Category Archives: DISARMAMENT & SECURITY

Building on gender promise, Guterres names three women to top UN posts

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article from the UN News Centre

The United Nations Secretary-General-designate, António Guterres today [December 15] announced that he will be appointing Amina J. Mohammed of Nigeria as the UN deputy chief, on his assumption of office as the ninth chief of the global Organization in January 2017.


Amina J. Mohammed of Nigeria. UN Photo/Mark Garten

Ms. Amina J. Mohammed is currently the Minister of Environment of Nigeria, where she steers the country’s efforts to protect the natural environment and conserve resources for sustainable development, read a statement issued by Mr. Guterres’s office.

She also served as Special Advisor to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Post-2015 Development Planning, where she was instrumental in bringing about the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Before joining the UN, Ms. Mohammed worked for three successive administrations in Nigeria, serving as Special Advisor on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). She is also an Adjunct Professor in Development Practice at New York’s Columbia University, and serves on numerous international advisory boards and panels.

Born in 1961, and educated in Nigeria and the UK, Ms. Mohammed is married with six children.

The Secretary-General-designate also announced the appointment of Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti of Brazil as his Chef de Cabinet and that he will create the position of Special Advisor on Policy, and appointed Ms. Kyung-wha Kang of the Republic of Korea to this new role.

“I am happy to count on the efforts of these three highly competent women, whom I have chosen for their strong backgrounds in global affairs, development, diplomacy, human rights and humanitarian action,” said Secretary-General-designate Guterres, in the statement adding:

“These appointments are the foundations of my team, which I will continue to build, respecting my pledges on gender parity and geographical diversity.”

Ms. Ribeiro Viotti is presently the Under-Secretary for Asia and the Pacific at the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A career diplomat since 1976, she served most recently as Brazil’s Ambassador of to Germany (from 2013 to 2016) and as Brazil’s Permanent Representative to the UN (from 2007 to 2011).

Ms. Kang is currently the Chief of the Secretary-General-designate’s Transition Team. She has served as Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator since April 2013, and was Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights from January 2007 to March 2013.

Question for this article:

Proposals for Reform of the United Nations: Are they sufficiently radical?

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, global, United Nations,

Celebrating our success in 2016; Supporting ICBL-CMC Efforts in 2017

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

Excerpt from the December 2016 edition of Newsletter of the Campaign to Ban Landmines and the Cluster Munition Coalition

2016 was an important year for advancing bans on both landmines and cluster munitions, requiring swift responses to ongoing conflicts that threatened gains made in previous years. Thanks to everyone who supported the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and the Cluster Munition Coalition (ICBL-CMC) for contributing to this success. Here are just a few highlights from what we achieved together this year:


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Cuba and Palau joined the Convention on Cluster Munitions, bringing the total number of States Parties to 100, with progress towards ratification advanced in dozens of other countries

The US government halted the transfer of cluster munitions to Saudi Arabia while Textron, the last US-producer of cluster munitions, announced a halt to this production

A peace agreement in Colombia made possible important advancements in mine clearance, supported by significant new commitments of international support, and contributed to a decline in new mine victims

Sri Lanka announced plans to accede to the Mine Ban Treaty while government representatives from Myanmar engaged in discussions in Geneva for the first time, around joining the Treaty

Poland completed destruction of over one million stockpiled landmines a year before treaty deadline, bringing the total number of destroyed stockpiled landmines to more than 51 million

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Questions for this article:

Can cluster bombs be abolished?

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Some 60 countries made progress in clearing minefields and cluster munition remnants from past and ongoing conflicts

In 26 countries, national campaigns, including mine/cluster munition survivors, actively campaigned for improved recognition of their rights and access to necessary services

Unfortunately, our work is not done. In 2017, when we will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the campaign, these are some of the biggest challenges that we will face:

There was a sharp rise in people killed or injured by mines and ERW, mainly due to acute conflict in Libya, Syria, Yemen and Ukraine.

Use of improvised landmines by non-state armed groups increased, even while use by States continued to be extremely limited; significant and ongoing use of cluster munitions was recorded in Syria and Yemen.

While there were several extraordinary pledges to support mine action in Colombia, Iraq and Laos, overall financial contributions to mine action were down, challenging efforts to achieve a mine-free world in 2025.

79 states have still not joined the Convention on Cluster Munitions and 35 have not joined the Mine Ban Treaty.

Improvements have been made in services and programs available to landmine and cluster munition victims but more must be done to ensure that victims are reaching these services and that their rights are upheld.

The ICBL-CMC is committed to continue working for a world that is free of both landmines and cluster munitions. We hope you will continue to support us through all of your efforts. We also ask that you consider making a donation of whatever you can to support the ICBL-CMC and its members from around the world in 2017 and beyond.

Thank you and all the best for 2017!

(Thank you to Janet Hudgins, the CPNN reporter for this article)

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, global

200 legal scholars back right to boycott Israel

.DISARMAMENT & SECURITY. .

An article by Ali Abunimah from the Electronic Intifada

More than 200 European legal scholars have signed a statement affirming that the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement for Palestinian freedom, justice and equality represents “a lawful exercise of freedom of expression.”

The Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) is welcoming the statement as “a major blow to Israel’s repressive legal war” against the movement.

“This momentous statement by European jurists not only vindicates BDS human rights defenders who have insisted that BDS is protected free speech,” said the BNC’s Europe campaigns coordinator Riya Hassan. “It will undoubtedly add a crucial layer of legal protection for European BDS networks and citizens in their efforts to end European complicity in Israel’s regime of oppression, especially in military trade and research, banking and corporate involvement in Israel’s violations of international law.”

