U.S. 100th Member State to Join Nuke Terrorism Treaty
By Thalif Deen
- A 1997 movie titled “The Peacemaker” –partly shot outside the United Nations – dramatised the story of a Yugoslav terrorist who acquires a backpack-sized nuclear weapon, gone missing after a train wreck in rural Russia, and brings it to New York to detonate it outside U.N. headquarters.
Was it another Hollywood fantasy? Or a disaster waiting to happen?
Conscious of the remote possibility of a terrorist group arming itself with stolen nuclear weapons, the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly back in April 2005 and entered into force in July 2007. [P31] ARABIC | BHASA | GERMAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | PORTUGUESE | SWEDISH | TURKISH
Japan and Kazakh to Facilitate Entry into Force of Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty
By Kanya D’Almeida
UNITED NATIONS (IDN) - Ahead of a major international conference on September 29 at the UN headquarters in New York, pressure is mounting on the eight states whose backing is vital to the entering-into-force of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT): China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, Pakistan and the United States. [P30] CHINESE TEXT VERSION PDF | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF
Nuke Test Ban Treaty Still in Limbo, U.N. Complains
- The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), which was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly back in 1996, has still not come into force for one primary reason: eight key countries have either refused to sign or have held back their ratifications.
The three who have not signed – India, North Korea and Pakistan – and the five who have not ratified — the United States, China, Egypt, Iran and Israel – remain non-committal 19 years following the adoption of the treaty. [P29] JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | SPANISH | SWEDISH | TURKISH
Opinion: Campaign to End Nuclear Tests - Kazakhstan Launches ATOM E
This action and the renunciation of our nuclear arsenal – the fourth largest in the world, were unprecedented acts to demonstrate to the world that Kazakhstan does not need these powerful nuclear weapons tests and weapons.
The closure of Semipalatinsk led the way for the closure of other sites in Nevada, Novaya Zemlya, Lop Nur, Moruroa, Kiribati and others. [P28] JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF
Opinion: Nuclear States Do Not Comply with the Non-Proliferation Treaty
OXFORD (IPS) - Article Six of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) makes it obligatory for nuclear states to get rid of their nuclear weapons as part of a bargain that requires the non-nuclear states not to acquire nuclear weapons. Apart from the NPT provisions, there have been a number of other rulings that have reinforced those requirements.
However, while nuclear states have vigorously pursued a campaign of non-proliferation, they have violated many NPT and other international regulations. [P27] JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF
Opinion: Can Nuclear War be Avoided?
GÖTEBORG, Sweden (IPS) - The Canberra Commission on the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons had as members former leading politicians or military officers, among others a British Field Marshal, an American General, an American Secretary of Defence and a French Prime Minister.
The commission unanimously agreed in its report in 1996 that “the proposition that nuclear weapons can be retained in perpetuity and never be used – accidentally or by decision – defies credibility. The only complete defence is the elimination of nuclear weapons and assurance that they will never be produced again.”
So that’s it: Nuclear weapons will be used if they are allowed to remain with us. And even a “small” nuclear war, using one percent or less of the world’s nuclear weapons, might cause a worldwide famine leading to the death of a billion humans or more. [P26] ITALIAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | PORTUGUESE | SPANISH
‘Generation of Change’ Pleads for Walking the Nuclear Abolition Talk
By Ronald Joshua
HIROSHIMA (IDN) - A new ‘Generation of Change’ is making its presence felt, pledging to walk the talk over the last 70 years in a clarion call for freeing the world of 16,000 to 17,000 nuclear weapons that continue “to threaten every single person with the prospect of a cruel and inhumane death”. [P25] CHINESE TEXT VERSION PDF | GERMAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | KOREAN TEXT VERSION PDF | NORWEGIAN | SWEDISH
Addressing the Disarmament Deficit
By Daryl G. Kimball*
HIROSHIMA (IDN) - In the seven decades since the U.S. atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, nuclear weapons have become less and less relevant to the security of possessor states and their allies and the potential harm of their further use has become even more harmful to international security and human survival.
Growing Calls for Nuclear Disarmament Summit in Hiroshima
By Ramesh Jaura
HIROSHIMA (IDN) - Calls are growing for organising a nuclear disarmament summit next year in Hiroshima, one of the only two cities, along with Nagasaki, which have until now suffered the devastating atomic bombings 70 years ago. But indications are that there is only a remote possibility that such a gathering would indeed take place.
Disarmament Conference Ends with Ambitious Goal – But How to Get There?
By Ramesh Jaura
- A three-day landmark U.N. Conference on Disarmament Issues has ended here – one day ahead of the International Day Against Nuclear Tests – stressing the need for ushering in a world free of nuclear weapons, but without a consensus on how to move towards that goal. [P24] ARABIC | INDONESIAN BAHASA | ITALIAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | SPANISH | TURKISH
