Obama Joins Japan and Kazakhstan to Campaign for CTBT

By Catherine Baumann

BERLIN | VIENNA (IDN) – “The security of the world demands that nations — including the United States – ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and conclude a new treaty to end the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons once and for all,” wrote U.S. President Barack Obama in his opinion article for the Washington Post on March 30 on the eve of the fourth Nuclear Security Summit in Washington.

Responding to Obama’s call, Lassina Zerbo, Executive Secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), tweeted: “(We) need a #CTBT summit to cast test-ban into law & stop countries like #DPRK developing #nuclear weapons.”

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Nuclear Weapons Challenge the World’s Highest Court

核兵器を巡る現状に判断を迫られる国際司法裁判所

 【ベルリン/ハーグIDN＝ラメシュ・ジャウラ】

「核兵器ゼロ」の実現を唱道する側と「核抑止」論に固執する側双方の支持を背景にした国際的に著名な法律専門家チームが参加した１０日間にわたる公聴会を終え、国際司法裁判所（ICJ）は、将来にわたって大きな影響を及ぼすことになる重大な判断を迫られている。

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2016 Crucial for Promoting a Nuclear Weapons Free World

「核兵器なき世界」推進のカギを握る２０１６年

 【ベルリン／ニューヨークIDN＝ジャムシェッド・バルーア】

セミパラチンスク核実験場の閉鎖２５周年、すべての核実験を禁止する条約の署名開放、国際司法裁判所による全員一致の勧告的意見からそれぞれ２０周年を迎える今年２０１６年は、重要な節目の年となる。

カザフスタンのヌルスルタン・ナザルバエフ大統領は３月２日、「これらの歴史的な出来事は、核兵器の世界実現に向けてすべての国の努力を結集する重要な機会となります。」と同国に駐在する大使とアスタナで開いた会合の席上で述べた。

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U.S.-Kazakhstan Cooperation on Nuclear Security and Nonproliferation

By J C Suresh

TORONTO (IDN) – The Nuclear Security Summit in Washington DC on March 31-April 1, to be joined by 50 world leaders, is the fourth under the leadership of President Barack Obama who stated in his speech in Prague in 2009 that nuclear terrorism is the most immediate and extreme threat to global security.

Obama announced an international effort to secure vulnerable nuclear materials, break up black markets, and detect and intercept illicitly trafficked materials. The first Nuclear Security Summit was held in Washington, DC in 2010, and was followed by Summits in Seoul in 2012 and The Hague in 2014. 

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World’s Highest Court Addresses Nuclear Disarmament

核軍縮を審理する国際司法裁判所

 【ハーグIDN＝ラメシュ・ジャウラ】

マーシャル諸島共和国は、小国ながらも著名な国際法律家チームの支援と、「核兵器ゼロ」の実現を主唱する支持者を背景に、断固とした決意で、国連の主要な司法機関である国際司法裁判所（ICJ）に訴えて、９つの核兵器国（米・露・英・仏・中・イスラエル・インド・パキスタン・北朝鮮）に核軍縮の義務を果たさせようとしている。

「核時代平和財団」の事業責任者リック・ウェイマン氏によれば、これは世界の最高裁判所に持ち込まれた核軍縮をめぐる初めての案件であるという。

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Nuclear Weapons Challenge the World’s Highest Court – Norwegian

Kjernevåpen utfordrer verdens høyeste domstol

Av Ramesh Jaura 

BERLIN | THE HAGUE (IDN) – Etter ti dager med offentlige høringer med lagene av internasjonalt kjente advokater – noen støttet av trofaste tilhengere av ”nuclear zero” og andre klamrer seg til læren om “kjernefysisk avskrekking” – verdens høyeste domstol står overfor en utfordrende oppgave som er av vidtspennende betydning.

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Nuclear Weapons Challenge the World’s Highest Court

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | THE HAGUE (IDN) – After ten days of public hearings involving teams of eminent international lawyers – some backed by staunch proponents of ‘nuclear zero’ and others clinging to the doctrine of ‘nuclear deterrence’ – the world’s highest court is faced with a challenging task of far-reaching significance.

Not the least because this year marks the twentieth anniversaries of the 1996 ‘advisory opinion’ by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the opening for signature of the CTBT, the treaty banning all nuclear tests everywhere – nuclear tests that are at the heart of nuclear proliferation. [P44] JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | NORWEGIAN

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2016 Crucial for Promoting a Nuclear Weapons Free World

By Jamshed Baruah

BERLIN | NEW YORK (IDN) – The 25th anniversary of the closure of the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site and the twentieth anniversaries of the opening for signature of the treaty to ban all kinds of nuclear tests as well as of the unanimous advisory by the world’s highest court are three significant hallmarks of the year 2016.

“These historical dates are an important occasion for pooling the efforts of all countries to promote a nuclear-free world,” said Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev on March 2 during a meeting in Astana with the heads of foreign diplomatic missions accredited in the republic. JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF

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World’s Highest Court Addresses Nuclear Disarmament

By Ramesh Jaura

THE HAGUE (IDN) – Aided by a team of eminent international lawyers and backed by staunch proponents of ‘nuclear zero’, the tiny but resolute Pacific Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) wants the International Court of Justice (ICJ), principal judicial organ of the United Nations, to hold the nine nuclear weapons states – U.S., Russia, UK, France, China, Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea – accountable to their disarmament commitments.

These are the first contentious cases about nuclear disarmament to be brought before the world’s highest court, said Rick Wayman, Director of Programs at the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF

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Youth Campaign for a Legally Binding Global Ban on Nuclear Tests

By Jamshed Baruah

BERLIN | VIENNA (IDN) – An international group of students and young graduates has decided to campaign for North Korea and seven other hold-out states ratifying a global treaty banning all nuclear tests so that it becomes legally binding for all states.

Since the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) was opened for signature twenty years ago, 183 countries have signed it, of which 164 have also ratified it, including three of the nuclear weapon States: France, Russia and the United Kingdom.

But 44 specific nuclear technology holder countries must sign and ratify before the CTBT can enter into force. Of these, China, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan and the USA are still missing. In fact, India, North Korea and Pakistan have yet to sign the CTBT.

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