disarmament « Ministry for Disarmament

New Zealand arms experts step up

(From left to right) Edwina Hughes, Andrew Chen, Hon. Phil Twyford, Mary Wareham and Sakhr Munasser at the NZ Parliament Dialogue on Autonomous Weapons Systems, 10 August 2021

Eight New Zealanders have been appointed as members of the Public Advisory Committee for Disarmament and Arms Control (PACDAC) for the statutory body’s next 2022-2025 term. […]

Chemical weapons ban in the spotlight

On Monday, 14 October 2013, the Chemical Weapons Convention entered into force for the Syrian Arab Republic, where hundreds of civilians were killed by the weapons less than two months earlier. The arrival of the convention’s 190th state party caps off a remarkable month for international efforts to eradicate chemical weapons and marks another […]

Leadership requested on nuclear weapons ban

Survivors, or “Hibakusha,” of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II are now aged in their 80s and 90s, but they are still traveling the world to promote their call for a nuclear-free Japan and for the abolition of nuclear weapons. Over the past week, New Zealanders have marked […]

The Conference on Disarmament’s problem

Established in 1979 as the main multilateral disarmament negotiating forum for the international community, the Conference on Disarmament (CD) this week held a debate on its future status. Since the CD concluded the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996, it has not been able to resume serious substantial work on any issue. […]