Governments must make better use of diplomacy, international law and common security mechanisms in order to prevent war and adequately address climate change and nuclear threats, according an international appeal by women parliamentarians from around the world. The appeal, Common security for a sustainable and nuclear-weapon-free world, was released to
The United Nations yesterday (June 5, 2018) elected Ecuador Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa to be the incoming President of the UN General Assembly. She will become the 73rd person, and the fourth woman ever, to hold the UNGA presidency. Sra Espinosa is a former Defence Minister, Ambassador to the
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, addressing the Conference on Disarmament (CD) in Geneva yesterday (Feb 26), announced a new United Nations initiative for nuclear disarmament, that would integrate the goal of a nuclear-weapon-free world into other key UN processes on conventional disarmament, peace-making and sustainable development. ‘Countries persist in the mistaken
What is your parliament doing to promote the UN High-Level Conference? On January 25, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists moved the hands of the Doomsday Clock to 2 minutes to Midnight due to the increased risks from nuclear weapons conflicts and from climate change. Parliaments and parliamentarians around the world
The United Nations Security Council will hold a special thematic debate on January 18 on the topic of ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction and Confidence Building Measures‘. The debate will be chaired by Kazakhstan President Nazarbayev, and will have a strong focus on diplomacy and trust-building as important elements to prevent
On January 24, 1946, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted by consensus its very first resolution Resolution 1 (I), which established a commission of the UN Security Council to ensure ‘the elimination from national armaments of atomic weapons and all other major weapons adaptable to mass destruction.’ UNFOLD ZERO
As tensions between North Korea and the USA raise again the spectre of a nuclear war, the United Nations yesterday called on leaders to come together in a High-Level Conference to reduce nuclear dangers and pave the way for nuclear disarmament. In a resolution adopted by the First Committee of
The Non-Aligned Movement, representing 120 countries, submitted a draft resolution to the United Nations General Assembly late last week laying out the general mandate and dates for a special United Nations process to advance comprehensive nuclear disarmament – a United Nations High-Level Conference for Nuclear Disarmament. The conference, which is
Governments have gathered at the United Nations in New York this month (October) to discuss and adopt nuclear disarmament proposals, including a draft resolution to set the dates and mandate for the first ever UN High Level Conference on Nuclear Disarmament (UNHLC), scheduled for 2018. A coalition of international civil
Civil Society Statement to the UN General Assembly First Committee, 10 October 2017 Delivered by John Burroughs Executive Director, Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy Click here for PDF version The present confrontation between the United States and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is extraordinarily perilous. It is profoundly disturbing