From left to right: Dr. Gianluca Maspoli, Wim Zwijnenburg, Mark Albe, Hansjörg Eberle and Doug Weir Between February 16th and 19th, the international mine action community gathered in Geneva for the 18th International Meeting of Mine Action National Program Directors and UN Advisors. This year’s theme was “Beyond Mine Action”. The TRWP and the GICHD […]
Sunday 1 March marked the day that the international Mine Ban Treaty (MBT) entered into force sixteen years ago. To date, 162 countries have joined this treaty that bans the production, use, stockpiling and transer of antipersonel mines and that saves lives and limbs. The good news: the number of victims is historically low. However, […]
It still takes time to digest all that is said during the Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons (HINW, 8-9 December) but it became clear that a lot was won. Here’s an overview of our thinking about the Vienna Conference:
“The bomb fell over there. If you like I can show you the crater. It exploded and shattered the window. She [my wife] was standing next to the window. The fragments shattered the window and cut her carotid artery. I wanted to run in the opposite direction, but I heard people screaming, ‘Uncle Vanya! Aunt […]
In a new banking and financial investments analysis report published today, top financial institutions JP Morgan Chase (US), Temasek Holdings (Singapore) and China Everbright Group (China) lead the 2014 Hall of Shame of investors in cluster munitions producers.
Iedereen lijkt nu wel te erkennen dat met bombardementen alleen de opmars van ISIS (ook wel Islamic State of Daesh) in Syrië en Irak niet tegen te houden zal zijn. Deskundigen, regeringen en politici spreken van een politieke strategie voor de aanpak, waarbij de uitsluiting van hele bevolkingsgroepen, zoals gebruikelijk was in beide landen, wel […]
In the coming days, the Israeli government will have to make decisions on membership in the Chemical Weapons Convention and participation in two potentially ground-breaking conferences: The Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons and the Helsinki Conference on a Zone Free of Weapons of Mass Destruction in the Middle East. In all […]
PAX – a co-founder of the Stop Killer Robots Campaign, is working towards a ban on autonomous weapons without meaningful control. Last week we were in New York at the United Nations, were this issue was discussed at the First Committee. At a well attended side event at the UN, I had the privilege to […]
On the 31st of October, the UN First Committee voted on resolution A/C.1/69/L.43, Effects of the use of armaments and ammunitions containing depleted uranium, which passed with 143 in favour, 4 against and 26 abstainers. Before and after the vote, several States provided an explanation of vote (EOV). In some of these EOVs, especially those […]
Every year explosive weapons, such as bombs, grenades and rockets, on towns and villages, kill and wound large numbers of civilians, among them many children. Most recently explosive weapons have caused immense suffering and devastation in Gaza, Syria and Ukraine. Today, PAX will present Unacceptable Risk in New York, on the margins of the annual […]