A field of broken promises and shattered visions

Attending my second NPT review conference as a member of the Canadian delegation, I can still recall that early afternoon on 11^th May 1995 when delegates from 175 countries, after four weeks of hectic negotiations that went late into the night in a small conference room at the United Nations in New York that reeked of an admixture of cigarette smoke, perfume and disgusting body odour, finally came together in the General Assembly Hall to make the world less dangerous from the overhanging threat of nuclear devastation and agreed without a vote to indefinitely extend the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty…

Proposal to Convene NPT Review Conference in January 2021

In my previous posts on IDN InDepthNews, Update: Postponed 2020 NPT Review Conference, Challenge for the NAM: Move the NPT Review Conference to 2021 in Vienna, and Postpone the NPT Review Conference to 2021 and Convene in Vienna, I had provided information and perspectives on the Review Conference of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty scheduled at the United Nations in New York from 27 April to 22 May that had to be postponed due to the global COVID-19 pandemic…

Opinion: The emperor has no clothes

The Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) International Review Conference scheduled for April 2020 has been postponed to April 2021 due to the coronavirus outbreak…

Update: Postponed 2020 NPT Review Conference

On 30 March 2020, IDN-InDepthNews published my article, Challenge for the NAM: Move the NPT Review Conference to 2021 in Vienna, in which I had noted the announcement of the postponement of the 2020 review conference of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), scheduled to be held in New York from 27 April to 22…

UNODA remains active and committed

The new crisis Humanity has faced no challenge greater than COVID-19 since the Second World War. As this rapidly developing global health emergency places unprecedented strain on our medical, economic and social systems, we must work hard to prevent new risks for instability, unrest and conflict

. The pandemic…

Opinion: Challenge for the NAM – Move the NPT Review Conference to 2021 in Vienna

It is sometimes said that it is easy to try to herd cats than to get the States parties to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to agree on anything practical! This certainly seems to be the case now, as after dithering for several weeks the earth shaking announcement coming out of New York…

Round-the-clock surveillance of Iran’s uranium-enrichment sites continues, despite coronavirus

While George Moore is well-intentioned in his recent Bulletin article on the challenges of continuing on-site International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards in Iran at a time when the coronavirus is spreading rapidly in that country (see “One potential victim of coronavirus? Nuclear inspections in Iran”), it is important not to exaggerate the situation…

Opinion: Postpone the NPT Review Conference to 2021 and Convene in Vienna

Finally, some moves are afoot in New York to postpone the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) tenth quinquennial (five yearly) review conference presently scheduled to be held at the United Nations in New York from 27 April to 22 May. President-designate’s proposal The distinguished President-designate of the review conference, H.E . Ambassador Gustavo Zlauvinen…

Opinion: Relentless Spread of Coronavirus Obliges Postponing of 2020 NPT Review to 2021

As Spring is in the offing, the days are drawing near when representatives of up to 191 countries will convene at a review conference at the United Nations in New York, from 27 April 27 to 22 May, to celebrate 50 years of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) being in force. Coincidentally…