The new Open-ended Working Group (OEWG), established in United Nations General Assembly Resolution 70/33 adopted in December 2015, opened on 22 February in Geneva. It will meet over the course of 15 working days in February, May and August of 2016 and submit a final report in October.
Multilateralism
Surviving nuclear zero: A fresh perspective on disarmament in the 21st century
Working with the British American Security Information Council (BASIC), UNA-UK hosted a thought experiment event entitled ‘Surviving Nuclear Zero’ to encourage nuclear experts and students to consider the value states attach to nuclear weapons from a new perspective. The project challenged participants to identify how a post-nuclear UK could protect itself and engage effectively in a world where others still possessed nuclear weapons and where grave threats remained.
Labour and Trident Now
This week's non-debate of Trident at the Labour Party conference is now an opportunity to reframe the issue and set the UK on a more stable path towards a non-nuclear future. But it will take collaboration between people on different sides of the current divide.
Labour Needs a Global Nuclear Disarmament Policy
Once again Trident emerges as a key flag issue that establishes where candidates for the Labour leadership election stand. Andy Burnham has perhaps the most difficult task, being deeply sceptical about nuclear weapons personally but claiming that current international instability, and particularly Russian threats to European security, means it is not now the time for Britain to consider abandoning the weapons.
Consider the alternative: what opposition to the Iran nuclear deal could signal
The deal is at last concluded over Iran’s nuclear program, lifting many economic sanctions imposed on Iran by the United States, European Union and United Nations in return for long term curbs on the country’s nuclear program and the most extensive long-term verification and inspections regime ever accepted by a state.
Preserving the character of the nation: British military attitudes to nuclear weapons
What are the views of the British military on nuclear weapons today? How can we answer this question given both the different actors and institutions and the level of secrecy surrounding this issue? Moreover, why should those supportive of non-proliferation and disarmament, or anyone else- especially given the political nature of these weapons- care what the military thinks?
What does it mean to be a responsible nuclear weapon state in the 21st century?
As part of the Next Generation project, BASIC is hosted a small roundtable discussion about what it means to be a responsible nuclear weapon state in the 21st century on 23 June 2015.
Linking nuclear weapons and climate change
As part of BASIC\’s Next Generation Project, BASIC Executive Director Paul Ingram and Greenpeace campaigner Louise Edge led a discussion exploring the links between the nuclear weapons debate and the climate change debate, and the political and public perceptions of both