30/01/2013
By ICAN* – Nine countries together possess more than 19,000 nuclear weapons. The United States and Russia maintain roughly 2,000 of their nuclear weapons on high-alert status – ready to be launched within minutes of a warning.
Source: ICAN
Most are many times more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945.
A single nuclear warhead, if detonated on a large city, could kill millions of people, with the effects persisting for decades.
The failure of the nuclear powers to disarm has heightened the risk that other countries will acquire nuclear weapons.
The only guarantee against the spread and use of nuclear weapons is to eliminate them without delay.
Although the leaders of some nuclear-armed nations have expressed their vision for a nuclear-weapon-free world, they have failed to develop any detailed plans to eliminate their arsenals and are modernizing them.
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19/11/2012
Five months from now, the government of Norway will host an international conference on the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons.
With this International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) conference– Civil Society Forum – Oslo, 2-3 March, 2013 — governments clearly signal that they are finally ready to pull their heads from the sand and open their eyes to the catastrophic and all-too-real humanitarian effects of nuclear weapons.
If just one of the world’s 19,000 nuclear weapons was detonated, be it intentionally or accidentally, not only would it kill thousands of people instantly, but, as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has concluded, first responders would be unable to provide the emergency relief so urgently needed, ICAN informs.
“This would compound the humanitarian impact of the blast and transfom it into a catastrophe. This makes the continued existence and deployment of nuclear weapons one of the most serious humanitarian challenges of our time.”
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28/10/2012
By Xanthe Hall, IPPNW*, 28 October, 2012 –Over the many years that we have been trying to educate the public on the catastrophic consequences of nuclear weapons we have mostly concentrated on the destruction of human life and health, not surprisingly, as we are a physician’s organisation.
**“Killer” Lake Karachay, known as the most polluted place on Earth, near the Mayak nuclear plant in Chelyabinsk, reportedly has enough radiation in it to kill a human being in an hour. Image: Google
Recently, IPPNW has begun to focus on the environmental effects, particularly on the climate, of a nuclear war, limited to one region but affecting the whole world and the knock-on effects for human life and health.
The work with climatologists Alan Robock and Brian Toon has enabled us to show that a relatively “small” nuclear exchange could cause millions of people to die from starvation – this we have termed “nuclear famine”.
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30/09/2012
The inability of nuclear weapons to guarantee a country’s security or independence was highlighted in the speech of Kazakhstan’s Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kairat Umarov, to the United Nations General Assembly.
ICAN-International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.
“The threat of proliferation of nuclear weapons and technology, along with the spectre of their acquisition and use by terrorist entities, has been one of the most daunting challenges to humanity,” the Foreign Affairs Minister told the 67th Assembly’s General Debate at UN Headquarters in New York on 29 September.
“It is our strong view that the possession of weapons of mass destruction is not a guarantee of security or greater independence. Kazakhstan’s own record goes to show that countries reap huge benefits from the renunciation of nuclear weapons,” he added.
The Central Asian nation closed down its nuclear weapons site Semipalatinsk, one of the largest test sites in the world and located in the country’s north-east, in 1991. As a result of this, the Foreign Affairs Minister noted, Kazakhstan has “won more friends and [has] become a more prosperous, stable and influential country.”
“This year, we will complete the project to enhance physical security of the former Semipalatinsk test site,” he said. “We view this project, which is being implemented jointly with the United States and Russia, as our significant contribution to the global non-proliferation regime.”
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14/09/2012
By Wilbert van der Zeijden, Pax Christi IKV, Pressenza* – Scottish independence has been pending for many years, or centuries if you take to that perspective, and now it’s closer than ever. It’s only a referendum away.
**Trident Boat | JohnED76| Wikimedia Commons
There’s two issues tied to the discussion on Scottish independence that trigger my professional interest. First, is the Trident nuclear missiles – the UK weapons of mass destruction deployed and stored in Faslane, Scotland. What happens to those after independence? Second is the question whether independent Scotland will be – should be – part of NATO?
For a long time, the ruling Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) held it that Scotland would neither become part of NATO nor allow England’s nuclear weapons to stay. But lately…..
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07/08/2012
Marking the 67th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on 6 August, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged countries to work together to eliminate the threat of nuclear weapons and stressed the importance of honouring victims and survivors by sharing their stories with new generations.
The remains of the Prefectural Industry Promotion Building, later preserved as a monument – known as the Genbaku Dome – at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. UN Photo
“The tragedy in Hiroshima decades ago continues to resonate today,” Ban said in a message to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony, honouring those killed when an atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese city on 6 August 1945, during the closing stages of the Second World War.
“There must never be another nuclear attack – never. The elimination of such weapons is not just a visionary goal, but the most reliable way to prevent their future use,” the UN chief stressed in his message.
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29/11/2011
By Tim Wright* – IPPNW
In 2011 the nine nuclear-armed nations will spend an estimated US$105 billion maintaining and modernizing their nuclear weapons, despite the International Court of Justice having declared it illegal to use and threaten to use such weapons.
**Photo credit: ICAN Australia
This expenditure—up from $91 billion in 2010—casts serious doubt on the sincerity of leaders’ pledges to work for a world free from nuclear arms, suggesting instead a commitment to retain such weapons indefinitely.
Beyond the pro-disarmament rhetoric of the nuclear-armed states is the disturbing reality of a massive effort to bolster the world’s nuclear forces, the consequences of which are potentially catastrophic.
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15/07/2011
Human Wrongs Watch
By Baher Kamal
Politicians, pushed by the “ward lords” — the military, spend over 90 billion dollars a year, from taxpayer’s pockets, on nuclear weapons. This figure amounts to the UN budget for 45 years, and to 3/4 of the total annual sum spent on development aid. The U.S. alone spends over 50 billion dollars annually–enough to meet the Millennium Development Goals on poverty alleviation.
- Image: Wikimedia Commons
The military’s nuclear game is anything but under control–there have been dozens of documented instances of the near-use of nuclear weapons as a result of miscalculation or accidents. Nuclear-armed submarines have collided underwater and nuclear-tipped missiles have shot out of storage silos. With thousands of weapons on alert, the risk of unintended use is alarmingly high.
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28/11/2019
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 27 2019 (IPS)* –– A longstanding proposal for a regional nuclear-weapons-free zone (NWFZ) in the Middle East – one of the world’s most conflict-ridden regions – has been kicked around the corridors of UN committee rooms since 1974.
Nuclear Test. Credit: United Nations
And as another effort to negotiate a legally-binding treaty concluded last week, there were lingering questions crying out for answers: how realistic is the proposal in the face of implicit opposition from US and Israel? Is the proposal still in the realm of political fantasy?
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24/05/2018
The United Nations chief on 24 May 2018 announced a bold new vision for global disarmament, to help eliminate nuclear arsenals and other deadly weapons from a world that is just “one mechanical, electronic and human error away” from destruction.
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe | Secretary-General António Guterres makes remarks during the high-level debate to mark the 15th anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Convention against Corruption.
“But seven decades on, our world is as dangerous as it has ever been,” he warned.
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HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 