordance with its Article 15, the Treaty will enter automatically into force 90 days after that date. When in force, the TPNW will become part of the corpus of positive international law as the first multilateral agreement that comprehensively prohibits nuclear weapons and also addresses the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapon use and testing, including assistance to victims. Besides, it is the first treaty that explicitly forbids its members from hosting nuclear weapons belonging to other states. [2020-10-27]Read More Nuclear Ban Treaty Is Based on Common Sense  The following is the text of a statement by Sergio Duarte, President, and Paolo Cotta Ramusino, Secretary-General of the 1995 Nobel Peace Laureate Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs on the Ratification of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons by 50 States. [2020-10-26]Read More Towards Banning the Bomb The following is the text of a statement by Mr Hirotsugu Terasaki, Director General, Peace and Global Issues of Soka Gakkai International (SGI) on the Ratification of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons by 50 States.  Source: ICANTOKYO (IDN) – We wish to wholeheartedly welcome the ratification, on October 24, 2020, UN Day, of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) by Honduras, meeting the 50-state minimum necessary for the entry into force. Three years and three months have passed since the treaty was adopted at the United Nations on July 7, 2017, with the support of 122 countries. March to Ban the Bomb. [2020-10-26]Read More Nuclear-armed States Panic as Nuclear Weapons Prohibition Treaty Becomes International Law Viewpoint by Tariq Rauf *  “Quos Deus vult perdere, prius dementat,Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad,Evil appears as good in the minds of those whom gods lead to destruction.” [2020-10-26]Read More The Promise of the Treaty on Prevention of Nuclear Weapons Viewpoint by Dr Joseph Gerson*  NEW YORK (IDN) – The Treaty on the Prevention of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) has received its 50th ratification and will go into force in 90 days – January 22, 2021. Hiroshima and Nagasaki A-bomb survivors, activists from ICAN (International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons) and the diplomats are celebrating this contribution to the long struggle for a nuclear-weapons-free world. [2020-10-25 |17] JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | SWEDISHRead More Precarious Multilateralism Seizes CTBTO Nuclear-Test-Ban Organization By Stephanie Liechtenstein*, Passblue  VIENNA (IDN) – For the first time in its 24-year history, state parties to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, a multilateral agreement that bans all nuclear testing worldwide, have taken a controversial decision by a two-thirds majority. Decisions in the treaty’s body are usually taken by consensus. [2020-10-24]Read More 2045: A New Rallying Call for Nuclear Abolition Viewpoint by Alyn Ware, Vanda Proskova and Saber Chowdhury*  NEW YORK (IDN) – On October 2, 2020, 77 Heads of State and Government Ministers addressed a United Nations High-Level meeting on the elimination of nuclear weapons, along with the UN Secretary-General, the President of the UN General Assembly and two representatives of civil society.One of the proposals highlighted by some of the governments and supported by the two civil society representatives was an appeal to UN member states to commit to the elimination of nuclear weapons by 2045, the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the United Nations. [2020-10-22 |16] CHINESE | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDFRead More Forum Calls for New Approach to NE Asian Denuclearization and Economic Development By Alan Gua  Photo: Virtual International ForumULAANBAATAR (IDN) – Former Mongolian Ambassador to the United Nations and Chairman of Blue Banner NGO of Mongolia Dr Jargalsaikhany Enkhsaikhan believes that “establishing a Northeast Asian nuclear-weapon-free zone (NEA-NWFZ) and providing North Korea with a joint, credible mini-Marshall Plan might be a win-win solution for the Korean Peninsula as well as for overall regional security and development”. [2020-10-02 | 15] BHASA | GERMAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | KOREAN Read More UN Chief Concerned About Standstill in Arms Control Talks By Jamshed Baruah  GENEVA (IDN) – “We need a strengthened, inclusive and renewed multilateralism built on trust and based on international law that can guide us to our shared goal of a world free of nuclear weapons,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres, commemorating the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons on September 26.He was reiterating the resolve adoption of the General Assembly resolution in 1946, which committed the UN to the goal of ridding the planet of nuclear weapons. Because of these, “the world continues to live in the shadow of nuclear catastrophe”. [2020–09-27 | 14] ITALIAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | RUSSIAN Read More U.S. Shifts Arms Control Strategy with Russia By Kingston Reif and Shannon Bugos  Photo: U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson meets with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in Manila, the Philippines on August 6, 2017. (Photo credit: U.S. Department of State/Public Domain)While Kingston Reif is the director for disarmament and threat reduction policy, Shannon Bugos is research assistant at the Arms Control Association.WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN) – The Trump administration has softened its demand that China immediately participate in trilateral nuclear arms control talks with the United States and Russia and says it is now seeking an interim step of a politically binding framework with Moscow. But the administration continues to reject Russia’s offer of a clean five-year extension of the 2010 New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) and has said that President Trump will not consider an extension until several conditions are met. [2020–09-17]Read More |
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