Kudos for Kazakhstan's 'Leading Role' as UN General Assembly Campaigns for Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – The International Day against Nuclear Tests (IDANT) has been observed around the world on August 29 since 2010. A new element was added this year when President of the 72nd session of the General Assembly, Miroslav Lajčák, convened a high-level plenary meeting on September 6 "to commemorate and promote" this landmark Day and the Nuclear‑Test‑Ban Treaty.

Test-Ban Treaty Will Produce Tangible Benefits for Humankind

Viewpoint by Dr Lassina Zerbo

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – In a keynote address at the High-Level Meeting of the UN General Assembly to commemorate and promote the International Day Against Nuclear Test on September 6, 2018, CTBTO Executive Secretary Dr Lassina Zerbo exhorted "all countries – small and large – that have not yet signed or ratified" the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) "to do so without hesitation."

Uncertainty About Whether the U.S. and Russia Can Avert a New Arms Race

By Daryl G. Kimball

The United States and Russia are rushing forward with costly, ambitious plans to upgrade their Cold War nuclear arsenals and develop new types of destabilizing nuclear weapon, writes Daryl G. Kimball, Executive Director of the Arms Control Association in the September issue of Arms Control Today. The editorial appeared with the caption 'Can the U.S. and Russia Avert a New Arms Race?'

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN-INPS) – Five long years have passed since U.S. President Barack Obama proposed and Russian President Vladimir Putin unfortunately rejected negotiations designed to cut their excessive nuclear stockpiles by one-third below the limits set by the 2010 New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START).

Calls for Making Global Nuclear Test Ban Legally Binding

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | VIENNA | ASTANA (IDN) – The Kazakh Minister of Foreign Affairs Kairat Abdrakhmanov and CTBTO Executive Secretary Dr Lassina Zerbo have called on all States Signatories "to spare no effort to ensure that the nuclear test ban becomes legally binding by achieving the entry into force" of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) in limbo for 22 years. [P 09] JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF

California Leads the Way in Support of Nuclear Disarmament

By J C Suresh

TORONTO (IDN) – The State Senate of California, the most populous state in the United States, has adopted Assembly Joint Resolution 33 (AJR 33), which calls upon the federal government to embrace the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, make nuclear disarmament the centerpiece of national security policy, and spearhead a global effort to prevent nuclear war.

U.S. Goes for 'Space Force All the Way'

Viewpoint by Alice Slater*, The Hill

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – […] Vice-President Mike Pence announced the Trump administration’s plan for a new military command, the U.S. Space Force, emphasizing President Donald Trump’s urging that “It is not enough to merely have an American presence in space: we must have American dominance in space.” Pence’s announcement was greeted by Trump, tweeting in response, “Space Force all the way!”

Little Progress in Nuclear Disarmament Since Helsinki Summit

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Everything gets said, nothing gets done. When President Donald Trump met President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki on July 16, we were promised all sorts of goodies – progress in reconciliation in Ukraine and Syria, and not least nuclear disarmament. If there is progress behind the scenes it's not noticeable to the naked eye.

73 Years On, a Nuclear-Weapons-Free World Remains a Mirage

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN (IDN) – Nobel Peace Prize laureate Adolfo Pérez Esquivel and Buddhist philosopher Daisaku Ikeda recall a quote from Martin Luther King Jr – "We are always on the threshold of a new dawn" – and aver that the adoption of the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in July 2017 is such a 'threshold'.

In a joint appeal 'To the Youth of the World', released to the media and wider public in Rome, and handed over to Pope Francis, they note that the Treaty "is an international legal instrument that establishes the absolute illegality" of nuclear weapons. [P 08] JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF

Advancing Disarmament Within the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

Viewpoint by Izumi Nakamitsu

The author is Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs. This article first appeared in UN Chronicle, Vol. LV No. 2 2018 | August 2018.

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – The idea that disarmament and arms control are connected to development is not new. Article 26 of the Charter of the United Nations recognizes disarmament as a precondition for durable peace, security and development by calling for the maintenance of international peace and security with the least diversion of the world’s economic and human resources for arms.

No More Hiroshimas, No More Nagasakis, No More Hibakusha

Viewpoint by António Guterres

The survivors of the atomic bombings, known in Japanese as the hibakusha, have become global "leaders for peace and disarmament", United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said at the Nagasaki Peace Memorial Ceremony in Japan on 9 August 2018, commemorating the 73rd anniversary of that devastating day. Following are extensive extracts from Guterres' remarks. – The Editor  JAPANESE