New Disarmament Agenda Recognizes CTBT’s Intrinsic Role

Viewpoint by Izumi Nakamitsu

The author is High Representative of the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA). Following are extensive excerpts from her keynote speech on May 25, 2018 at the High Level Session of the Second Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) Science Diplomacy Symposium from May 21-June 1, 2018 in Vienna. – The Editor.

VIENNA (IDN) – The CTBTO Preparatory Commission [headed by Executive Secretary Lassina Zerbo] continues to play a critical role in promoting the long overdue entry into force of the CTBT.

New Disarmament Agenda Recognizes CTBT’s Intrinsic RoleRead More »

What Kazakhstan’s Nuclear Legacy Means For CTBTO

Viewpoint by Marzhan Nurzhan

The CTBTO Youth Group (CYG) holds its second international conference in Kazakh capital city Astana from August 28-30, 2018. The author is a CYG member from Kazakhstan, a convener of Abolition 2000 Youth Network and a PNND Coordinator for CIS countries. This article first appeared in The Astana Times on May 29, 2018 with the title ‘Kazakhstan’s Nuclear Legacy and Importance of CTBTO’. It is being reproduced with the author’s permission. – The Editor.

PRAGUE (IDN) – I am coming from Kazakhstan, the country which inherited around 1,500 nuclear weapons from the Soviet Union making it the 4th biggest nuclear arsenal in the world at the time.

What Kazakhstan’s Nuclear Legacy Means For CTBTORead More »

World Peace Eludes, Nuclear Armageddon Looms

Viewpoint by Somar Wijayadasa*

NEW YORK (IDN) – Lately, we have seen a barrage of international conflicts that have severely undermined the United Nations efforts to maintain peace and security.

The British Prime Minister Theresa May – in total disregard for the noble British norm “innocent until proven guilty” – rushed to accuse Russia of trying to poison the Skripals, and provoked an unprecedented ouster of 151 Russian diplomats from UK, U.S. and EU that the Russians dutifully reciprocated.

World Peace Eludes, Nuclear Armageddon LoomsRead More »

ICAN Expects Nuclear Ban Treaty to Enter into Force in 2019

By Neena Bhandari

SYDNEY (IDN) – As the world witnesses an increase in nuclear sabre-rattling in 2018, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) is supporting global public movement to put pressure on governments to sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. ICAN’s Treaty Coordinator Tim Wright (TW) spoke to IDN’s Neena Bhandari (NB) about disarmament, raising awareness about the risk and consequences of nuclear weapons, and why the world needs a nuclear ban treaty more than ever before. [P 06] ARABIC | CHINESE  | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | KOREAN | NORWEGIAN | SWEDISH

ICAN Expects Nuclear Ban Treaty to Enter into Force in 2019Read More »

ICAN Expects Nuclear Ban Treaty to Enter into Force in 2019

By Neena Bhandari

SYDNEY (IDN) – As the world witnesses an increase in nuclear sabre-rattling in 2018, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) is supporting global public movement to put pressure on governments to sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. ICAN’s Treaty Coordinator Tim Wright (TW) spoke to IDN’s Neena Bhandari (NB) about disarmament, raising awareness about the risk and consequences of nuclear weapons, and why the world needs a nuclear ban treaty more than ever before. [P 06] ARABIC | CHINESE  | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | KOREAN | NORWEGIAN | SWEDISH

ICAN Expects Nuclear Ban Treaty to Enter into Force in 2019Read More »

Asian Sympathy Swinging Towards North Korea

By Kalinga Seneviratne

SINGAPORE (IDN) – The frenzied moves over the weekend of May 26-27 by leaders of South Korea and North Korea to revive the on-again, off-again North Korea-US summit, and pictures flashed across the region of the two Korean leaders warmly hugging each other for the second time within a month, are rapidly turning public opinion across the region in North Korea’s favour with the United States and President Donald Trump seen as the “evil”.

Asian Sympathy Swinging Towards North KoreaRead More »

Uncertainty Abounds As Trump Cancels Summit With Kim

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | GENEVA (IDN) – May 24, 2018 smacks of a ‘historic day’ marked by a smokescreen of uncertainty and speculations in the aftermath of U.S. President Donald Trump calling off his summit meeting with Kim Jong-un, the leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), commonly known as North Korea.

The situation has prompted United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres to remark that he is “deeply concerned.” Speaking in Geneva on May 24, where he unveiled his new Agenda for Disarmament entitled, Securing Our Common Future, at the University of Geneva, in Switzerland, Guterres called on the U.S. and North Korea “to continue their dialogue to find a path to the peaceful and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”

Uncertainty Abounds As Trump Cancels Summit With KimRead More »

Experts Predict Vast Ramifications of US Pullout From Iran Nuclear Deal – Hindi

विशेषज्ञों ने ईरान परमाणु सौदे से यूएस पुलआउट की विशाल जटिलता की भविष्यवाणी की है

द्वारा सैंटो डी बनर्जी

न्यू यॉर्क (IDN) – विशेषज्ञों के मुताबिक, राष्ट्रपति डोनाल्ड ट्रम्प के ईरान परमाणु सौदे को त्यागने का निर्णय पूर्णतयःसहज है। 1995 में नोबेल शांति पुरस्कार विजेता पगवाश ने विज्ञान और विश्व मामलों के सम्मेलन में घोषित किया था, “यह एक बड़ी गलती है जो अपनी सख्ती के कारण परमाणु मानकों से परे व्यापक रूप से जटिल हो सकती है।”

Experts Predict Vast Ramifications of US Pullout From Iran Nuclear Deal – HindiRead More »

The ‘Libyan Model’ is Unhelpful: Korea needs its Own Process for Peace and Nuclear Disarmament

Viewpoint by Rebecca Johnson*

SEOUL (IDN) – I’m now in Seoul, taking part in the peace actions and international meetings organised by Women Cross the DMZ, referring to the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea.

News has been dominated by fears that the US National Security Advisor, John Bolton, may have jeopardised the hoped-for Singapore Summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump. Was this Bolton’s intention? Japanese

The ‘Libyan Model’ is Unhelpful: Korea needs its Own Process for Peace and Nuclear DisarmamentRead More »

Nuclear Weapon States’ Long Arm Seen Behind Deferral of Landmark UN Conference

「核軍縮に関する国連ハイレベル会議」延期の裏に核保有国の影

【ニューヨークIDN＝アラン・ウェア】

２０１８年５月１４日は、「とりわけ核兵器に関する包括的条約を含め、核兵器の完全廃絶実現に向けた効果的な核軍縮措置」を討論するための３日間にわたる「核軍縮に関する国連ハイレベル会議」の開会日となるはずであった。

国連総会は５年前、丸１日を費やすハイレベル会合を国連で毎年開催したのちに、２０１８年にこうした会議を開くことを決定していた。

Nuclear Weapon States’ Long Arm Seen Behind Deferral of Landmark UN ConferenceRead More »