Good morning, this is Gabriela. Six years after a landmark ban on nuclear weapons was adopted at the UN, the world’s nine nuclear-armed powers continue to spend massively on beefing up their arsenals. In its most recent report, anti-nuke campaigner and Nobel prize winner ICAN sheds light on the companies and entities benefitting from this trend.

The UN has taken a crucial step in preventing a catastrophic oil spill off the coast of war-torn Yemen and the UN’s envoy in Myanmar is raising the alarm as the authorities raise hurdles for aid workers to travel to Rakhine state following a disastrous cyclone which has gravely impacted the Rohingya minority.

Gabriela Galindo

14.06.2023

On our radar

Photo article

An unarmed Trident II D5 missile launching from the Ohio-class fleet ballistic-missile submarine USS Maryland (SSBN 738) off the coast of Florida, USA. Trident missiles are submarine-launched ballistic missiles that are armed with nuclear warheads, 31 August 2016. (Keystone/SciencePhoto LibraryiJohn Kowalski/US Department of Defence)

Defence, airplane companies and think tanks cash in amid nuclear weapons splurge, watchdog warns. The world’s nine nuclear-armed countries continued to spend massively on weapons of mass destruction last year, as they pursued plans to modernise and beef up their existing nuclear arsenals even throughout the Covid and climate crises.

As spending on nukes rose for the third time last year, a new report by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) zeroes-in on the role played by the world’s leading aerospace businesses, as well as that of prestigious think tanks, in maintaining the nuclear status quo.

Geneva Solutions (EN)

Here’s what else is happening

🛢️UN says insurance coverage secured to salvage rusting oil tanker off Yemen. The insurance was crucial to transfer 1.1 million barrels of crude out of the abandoned ship, in order to avert a catastrophic spill.
Associated Press (EN)
🇲🇲Myanmar’s blocking of aid access ‘unfathomable’: UN. The ruling junta’s decision to suspend travel authorisations to aid groups is hindering humanitarian response to people in Rakhine state.
AFP via Barrons (EN)
🚸Child labor on the rise, ILO says. The International Labour Organization reports conflicts, crises and Covid-19 have pushed up child labour, for the first time in over 20 years.
Deutsche Welle (EN)
🌾UN chief concerned Russia will quit Black Sea grain deal in July. Russia insists sanctions are affecting the export of food and fertilisers, while the United Nations maintains it has helped Russia facilitate the flow of ships to its ports
Reuters (EN)
🇺🇳Inside Geneva: universal rights at 75. Who defends them? José Ayala Lasso, the UN’s first human rights commissioner, who assumed office in 1994, discusses the different interpretations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in its early years.
Swissinfo (EN)

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