nuclear weapons

21JUL17.- I had the privilege of attending the opening and penultimate sessions of the Nuclear Weapons Ban and Prohibition Treaty negotiations at the U.N. this spring and summer.

20JUN17.- “It started raining as soon as people gathered, poured during the Women’s March to Ban the Bomb and the program outside the UN, then stopped raining, but only after it was all over! A good turnout for a rainy day, estimated about 1.000, including 50 Japanese” activist Ellen Thomas explains.

03JUN17.- An international prohibition on the financing of nuclear weapons could help reverse the nuclear arms race and be a powerful tool in delegitimizing nuclear weapons, according to nuclear disarmament campaigners participating in UN negotiations on a treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons.

25MAY17.- Scientists for Global Responsibility (SGR) warmly welcomes the publication yesterday of a draft UN treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons.

08MAY17.- Another cycle of conferences started this week in Vienna to culminate in a conference to review the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 2020. States Parties and civil-society organisations have exchanged views in the general debate and in a number of side events. At an International Peace Bureau event on “NATO, Nuclear Weapons and the Ban Treaty?” Otto Jäckel, from the International Association of Lawyers against Nuclear Arms (IALANA) Germany, addressed security concerns and North Korea’s motivations for developing its nuclear weapons. We republish here with kind permission of the author.

03ABR17.- This week, negotiations on a treaty to ban nuclear weapons in international law began in New York. This first negotiation session revealed that the more than 132 countries participating share a vision for a world without nuclear weapons. And while some disagreement is expected, there was broad agreement among many countries on most elements of the proposed treaty.

30MAR17.- Today we begin negotiations of a treaty banning nuclear weapons. It took incredible determination, creativity, and courage to get here. We have seen decades of activism against the bomb. Endless engagement with nuclear-armed states. The collection of baby teeth. Millions of people marching in the streets.

01JUL17.- Historic negotiations for “a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination” are now taking place at the United Nations in New York. Civil society representatives from around the world are gathered there to urge all nations to work in good faith to achieve the strongest, most effective treaty possible.

04JUN17.- When I was a young teenager, I would venture down to the basement where my father had his desk. He’d be plugging away at letter writing, or working on a talk or article. I’d wait quietly by his side for a few minutes before interrupting him to say goodbye, on my way to the movies or to meet up with friends...

27MAY17.- This week, an historic nuclear weapons ban proposal was unveiled at the United Nations. The proposed agreement recognizes, for the first time, that nuclear weapons and radiation put women and girls at greater risk than men and boys.

16MAY17.- The first round of preparatory meetings came to an end in Vienna on Friday. Reaching Critical Will wrapped up their review of proceedings with these thoughts.

06MAY17 – COLUMBIA,MISSOURI – UNITED STATES.- The Preamble of the Ban Treaty will be greatly strengthened if it includes a summary of the long-term environmental consequences of nuclear war, as described by a series of peer-reviewed studies done at major US Universities (see below). These studies are considered to be the most authoritative type of scientific research – subjected to criticism by the international scientific community before final publication in scholarly journals – and the findings of these studies remain unchallenged.

31MAR17.- More than 120 countries have been participating in talks to negotiate a treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons since Monday March 27th in the UN headquarters in New York. While the nuclear weapons states and their allies are not in the room, the proponents of the ban treaty are counting on the delegitimisation effects of the treaty to drive the world toward the total elimination of nuclear weapons.

24MAR17 – LONDON – UNITED KINGDOM.- 75% of UK adults think the British Government should be represented at nuclear disarmament talks due to begin at the United Nations next week. Only 9% said the Government should not attend and 16% were undecided.