The Future of Arms Control Hangs in the Balance After US Quits Open Skies Treaty

By Kester Kenn Klomegah

Photo: A USAF Boeing OC-135B Open Skies. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

MOSCOW (IDN) – President Donald Trump’s surprise decision to withdraw from the 1992 Open Skies Treaty has posed unprecedented challenges, generated extensive debates among Russian politicians and experts. Equally worried are leaders in Europe and Asia.

Trump administration notified international partners on May 21 that the US was pulling out of a treaty that permits 30 plus nations to conduct unarmed, observation flights over each other’s territory. [2020–05-31]

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Eminent Persons Warn Against Any Demonstration Nuclear Test Explosion

By Reinhard Jacobsen

Image: More than 300 International Monitoring System (IMS) facilities certified out of the 337 the CTBTO has planned are already in operation. Credit: CTBTO.

VIENNA (IDN) – Members of the CTBTO Group of Eminent Persons (GEM) have expressed “deep concern about credible press reports” that senior U.S. officials have discussed the possibility of conducting “a demonstration nuclear test explosion”. [2020–05-30 | 05] JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | PORTUGUESE | SPANISH

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Eminent Persons Warn Against Any Demonstration Nuclear Test Explosion

By Reinhard Jacobsen

Image: More than 300 International Monitoring System (IMS) facilities certified out of the 337 the CTBTO has planned are already in operation. Credit: CTBTO.

VIENNA (IDN) – Members of the CTBTO Group of Eminent Persons (GEM) have expressed “deep concern about credible press reports” that senior U.S. officials have discussed the possibility of conducting “a demonstration nuclear test explosion”. [2020–05-30 | 05] JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | PORTUGUESE | SPANISH

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Multilateralism, The Covid-19 Pandemic and The NPT Review Conference

Viewpoint by Sergio Duarte

Ambassador, former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs. President of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs.

Collage: Images from Internet of multilateralism, coronavirus and nuclear testing.

NEW YORK (IDN) – On April 24, the International Day of Multilateralism and Diplomacy for Peace was observed at the United Nations. At the occasion, Secretary-general António Guterres called for a “networked multilateralism, strengthening coordination among all global multilateral organizations” with the regional multilateral organizations making their vital contributions. His advice is both warranted and timely. [2020–05-28]

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‘Abolition 2000’ Warns Against Resumption of Nuclear Testing

By Radwan Jakeem

Photo: Nuclear test carried out on 18 April 1953 at the Nevada test site. Source: UN News.

NEW YORK (IDN) – “Resumption of nuclear explosive testing is absolutely unacceptable. Even discussing nuclear testing again is dangerously destabilizing,” the Abolition 2000 Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons has warned. Such testing would, in any case, be in contravention of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBTO), signed by the United States, yet pending entry-into-force, the Abolition 2000 adds in a statement emerging from its annual general meeting (AGM). [2020–05-25]

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NPT’s 50th Anniversary Encourages 17 Signatories To Remind Five Nuclear-Weapons States of Their Commitments

By UN Bureau

Photo: Every five years since it entered into force in 1970, the states parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) have held a conference to review its operation and to come to agreement on detailed language assessing the treaty’s various provisions. Credit: Dean Calma CC: BY-SA

NEW YORK (IDN) – The upcoming 2020 Review Conference of a landmark international treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, presents “a timely opportunity for the States Parties to undertake a comprehensive review and assessment” of its current status, says the Joint Communiqué issued on May 19 by 17 States Party to the NPT. [2020–05-24]

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Global Civil Society Demands Bolder Action from NPT States Parties

世界の市民団体がNPT加盟国の大胆な行動を要求

【ジュネーブIDN＝ジャムシェッド・バルーア】

世界各国の多様な平和・核軍縮団体のネットワークが、特に核兵器国とその同盟国の指導者に対して、核兵器の危険を減じ軍縮に進展をもたらすとの約束を早急に果たすこと、「核兵器の完全廃絶」をみずから公約した事実を認識することを求める共同声明を発表した。

共同声明は核不拡散条約（NPT）の無期限延長を導いた一連の決定から２５周年にあたる５月１１日に出された。

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Global Civil Society Demands Bolder Action from NPT States Parties – HINDI

विश्व सिविल सोसाइटी ने एनपीटी में शामिल पक्षकार देशों से साहसिक कदम उठाने की माँग की है

जमशेद बरुआह द्वारा

जीनीवा (IDN) – राष्ट्रीय और अंतरराष्ट्रीय शांति एवं परमाणु निशःस्त्रीकरण गैर-सरकारी संगठनों के विविधतापूर्ण नेटवर्क ने एक संयुक्त वक्तव्य में सरकार, विशिष्ट रूप से परमाणु-हथियार संपन्न देशों एवं उनके मित्र देशों, के नेताओं से परमाणु हथियारों के खतरों को कम करने और निशःस्त्रीकरण की दिशा में प्रगति को आगे बढ़ाने के पूरे नहीं किए गए वादों को पूरा करने, और “परमाणु हथियारों को संपूर्ण रूप से समाप्त करने” की अपनी प्रतिबद्धताओं पर अमल करने, के लिए अधिक तत्परता के साथ और साथ में मिलकर कार्य करने की गुहार लगाई। यह वक्तव्य 11 मई को परमाणु हथियार अप्रसार संधि (एनपीटी) के अनिश्चित काल के लिए विस्तार की 25वी वर्षगाँठ को जारी किया गया।

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The US Seeks Iran Arms Embargo Extension Riling Europe

By Kelsey Davenport and Julia Masterson

Photo: The foreign ministers from Iran and the countries of the P5+1, as well as the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, after agreeing the Iran Nuclear deal, 14 July 2015. Courtesy of Dragan Tatic/Wikimedia.

While Julia Masterson is research assistant, Kelsey Davenport is the director for non-proliferation policy at Arms Control Association. The Association’s website published this analysis on May 15.

WASHINGTON (IDN) – The United States is considering a range of options to prevent the October 2020 expiration of a UN embargo that restricts arms sales to and from Iran. Those options include making a legal case that the United States remains a bona fide participant of the nuclear deal with Iran that it withdrew from in May 2018 in order to use a Security Council provision to block the embargo’s expiration. [2020–05-17]

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Global Civil Society Demands Bolder Action from NPT States Parties – THAI

ประชาคมโลกเรียกร้องให้มีการกระทำที่หนักแน่นยิ่งขึ้นจากรัฐภาคีของสนธิสัญญาการไม่แพร่ขยายอาวุธ (NPT)

โดย Jamshed Baruah

เจนีวา (IDN) – เครือข่ายที่หลากหลายขององค์กรนอกภาครัฐเพื่อความสงบสุขและการปลดอาวุธนิวเคลียร์ในระดับชาติและระหว่างประเทศได้เรียกร้องในแถลงการณ์ร่วม ให้ผู้นำรัฐบาล โดยเฉพาะอย่างยิ่งจากรัฐที่ครอบครองอาวุธนิวเคลียร์และพันธมิตร ดำเนินการอย่างเร่งด่วนและให้ความร่วมมือมากขึ้นตามสัญญาที่ยังไม่บรรลุผลว่าด้วยการลดความเสี่ยงด้านนิวเคลียร์และสร้างความคืบหน้าในการปลดอาวุธ รวมทั้งตระหนักถึงความมุ่งมั่นของตนที่มีต่อ “การกำจัดอาวุธนิวเคลียร์ให้หมดไปอย่างสิ้นเชิง” แถลงการณ์นี้เกิดขึ้นวันที่ 11 พฤษภาคม ซึ่งตรงกับวันครบรอบ 25 ปีของการขยายระยะเวลาของสนธิสัญญาไม่แพร่ขยายอาวุธนิวเคลียร์ (NPT) ออกไปอย่างไม่มีกำหนด

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