By Pugwash President Jayantha Dhanapala and Pugwash Secretary General Paolo Cotta-Ramusino

Statement on the DPRK Nuclear Test

Today, 6 January 2016, North Korea conducted a new nuclear test. Over the last 17 years, the DPRK has been the only country in the world to continue to conduct nuclear weapon tests.

Today’s test was announced as a test of a thermonuclear weapon, although more probably it was a test of an ordinary fission weapon with possibly some (fusion) “boosting”.

While the DPRK probably has a long way to go toward building real thermonuclear weapons that could be placed on long-range missiles, still, the general political message associated with this latest test is far from positive.

The political tensions present in the North-East Asian region should be addressed by political means—and not by escalating the arms race and sending threatening messages. The resumption of the six-party talks, and the facilitation of communication between the two Koreas, are important steps that should be sustained by all the states involved, as well as by the international community.

Jayantha Dhanapala, President of Pugwash
Paolo Cotta-Ramusino, Secretary General of Pugwash

Also available online: http://pugwash.org/2016/01/06/statement-on-dprk-nuclear-test-3/

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The evolving strategic context, the re-emergence of chemical weapons and their use by militant non-state actors and extremists, challenge the future effectiveness of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).

The future challenges of the Convention have been take up in a March 2015 OPCW document titled «The OPCW in 2025: Ensuring a World Free of Chemical Weapons» (document S/1252/2015), attached here.

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On 20 March 2014, The Hague Institute for Global Justice and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), with support of Pugwash Nederlands, will convene a roundtable of experts to explore issues related to the governance of nuclear security. This event will take place under the Nuclear Knowledge Summit (NKS) event series, an official side event to the Nuclear Security Summit (NSS). Continue reading →

In november 2013 heeft de internationale Pugwashconferentie plaatsgevonden in Istanbul. U kunt hier meer informatie vinden over deze conferentie, waaronder de rapporten van de werkgroepen.

Tijdens de Algemene Ledenvergadering van Pugwash Nederland van 30 oktober 2013 is het beleidsplan voor de periode 2013-2015 aanvaard. Het beleidsplan is onder in PDF-vorm te downloaden.

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We applaud the decision of the Norwegian Nobel Committee to award the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).  The timing of this award is striking.  The OPCW represents an outstanding example of what the international community can accomplish even at the most dire of times.  This is being proven in the on-going Syrian crisis, where in response to the use of chemical weapons bold political moves were made to attempt to avert a further escalation of the already grave military conflict. This creative solution represented ‘out of the box’ thinking and also was discussed at the unofficial “Track II” level, including through the Pugwash network. Continue reading →

A report of activities and finances of Pugwash Netherlands for the budget year 2012-13 (1 July 2012-30 June 2013) is now available. The report also includes financial information for the period 2007-2013.

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Midden juni 2013 overleed Dr J.L.F. (Jan) Gerbrandy, lid van Pugwash sinds 1997. Gerbrandy studeerde biologie in Utrecht en Amsterdam en hield zich van 1962 – 1996 als wetenschapper vooral bezig met de bescherming tegen biologische wapens met alles wat daarbij komt kijken, zoals het kennis vergaren over potentieel gevaarlijke agentia. Continue reading →

Website van de Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO)

“The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) bans nuclear explosions by everyone, everywhere: on the Earth’s surface, in the atmosphere, underwater and underground.”
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In een video die het bedrijf Defense Distributed online heeft gezet is te zien hoe voor het eerst een kogel wordt afgevuurd met een 3D-geprint wapen. (bron: nu.nl) Voor meer informatie, klik hier.