by Professor Richard Falk* On 7 July 2017 122 countries at the UN voted to approve the text of a proposed international treaty entitled ‘Draft Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.’ The treaty is formally open for signature in September, but it only becomes a binding legal instrument according
On July 7, 2017, the United Nations adopted a Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons following negotiations over 5 weeks during March, June and July. 122 countries voted in favour of the treaty, demonstrating the clear and unequivocal acceptance of the majority of UN members never to use, threaten to
UNFOLD ZERO joined Mayors for Peace, Religions for Peace and Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament in a meeting on Friday June 30 with Ms Izumi Nakamitsu, the United Nations High Representative for Disarmament Affairs. We commended Ms Nakamitsu on her appointment to this important position, and we discussed cooperation
Alyn Ware, co-founder of UNFOLD ZERO, discusses the UN negotiations on a nuclear weapons ban United Nations negotiations for a legal agreement to prohibit nuclear weapons resumed in New York on June 15. The negotiations look set to achieve the adoption of a historic nuclear ban treaty on July
The United Nations negotiations for a legally binding agreement on the prohibition of nuclear weapons have moved into the next (and possibly penultimate) stage. On May 22, Ambassador Whyte Gómez (Costa Rica), the President of the UN negotiating conference, released a Draft of the ban treaty. As expected the draft
On Monday (March 27, 2017), the United Nations commences negotiations on a nuclear weapons prohibition treaty. According to the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms (IALANA), a group of experts in international law and nuclear weapons, the treaty should affirm the illegality of the threat and use of nuclear
Nuclear-armed states currently spend US$100 billion collectively on nuclear weapons programs every year. The corporations manufacturing the weapons and their delivery systems are a major driver of the nuclear arms race. They actively lobby their parliaments and governments to continue allocating the funds to nuclear weapons. And they support think
UNFOLD ZERO and PNND held the fourth in a series of Consultations on nuclear disarmament negotiations and parliamentary action in New York on Feb 15, the day before the United Nations commenced negotiations on a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons (‘ban treaty’). The consultation included diplomats, lawyers and
The world is 30 seconds closer to nuclear annihilation, according to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists who today moved the hands of the ‘Doomsday Clock’ to 2.5 minutes to midnight. Speaking at a press conference in Washington DC, Lawrence Krauss, a theoretical physicist who chairs the Bulletin of the Atomic
On January 23, UNFOLD ZERO, Basel Peace Office, Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (PNND) and the World Future Council braved the cold to hold a 3D art event in the the Place des Nations in front of the UN in Geneva. The event attracted both tourists and locals who