News & Announcements

  In Tuvalu, public consultations are underway to discuss the Falepili Union agreement with Australia.Pacific Leadership Network for Nuclear for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament (APLN) and editor-in-chief of Global Asia. Under the arrangement, 300 Tuvaluans can permanently resettle in Australia every year. In return, Australia has a say in the country's security agreements. "Overall yes, it's a good thing for Tuvalu. The main concern is with how the actual migration opportunities play out for Tuvalu," said political researcher Dr Carol Farbotko from Griffith University. Listen to the full article on ABC Pacific (9 minutes) Image: Mary Star/shutterstock.com

  The US presidential election is being watched with trepidation in South Korea. Should President Joe Biden be re-elected, Seoul would likely see continuity in the relationship and a continued strong US-South Korea bilateral alliance. But a victory for Donald Trump is fraught with peril. He could throw the alliance into turmoil, try to make South Korea a front-line state in the US standoff with China, threaten overtures to North Korea, and demand South Korea increase defense cost-sharing and defense budget or face the withdrawal of US forces, writes Chung-in Moon.The situation is worrying for all sides of the political spectrum in Seoul, writes Chung-in Moon. Read the whole article in Global Asia Chung-in Moon is James Laney Distinguished Professor at Yonsei University, vice chairman of the Asia-Pacific Leadership Network for Nuclear for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament (APLN) and editor-in-chief of Global Asia Image: patrice6000/shutterstock.com

  States may be about to miss a vital opportunity to include military emissions in national climate commitments. Read more from the Conflict and Environment Observatory. Article published 4 June 2024.   Image: Evgeniyqw/shutterstock.com

  The theme of the 3rd RECNA essay competition is: “What would you say to the leaders of countries that currently rely on nuclear weapons?” The Research Center for Nuclear Weapons Abolition, Nagasaki University (RECNA), with the support of the Nagasaki Shimbun, invites youth between the ages of 16 and 29 to submit an essay on a “Nuclear Weapons Free Future.” The conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza show no signs of abating, and the specter of nuclear war persists in various regions. Against this backdrop, the year 2024 has emerged as an international “election year” with potentially significant implications for nuclear policy. The presidential elections in the United States and Russia are the most prominent, but Japan is also grappling with the prospect of a general election. If you were to send a letter to a single leader of one nuclear weapons state, or the leaders of several or all of the nuclear weapons states, considering the worsening situation surrounding nuclear weapons, what would you ask them to do? We would like you to compose such a message, that you may address to the leader of one nuclear weapons state, or a state under the nuclear umbrella of a nuclear weapons state, like Japan, or the leaders of all or some of the nuclear weapons states and umbrella states. The grand prize winner and second prize winner will receive a commemorative plaque and prize money. 【SUBMISSION DEADLINE: July 31, 2024】 For more details, please click here.

  A new article by Toda Peace institute author Professor Tom Sauer, The Impact of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons: The Crucial Role of the European NATO Allies can be accessed in Peace Review. The abstract is reproduced below: This article makes the argument that the role of the European NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) allies, and especially the non-nuclear weapon states (NNWS) under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), may and should play a key role in the future of nuclear disarmament. Once the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) is signed and ratified by more or less 100 NNWS, mostly from the Global South, it will be up to the allied NNWS to make up their mind about their role vis-à-vis nuclear disarmament. Will they continue to behave as protégés by (and in some way also protectors of) the nuclear-armed states and break the disarmament process further, or will they shake off the nuclear “protection” in the interest of making progress toward a world without nuclear weapons? This article zooms in on the European NATO allies in particular. The TPNW can and will be used to put pressure on the European NATO allies to switch sides, and it can, on its turn, be used by the European NATO allies to stigmatize the nuclear-armed states in order to make progress in the direction of nuclear elimination. The article starts by reviewing the origins and objectives of the TPNW. In the next section, its impact will be scrutinized. We then turn to the current and possible future role of the European NATO allies.