Reaching for a Critical Mass of Political Will for Nuclear Disarmament
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Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) General
Assembly
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Taking the Bull by the Horns why the people of the world want nuclear disarmament- and what they are doing about it •Calendar of Disarmament Events •Disarmament Blogs
•Abolition 2000's new campaign:
Abolition Now! •Gender and Disarmament: Disarmament and gender equality "are global public goods whose benefits are shared by all and monopolized by no one. In the UN system, both are cross-cutting issues, for what office or department of the United Nations does not stand to gain by progress in gender equality or disarmament? When women move forward, and when disarmament moves forward, the world moves forward. Unfortunately, the same applies in reverse: setbacks in these areas impose costs for all." -Jayantha Dhanapala, Under Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs, November 8, 2002. "A New Security: Using gender to enable a human security framework in issues of disarmament," paper presented at the United Nations Department for Disarmament Affairs conference, "Mounting Challenges to Peace and Security and Disarmament Today," Sapporo, Japan: 29 July, 2004. •Disarmament Education: Tools for activists, students and diplomats to educate ourselves on disarmament issues. •Citizens
Weapons Inspections: While the US and UK are having a
hard time finding weapons of mass destruction, citizens all
over the world are finding vast stockpiles- right in their own
backyard! •Nuclear Truth Commission: On May 1st 2000, during the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty Review Conference, Reaching Critical Will staged a Nuclear Truth Commission to further disclose knowledge and personal experience of our collective nuclear legacy. We accomplished this by creating a public forum for former military personnel, nuclear scientists and workers, and representatives from downwind and indigenous communities — to tell their nuclear stories. (from the Introduction by Dr. Kathleen Sullivan) •NGO
Strategy Summit: In October, 2002, WILPF hosted a
Strategy Summit for NGOs and UN staffers to discuss the current
political climate for disarmament, to reassess the obstacles,
the the challenges, and to identify political openings. •What is Disarmament? A basic overview of the disarmament cause. What do we want? Why do we want it? How are we going to get it? Written by Felicity Hill, former Director of WILPF UN office and Oliver Meier, formerly of VERTIC. •Environmental
Facts on the Nuclear Industry: The environmental
damage resulting from nuclear technology is not limited to the
two largest nuclear weapons states. All nuclear weapons and
nuclear energy producing nations have caused some level of environmental
contamination, both in their own countries and abroad - such
as, nuclear testing in the South Pacific, Nevada, Kazakhstan,
China, India and Pakistan; water and airborne discharges from
reprocessing plants in the UK and France; and uranium mining
in Namibia, Canada, former East Germany and Australia. Moreover,
the ongoing production of both nuclear weapons and nuclear power
continues to create nuclear waste. Any long-term approach to
‘clean-up’ must be tied to a halt in the production
of nuclear weapons, weapons usable materials and nuclear power. •Health
Consequences of the Nuclear Age:
Populations and individuals around the world have been affected
by the increase of radioactive materials in the global ecosystem.
Cancers, birth defects, genetic damage, lowered immunity to
diseases: these are only some of the potential effects of nuclear
testing, uranium mining, radioactive waste burial and all the
phases of nuclear weapons and nuclear energy production. •Indigenous
Perspectives on the Nuclear Industry:
Of the eight nations in the world that have detonated nuclear
weapons during the last 55 years, five have used the sacred
land of indigenous peoples. The United States, Russia, Britain,
France and China have ‘tested’ their nuclear might
on lands held sacred by the people of First Nations. The Western
Shoshone nation of North America, the Marshall and other South
Pacific Islanders, Australian Aboriginals, the Kazakhs, and
Tibetans are but a few of those whose land has been consistently
contaminated with nuclear poison. •Religious Perspectives:There are many spiritual perspectives that challenge or help people to cope with living in a world where nuclear weapons threaten all life on the planet. The following draws on Christian and Buddhist attempts to grapple with the 21st century conundrum of how to remain engaged against the impossible odds of the nuclear age. As General Omar Bradley stated, "We live in an age of nuclear giants and ethical infants, in a world that has achieved brilliance without wisdom, power without conscience. We have solved the mystery of the atom and forgotten the lessons of the Sermon on the Mount. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about dying than we know about living". •Secrecy Throughout the Atomic Age: The nuclear age began in a shroud of secrecy that was the Manhattan Project. It comprised three facilities in three different states. The primary site, Los Alamos in New Mexico, was established in 1942 with no reference on a map, no post office, no publicity. Although its physical presence was unknown, it was here that a team of international scientists, supervised by General Leslie Groves of the Army Corps of Engineers, worked to develop the bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. •Nuclear Resisters: Honoring and remembering the women and men who are imprisoned for acts of resistance to nuclear weapons and war. |
