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] 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. TOKYO (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] 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]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. JAPANESE | SWEDISHPrecarious 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]Forum Calls for New Approach to NE Asian Denuclearization and Economic Development By Alan Gua ULAANBAATAR (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 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”. BHASA | GERMAN | JAPANESE | U.S. Shifts Arms Control Strategy with Russia By Kingston Reif and Shannon Bugos 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] |
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