Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations, kicked off the UN Open Ended Working Group on Taking Forward Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament Negotiations (OEWG) yesterday (Monday Feb 22) with a speech of encouragement and optimism. He lamented that nations, until now, have not focused sufficiently on nuclear disarmament. Annan recalled
As government and civil society delegations rolled into Conference Room XIX of the Palais de Nations (Geneva) today for the first session of the UN Open Ended Working Group, they were welcomed with gifts of origami cranes from UNFOLD ZERO. The OEWG was established by the United Nations General Assembly
The very first resolution of the United Nations, adopted by consensus in 1946, established a commission whose task was to make recommendations on the elimination at atomic weapons from national arsenals. 70 years later the world appears no closer to achieving this aspiration. Does this indicate a failure of the
From February 22-26, governments and civil society will meet at the United Nations in Geneva for the first session of a newly-established Open Ended Working Group on Nuclear Disarmament (OEWG). Chaired by Ambassador Thani Thongphakdi of Thailand, the OEWG is tasked to undertake substantive work on the legal measures and
85 governments met at the Palais des Nations (United Nations) in Geneva on January 28 in the first informal session of the Open Ended Working Group (OEWG) – a new UN process established to undertake substantive work on the legal measures and norms required to achieve a nuclear-weapon-free world. The
Send us your idea for an action to support the new UN nuclear disarmament process and win a trip to Geneva to participate in the official deliberations! Nuclear disarmament talks have been blocked for decades. But now there is an opening that could make a difference! The United Nations has
On January 28, the United Nations will hold the first session of its newly established Open Ended Working Group (OEWG) on nuclear disarmament. The OEWG, which will meet in Geneva, is open to all UN member States as well as representatives from international organisations and civil society (Click here for
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will end his 10-year term in December 2016. The campaign for the next UN Secretary-General has begun, and this campaign will be like none other before. It’s quite possible that a woman will become UN Secretary-General for the first time in the history of the
Nobel peace laureates meeting in Barcelona for their 15th World Summit on 13-15 November 2015, adopted the Barcelona Declaration in which they: oppose terrorism and war, support refugees from conflict regions; call on governments to implement the Sustainable Development Goals; propose a 10% reduction in military budgets to pay for
On January 24, 1946, the United Nations General Assembly adopted by consensus its very first resolution, Resolution 1 (I): which established a commission of the UN Security Council to ensure: the ‘control of atomic energy to ensure its use only for peaceful purposes,’ and ‘the elimination from national armaments of