Behind North Korea's New Missile Launches in the Midst of Coronavirus Pandemic

By Santo D. Banerjee

Photo: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump at the Singapore Summit on June 12, 2018. Source: @Scavino45 of Dan Scavino Jr., the White House Director of Social Media and Assistant to the President.

NEW YORK (IDN) – While the international community has been engrossed in combating the global COVID-19 pandemic, it has been constrained to respond to North Korea's first missile launches this year. The United Nations Security Council convened behind closed doors on March 5 but failed to agree on a resolution. [2020-03-26 | 33] ITALIAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | KOREAN | THAI

Committee on Teaching About the UN Demands 'War No More'

By Narin B. Stassis

The writer currently serves as the Vice Chair of the Committee on Teaching About the UN. She is a former Director of Curriculum and Instruction, a lifelong Educator, and holds a Master's degree in International Education from Lesley University.

NEW YORK (IDN) – The United Nations was created with a determination "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war". As the world body celebrates its 75th anniversary this year, the Committee on Teaching About the United Nations (CTAUN), convened a conference, "War No More", co-sponsored by the Permanent Mission of Korea to the United Nations. [2020-03-06 | 32] GERMAN | ITALIAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | THAI

Trump's Abandonment of Nuclear Deal with Iran Backfires

By Reinhard Jacobsen

VIENNA (IDN) — The quarterly report on Iran released by UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), on March 3 has revealed a significant increase in the country's stockpile of enriched uranium since its last report. The stockpile stood at 1,020.9 kg in February, up from 372.3 kg in November 2019, reports Jane's Defence Weekly. [2020-03-06 | 31] ARABIC | GERMAN | HINDI | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF

Risks and Realities of Extending the UN Arms Embargo on Iran

Viewpoint by Kelsey Davenport and Daryl K. Kimball

This article first appeared as Issue Brief of the Arms Control Association on 5 March 2020. Kelsey Davenport is director for nonproliferation policy, and Daryl G. Kimball, executive director, Arms Control Association.

WASHINGTON, DC (IDN) — More than a decade ago, the United States and its partners secured UN Security Council support for a series of resolutions imposing increasingly tough sanctions on Iran as part of an effort to pressure Tehran into multilateral talks to curb its nuclear program and block its pathways to nuclear weapons. [2020-03-05]

Relentless Spread of Coronavirus Obliges Postponing the 2020 NPT Review to 2021

Viewpoint by Tariq Rauf *

VIENNA (IDN) — As Spring is in the offing, the days are drawing near when representatives of up to 191 countries will convene at a review conference at the United Nations in New York, from 27 April to 22 May, to celebrate 50 years of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) being in force. Coincidentally, this also will be the tenth in a series of quinquennial NPT review conferences  [2020-03-02]

Uncertainty Haunts the Future of Non-Proliferation Treaty and Disarmament

Viewpoint by Tariq Rauf *

Photo courtesy of UNITAR Hiroshima Office.

HIROSHIMA (IDN)—August 6 and August 9 will mark the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. No sentient human being who has met or seen the hibakusha (survivors), or visited the hypocentres in the two cities, or seen the photographic evidence of the destruction of these two Japanese cities, can avoid being shocked and horrified by the devastation that nuclear weapons inflicted. [2020-02-28 | 30] JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | KOREAN | MALAY | THAI

U.S. Abrogation of Iran Deal Leaves a Puzzling Legacy

By Bernhard Schell

Image source: Forum IAS.

ISTANBUL (IDN) – Iran has been bashed for its January 5 announcement that it would no longer abide by certain "operational restrictions" on uranium enrichment in the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA. The declaration has also prompted doubts about the regime's activities and intentions and the fate of the nuclear deal. [2020-02-15-29] ARABIC | ITALIAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | PORTUGUESE | SPANISH

Towards Nuclear Disarmament with Monitoring and Verification

By Radwan Jakeem

Photo: Twenty-two participants from 11 IPNDV partner countries gathered at Forschungszentrum Jülich in Jülich, Germany on September 23, 2019 to participate in the Nuclear Disarmament Verification Exercise, jointly organized by France and Germany. Credit: Forschungszentrum Jülich / Tobias Schlößer.

 NEW YORK (IDN) – With the international community persistently striving for a world free of nuclear weapons, verification systems and methods are crucial to understanding the complex challenges of accurately monitoring and verifying future nuclear disarmament activities which will likely subject countries to more intrusive verification than ever before. [2020-02-14-28] JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | NORWEGIAN | SWEDISH | TURKISH

Buddhist Leader Urges Nuclear Weapons Free Common Security

By Ramesh Jaura

Photo: SGI president Daisaku Ikeda. Credit: Seikyo Shimbun

BERLIN | TOKYO (IDN) – An eminent Buddhist philosopher and nuclear disarmament advocate has tabled four critical initiatives to "contribute to the creation of a sustainable global society where all can live with dignity and a sense of security". The initiatives cover four major areas: building support for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW); multilateral negotiations for nuclear disarmament; climate change and disaster risk reduction (DRR); and education for children in crisis. [2020-02-13] JAPANESE | 

Sri Lanka Committed to Non-Proliferation and Disarmament

By Jaya Ramachandran

Collage courtesy of Sri Lanka’s Daily FT

GENEVA | COLOMBO (IDN) – In an exceptional move, Germany has granted funds to Sri Lanka’s Forum on Disarmament and Development (FDD) for the translation of the texts of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban-Treaty (CTBT) to the island state’s official languages Sinhala and Tamil. NPT and CTBT texts were until now available only in official languages of the United Nations: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. [2020-01-31-27] GERMAN | HINDI | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF