Statement to the 3rd Preparatory Committee for the 2020 NPT Review Conference

Cesar Jaramillo Featured Leave a Comment

May 3, 2019

Chair,

Click on image to download PDF of statement

Nearly fifty years after the entry into force of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the international community remains woefully distant from a credible process that would make even the most optimistic observer believe that the abolition of nuclear weapons is within sight.

To this day, nuclear weapons possessors extol the value of nuclear weapons in safeguarding their national interests, but expect no one else to embrace the same rationale. They demand immediate, consistent compliance with non-proliferation obligations, but disregard their own responsibility to disarm. They consider the pursuit and possession of nuclear weapons by some states unacceptable, but are content to accept the nuclear-weapons programs

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The future of war: Missiles and space as seen by the United States in 2019

Jessica West Leave a Comment

By Jessica West

Published in The Ploughshares Monitor Volume 40 Issue 1 Spring 2019

Two new policy documents released in the United States cast light on what future war could look like, especially the central and entwined roles of missiles and outer space.

The Missile Defense Review (MDR)

WHAT IT IS: MDR is a review of the status of U.S. missile defence capabilities, the perceived level of threat, and a roadmap for future investment priorities and technology development; an unclassified version was released to the public on January 17, 2019.

WHAT IS NEW: It reveals the U.S. government’s desire to expand the role, goals, and technical capabilities of its ballistic missile defence systems.

Expanded role: In addition to containing regional

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Preserving peace through Moon culture

Jessica West Featured Leave a Comment

…or recognized by the international community. Not one. In fact, there is not even a single, definitive, internationally accepted list of all the items on the Moon. So, For All Moonkind’s first task is to catalogue all the items on the Moon, using blockchain technology so that the list can easily, and accountably, be updated by interested parties.

Another team is developing a working definition of cultural heritage in space and a framework that will be used to protect designated sites.

While we will happily welcome suggestions and comments, we will have a monitoring committee or council of global experts, including archaeologists, scientists. and engineers, to determine the substance of comments and contributions.

JW: The catalogue will be useful to…

Arms sales, murder, and the illusion of firmness

Cesar Jaramillo Featured Leave a Comment

…the state of Saudi Arabia.” Western intelligence agencies concur: an operation of such magnitude required prior authorization. According to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, the murder could only have been carried out with the approval of the highest levels of the Saudi government and, in particular, of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. In an intercepted conversation from a year before the killing that surfaced in early 2019, he tells an aide that he will “use a bullet” on Khashoggi should the journalist’s criticism of the Kingdom persist.

Human rights vs. commercial interests

While the Khashoggi murder illustrated the Saudi regime’s contempt for human rights and warranted intense media attention, it was only the latest incident in a consistent pattern of…

Time for answers: Letter to Trudeau on the Saudi arms deal

Ploughshares Featured 3 Comments

…law and international humanitarian law. Indeed, credible media reports have already suggested that LAVs have been used in the conflict in Yemen. That is why we are calling on all states to ban the sale or transfer of weapons to any government when there is risk that those weapons might be used in the conflict in Yemen.

In October 2018, you told Canadians that your government was examining the contract concerning the sale of the LAVs, noting that it would be “difficult” to suspend or leave the contract. In November 2018, Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland, in her testimony before the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade, indicated that it was certainly within the government’s authority…

Bill C-47: Remarks to the Senate Standing Committee

Cesar Jaramillo Conventional Weapons, Featured Leave a Comment

U.S. reporting and licensing exemptions not consistent with ATT obligations

Remarks to the Canadian Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development – Delivered November 29, 2018

Published in The Ploughshares Monitor Volume 39 Issue 4 Winter 2018 by Cesar Jaramillo

Thank you very much for the kind invitation to address this committee.

For decades, efforts to better regulate illicit and irresponsible arms exports and to strengthen arms control regulations have been a key focus of the activities of Project Ploughshares. We were strong advocates of the landmark international Arms Trade Treaty long before its adoption and have participated in every ATT Conference of States Parties as civil society representatives. We also keep a comprehensive database of Canadian military

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Why the chances of conflict in outer space are going up

Jessica West Featured, Space Security Leave a Comment

…UN First Committee on International Security and Disarmament this autumn. In its place stands an assertion by the United States that outer space has been “transformed into a warfighting domain” and mutual accusations by the United States, Russia, and their allies related to various weapons programs.

This confrontation is significant. Previous hard-won modes of diplomatic cooperation have been sacrificed. For the first time since 2008, the United States and Israel voted against the resolution “Prevention of an arms race in outer space” that urges work on this topic at the Conference on Disarmament. Both states, with Cameroon and Palau, also cast negative votes on the resolution “Transparency and confidence-building measures [TCBMs] in outer space” that is linked to implementation of…

We are ready for 2019

Cesar Jaramillo Conventional Weapons, Defence & Human Security, Featured, Forced Displacement and Migration, Nuclear Weapons, Space Security Leave a Comment

…and actions that prevent war and armed violence and build sustainable peace.

Some examples of our activities:

Nuclear disarmament Participation in the second Preparatory Committee for the 2020 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, as well as the UN General Assembly First Committee on Disarmament on International Security; Regular commentary and analysis on relevant developments, including efforts on the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and the position of the Canadian government on the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons; Meetings with government officials, including the Canadian Ambassador for Disarmament, to discuss ways forward on nuclear disarmament. Conventional weapons controls Continued research and analysis of Canada’s multi-billion-dollar arms deal with Saudi Arabia;…

Delivering on the Global Compact on Refugees: The need for principled leadership from UNHCR

Sonal Marwah Featured Leave a Comment

…the Libyan coastguard, with EU support, has been intercepting refugees in boats and returning them to that war-torn country. Thousands have been locked up indefinitely in deplorable detention centres in Tripoli.

These actions have been widely criticized by human rights organizations, international humanitarian organizations, civil society, refugees and migrants, and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. But the “UNHCR has kept very quiet about the EU’s role in the process of interception, return and detention,” despite the fact that these actions have resulted in repeated refoulement (the forcible return of refugees), which is prohibited in the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol.

Currently, a migrant caravan is travelling from Central America through Mexico to reach the United States….

A call for leadership: New report details security concerns in outer space

Jessica West Leave a Comment

…space exploration and resource extraction by private actors; The emergence of dual-use technologies such as debris removal, satellite servicing, and maneuvering capabilities; Continuing development and demonstration of anti-satellite capabilities; U.S. plans for space-based ballistic missile interceptors that could mark the first deployment of space-based weapons.

There is some good news. The UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) reached consensus on 21 voluntary guidelines to enhance the long-term sustainability of space activities. And as the number of countries and industries with a stake in outer space increases, more of the world’s people are able to benefit from access to space-based data and services. But so, too, does the need for cooperation and regulation.

In the report’s Global

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