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Arms Control Association
1313 L Street NW, Suite 130
Washington, DC 20005

January 9, 2017

The Republic of the Marshall Islands and its former Foreign Minister Tony de Brum, garnered the highest number of votes in an online poll to determine the "2016 Arms Control Person of the Year." Over 1,850 individuals from 63 countries participated in the selection.
 
Ten individuals and groups were nominated by the staff of the Arms Control Association for their leadership in advancing effective arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament solutions or for raising awareness of the threats posed by mass casualty weapons during the past year.
 
The government of the Marshall Islands and Ambassador de Brum were nominated for pursuing a formal legal case in the International Court of Justice in The Hague against the world's nuclear-armed states for their failure to initiate nuclear disarmament negotiations in violation of Article VI of the 1968...

Indonesia's foreign minister has urged Australian authorities to act against a protestor who scaled the roof of the country's consulate in Melbourne and displayed a West Papua flag. On Friday, a man scaled a wall to enter the consulate and climbed on to the roof to display the flag. Raising the West Papuan Morning Star flag is a crime in Indonesia punishable with years in prison.

The Parliamentary opposition supports the government’s proposed tax amnesty, saying that while the opposition’s role is to hold government accountable, there are occasions when it agrees with the government. Opposition Finance spokesman James Beer says this usually occurs when a solution proposed by government has wide support and has been coherently put together, or mirrors an opposition policy. And that’s the case with the amnesty, which prime minister Henry Puna announced just before Christmas.

The U.S. Coast Guard has started tapping experts to further investigate polychlorinated biphenyl and other chemical contamination in and around Cocos Island, which the Calvo administration hopes will lead to a complete cleanup. It’s been 10 years since the removal of source contamination from the Cocos Island beach and shallow water immediately offshore. Subsequent follow-on site investigations, however, showed small spikes in the level of PCB contamination, which drastically increases the risk of cancer. A contaminant not previously detected in the area was also found. This prompted new rounds of concerns from both federal and local entities in recent years.