Humanitarian disarmament initiatives made significant progress in the post-Cold War era but until now their linkage to disability rights has been weak. Sean Howard and Tammy Bernasky report on a new Disability Rights and Disarmament Initiative that demands full and effective participation of people with disabilities at the United Nations and beyond.
The Lucas Plan Showed the Way to an Alternative Security Strategy
With political commitment to increase military spending, military production is thriving in the UK. But do these heavily subsidised industries meet the British people’s security needs, or the state’s desire to dominate abroad? Khem Rogaly argues for a new approach to industrial strategy that centres the needs of workers, people and planet.
Nuclear Secrecy: The UK’s common agenda with Russia and North Korea
The UK is in denial about the legacy of its Cold War nuclear weapons testing programmes as well as about the potential impact of a future nuclear war. Sean Howard sees bad faith in the new UK government’s voting record at the UN’s disarmament committee and some unsavoury partners in its campaign to maintain nuclear secrecy.
Preventing Nuclear Use: A tale of two treaties
2022 brought not only renewed threats of nuclear war in Europe but the convening of two major conferences on nuclear weapons, in Vienna and New York. In this new long-read article, Rebecca Eleanor Johnson reflects on the very different aims, expectations and outcomes of the TPNW and NPT conferences amid the urgent need for progress in global disarmament.
Killer Robots: Moving beyond the UN process
Autonomous weapons systems pose a tremendous physical and ethical threat to humanity. While the majority of countries want them prohibited, a few powerful states are blocking progress. Richard Moyes and Uldduz Sohrabi argue that the time is right for a process that moves beyond the deadlocked UN process.
How Nuclear Weapons were Banned
As from now, nuclear weapons are illegal. Co-founder and first president of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) Rebecca Johnson explains how the movement to establish the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons came about and what it means.