An International Relations lecturer from UGM, Muhadi Sugiono, along with 130 world activists, attended the Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) on Nuclear Disarmament in Geneva, Switzerland, 2-13 May. Muhadi Sugiono represented the Institute of International Studies (IIS), UGM, and the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) network. Muhadi Sugiono presented his paper Non-Nuclear-Weapon States and a Treaty Prohibiting Nuclear Weapons.
“The paper talks about 14 points of policy and practices in non-nuclear states that block nuclear disarmament efforts,” said Muhadi on Tuesday (17/5).
At the forum, Muhadi explained that nuclear weapons have to be totally banned as they would bring about a humanitarian catastrophe. “The catastrophic humanitarian consequences of the use of nuclear weapons invalidate all arguments that we hear in favour of their retention. Nuclear weapons—like all other weapons of mass destruction—must be banned,” said Muhadi.
The presence of the Institute of International Studies (IIS) at the OEWG also aims to encourage the Indonesian government to take a central role in initiating negotiations on a nuclear ban treaty. Indonesia is now chairing the Non-Aligned Movement’s Working Group on Disarmament.
Indonesia is progressive in calling for the initiation of negotiations on nuclear disarmament. Along with eight states, Indonesia, in the document entitled Addressing Nuclear Disarmament: Recommendations from the Perspective of Nuclear Weapon-Free Zones, has recommended that the OEWG submit two issues to the UN General Assembly. First, holding conferences open to all states and representatives of civil society in 2017 to discuss more binding instruments for nuclear disarmament. Second, holding a UN summit to discuss nuclear disarmament in 2018 based on instruments that are produced by the negotiations of the first point.