Reaching Critical Will strives for the abolition of nuclear
weapons. As a project of the oldest women’s peace
organisation in the world, RCW recognises that nuclear weapons
play an integral role in the militarism, ecological destruction,
and social injustice plauging our world today. Therefore,
RCW works not just for nuclear abolition but also for total
and universal disarmament, the reduction of global
military spending, and demilitarisation of politics
and society.
Disarmament cannot be for the sake of disarmament itself.
It must be for the promotion of true human security and all
life on the planet. To advocate successfully for nuclear disarmament
and human security, civil society needs to establish a
discourse that helps us to understand the relationship between
nuclear weapons and the structures that maintain them and
to identify those who benefit from the maintenance of nuclear
weapons. Reaching Critical Will seeks to help this discourse.
Philosophy
WILPF created Reaching Critical Will because it believes:
Nuclear disarmament is inevitable. The majority of
governments and people want disarmament and will eventually
succeed in eliminating these suicidal, genocidal and ecocidal
weapons. The movement for a world free of nuclear weapons
has been expressed from the moment the government of the United
States of America invented the atomic bomb, and it will continue
until it succeeds in ending the nuclear age. This brutal era
of belief in war and violence will be remembered by future
generations as an embarrassing lapse in human evolution.
Nuclear disarmament is democracy. The peoples of the world
have shown through polls and various demonstrations of the
public conscience, that they oppose nuclear weapons and support
their quick abolition. The vast majority of governments also
express support for nuclear abolition, but those expressions
have not been strong, loud, or coordinated enough to force
those governments with nuclear weapons to get rid of them.
Nuclear disarmament will require coordinated and sustained
effort on the part of governments, non-governmental organizations
and the United Nations. For non-governmental organizations,
and concerned individual to act, they need information, primary
documents and analysis. Reaching Critical Will collects, packages
and often translates disarmament related information into
terms ordinary people can understand.
Methods
Reaching Critical Will advocates—at the United Nations
and through WILPF members and others at the grassroots level—to
affect perceptions and policies on issues related to nuclear
weapons. It engages with governments at the UN, promoting
transparency, accountability, and debate, and with the general
public, helping people understand how nuclear weapons
are discussed by governments at the UN. Reaching Critical
Will works to foster greater understanding of the issues through
critical analysis and by engaging citizens in strategic
organising and advocacy that builds momentum in movements
working to abolish nuclear weapons.
Reaching Critical Will was designed to increase the quality
and quantity of NGO preparation and participation in UN
disarmament processes and of NGO interaction with governments
and the United Nations; to provide logistical support in
facilitating activities during relevant conferences tailored
for policy-makers and the public; and to provide accurate
and timely reporting on all relevant conferences and initiatives
so that those unable to attend can stay informed.
By both inspiring and informing, Reaching Critical Will’s
tools encourage individuals to get involved. Those who use
Reaching Critical Will’s resources contribute actively
to the goal of disarmament by engaging with their local grassroots
organizations, working at the level of their national governments,
and collaborating with one another through a variety of international
channels.
History
The created
the Reaching Critical Will project in 1999 in order to promote
and facilitate engagement of non-governmental actors in UN
processes related to disarmament. Its first project was the
nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference in 2000.
This four week meeting is one of the most important multinational
fora on nuclear disarmament. If real steps forward are to
take place toward nuclear abolition, the NPT Review Conference
is a crucial crossroads. WILPF believes that with proper,
firm, and educated pressure placed on the world's governments
by civil society and non-governmental organizations around
the world leading up to this extended meeting of the world's
governments, nuclear weapons can be abolished.
and other events and meetings that take place on nuclear
disarmament at the United Nations throughout the year.
Staff
Ray Acheson
is the project director of Reaching Critical Will and is based
in New York City. Prior to this position, she was an intern
and research assistant for the project. Ray previously worked
with the Institute for Defense and Disarmament Studies, an
organization founded during the Nuclear Freeze movement of
the 1980s. She tracked the manufacture and trade of conventional
weapons systems and was also the associate editor of the 2006
and 2007 editions of the Arms Control Reporter, a reference
journal that provides information and analysis on international
arms control and disarmament issues. Ray graduated from the
University of Toronto with an Honours BA in Peace and Conflict
Studies in 2005. She has been a social justice activist for
many years and has contributed with writing, research, and
editing to several organizations, including Native Planet
and RESPECT International.
Beatrice
Fihn is the project associate of Reaching Critical
Will and is based in Geneva, Switzerland. Prior to this position,
she was a research officer at the Geneva Centre for Security
Policy, where she carried out research on geopolitics and
global security in areas such as outer space and emerging
strategic technologies. Beatrice has a BA in International
Relations from Stockholm University and is currently finishing
a Masters of Law at University of London with a specialization
in public international law.
Gabriella Irsten is a project associate for Reaching Critical Will in the Geneva office. Prior to this position Gabriella completed a 5-months internship at Reaching Critical Will. During this time, she was introduced into the organisation's work and acquired as well as improved key competences necessary for her work at Reaching Critical Will. She has a joint master's degree in Humanitarian Action & Peace Building and Conflict Resolution (NOHA) from the Ruhr Universität Bochum in Germany and Uppsala University in Sweden. During her studies she has been actively involved in various women's groups in Stockholm, such as Amnesty Sweden's women activist group and Stockholm tjej-jouren.
Women's International
League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF)
WILPF is the oldest women's peace organisation in the world.
It was founded in April 1915, in the Hague, the Netherlands,
by some 1300 women from Europe and North America, from countries
at war against each other and neutral ones, who came together
in a Congress of Women to protest the killing and destruction
of the war then raging in Europe.
Its aims and principles are:
to bring together women of different political beliefs
and philosophies who are united in their determination to
study, make known and help abolish the causes and the legitimization
of war;
to work toward world peace; total and universal disarmament;
the abolition of violence and coercion in the settlement
of conflict and its replacement in every case by negotiation
and conciliation;
to support the civil society to democratise the United
Nations system;
to support the continuous development and implementation
of international and humanitarian law;
to promote political and social equality and economic
equity;
to contribute towards co-operation among all people;
to enhance environmentally sustainable development.
Believing that under systems of exploitation these aims cannot
be attained and a real and lasting peace and true freedom cannot
exist, WILPF makes it one of its missions to further by non-
violent means the social and economic transformation of the
international community. This would enable the establishment
of economic and social systems in which political equality and
social justice for all can be attained, without discrimination
on the basis of sex, race, religion, or any other grounds whatsoever.
