The significance of the Project is underscored by the fact that:

1. In 2017, Nuclear Ban Treaty was adopted by the UN General Assembly and opened for signature at the UN, marking a turning point in the global history of efforts to achieve peace and disarmament. Attention is now focused on pushing for an early entry into force and universalization of the Treaty.
2. Nuclear weapon states have been fiercely opposing the Treaty arguing that it ignores the reality of vital security considerations, giving rise to signs that they would not engage with the Ban Treaty. Under these circumstances, discussions at the second session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2020 NPT Review Conference in April in Geneva and the UN High-Level Conference on Nuclear Disarmament in May in New York have acquired great importance – because since the adoption of the Nuclear Ban Treaty in July 2017, these will be the first venues for debate and deliberation that will include the nuclear-weapon and nuclear-dependent states as well as non-nuclear states.
3. The 2018 Nuclear Posture Review announced in February against the backdrop of Korean Peninsular crisis, laden with a potential nuclear confrontation , will have a direct impact on discussions on Nuclear Ban Treaty, drawing attention to policy trends in concerned countries toward peace and denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
4. UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who has warned that “Global anxieties about nuclear weapons are the highest since the Cold War” and also announced intention “to explore opportunities to generate a new direction and impetus for the global disarmament agenda” which is expected to be launched later this year and is intended to be a major proposal similar to, but updating, the five-point proposal for nuclear disarmament released by the previous Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. This new initiative by the UN Chief will draw enormous international interest.
5. A complete elimination of nuclear weapons is increasingly becoming a global collaborative effort calling for relentless commitment and robust solidarity between States, International Organizations and the Civil Society. In order to secure a foothold for a world free from nuclear weapons, it is necessary to expand the involvement of people worldwide.

This project helps expand the involvement of people worldwide in achieving that goal by shedding light on the issues involved from various perspectives and objective points of views through the independent, professional global media network of the INPS Group and beyond, thus providing a useful platform for exchange of views around the world.

The target audiences for the multilingual information and communication prod ucts emerging from the Project are: the general public reached through the traditional and new media including the social media, NGOs, CSOs, UNOs, key leaders, legislators and decision-makers globally and in countries that feel the necessity to review the very concept of non-proliferation as advocated by the nuclear haves.

In view of the fact that the INPS Group with IDN-InDepthNews as its flagship – online since 2009 – addresses themes beyond breaking the news, providing an insight into issues that matter and impact our lives, this Project will ensure that the concerns of citizens and citizen groups about the threat to human security emanating from nuclear arms are highlighted. They will be protagonists as well as audience.