The BNC notes that the signatories include world-renowned legal figures, including South African jurist John Dugard, who serves as a judge at the International Court of Justice in The Hague; José Antonio Martín Pallín, an emeritus justice of Spain’s supreme court; British human rights lawyer Michael Mansfield; Lauri Hannikainen, member of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance and Géraud de la Pradelle, who led the civic inquiry into the involvement of France in the 1994 Rwanda genocide.

While the jurists do not take a position for or against BDS, they say that “states that outlaw BDS are undermining this basic human right and threatening the credibility of human rights by exempting a particular state from the advocacy of peaceful measures designed to achieve its compliance with international law.”

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Question related to this article:

Presenting the Palestinian side of the Middle East, Is it important for a culture of peace?

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They point to France, the United Kingdom, Canada and various US states, where legislatures and executives “have adopted laws and taken executive action to suppress, outlaw and in some instances, criminalize the advocacy of BDS.”

By contrast, Sweden, Ireland, the Netherlands, the European Union and even the US State Department have all recently affirmed that advocating for BDS is a protected right.

“States and organizations that view BDS as a lawful exercise of freedom of expression are correct,” the legal scholars say. “Whether one approves of the aims or methods of BDS is not the issue. The issue is whether in order to protect Israel an exception is to be made to the freedom of expression that occupies a central and pivotal place among fundamental human rights.”

“The right of citizens to advocate for BDS is part and parcel of the fundamental freedoms protected by the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights,” signatory Robert Kolb, a professor of international law at the University of Geneva and a former legal adviser to the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Swiss foreign ministry, said in a statement from the BNC.

“No government ever attempted to outlaw or criminalize the anti-apartheid movement for advocating boycott, disinvestment or sanctions to compel South Africa to abandon its racist policies,” Dugard said. “BDS should be seen as a similar movement and treated accordingly.”

The legal scholars join hundreds of European human rights organizations and civil society groups that have called on governments to end repression of Palestine solidarity activism.

Speaking on behalf of the BNC, Ingrid Jaradat welcomed the statement as “a defining moment in the struggle against Israel’s patently repressive legal war on the BDS movement for Palestinian rights.”

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, Europe

The defeat of Hillary Clinton: did it enable us to avoid a Third World War?

.DISARMAMENT & SECURITY. .

A CPNN review

The election of Trump in the United States is considered as a disaster by those concerned with human rights, and those concerned about the rise of fascism throughout the world, as detailed in other articles. However, for some observers, normally respected for their historical wisdom, it could have been even worse for the world if Clinton had been elected. Had she been elected we risked further confrontation with Russia and perhaps a nuclear war that would destroy the earth.

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For example, this is the perspective of Johan Galtung, the peace researcher who, among other things, predicted the crash of the Soviet empire, and the impending crash of the American empire: “Moreover, any demonstrator who voted for Clinton voted for war; preferring a possible nuclear war with Russia to controversial Trump. Do people with that political profile merit being taken seriously?”

In the United States, the concerns were clearly expressed by the Green Party presidentail candidate Jill Stein, but she was frozen out of the media coverage of the elections:

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Question for this article:

How close have we come to destroying the planet in a nuclear war?

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“It is now Hillary Clinton that wants to start an air war with Russia over Syria by calling for a no fly zone. We have 2000 nuclear missiles on hairtrigger alert. They are saying we are closer to a nuclear war than we have ever been. Under Hillary Clinton, we could slide into nuclear war very quickly from her declared policy in Syria. I sure won’t sleep well at night if Donald Trump is elected, but I sure won’t sleep well at night if Hillary Clinton elected. We have another choice other than these two candidates who are both promoting lethal policies. On the issue of war and nuclear weapons, it is actually Hillary’s policies which are much scarier than Donald Trump who does not want to go to war with Russia.”

As Secretary of State in the first term of Obama, Hillary Clinton was personally responsible for the unprovoked attack and overthrow of the legitimate government of Libya in 2011, and the covert support for forces to overthrow the legitimate government of Syria. And perhaps most dangerous of all, it was the team that she left at the Department of State and the CIA that was ultimately responsible in 2014 for the support for a right-wing regime change in the Ukraine and the subsequent civil war with the pro-Russian region in eastern Ukraine, a direct provocation of Russia.

As described in a pre-election opinion piece in Truth Out: “During Clinton’s service as secretary of state, she promoted regime change in Syria, Libya and Honduras with disastrous results, and presided over the resurgence of the Cold War with Russia. A return to Bill Clinton’s warmongering foreign policies through a Hillary Clinton presidency will likely result in at the very least, increased tensions with Russia, and at the worst, the next World War.”

A long and detailed history of Hillary Clinton’s militaristic approach has been compiled by Stephen Zunes in The Cairo Review of Global Affairs.

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, North America

The International Society Culture of Peace: Solidarity concerts in Athens and Mytilini / Lesbos

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

Information taken from the website of The international Society Culture of Peace

Together with Greek refugee initiatives, trade unions and peace groups, the international Society Culture of Peace, based in Germany, is organizing solidarity concerts in Athens and Lesbos to support refugee relief efforts and peace initiatives.

zierock

Here are the programmes in Athens and Lesbos.



Programme Athens



Tuesday, 1st November 2016, 21.00h, City Plaza Hotel,
St. Acharnon 78 and Katrivanou, Athens, 104 34
Solidarity and Peace-Concert with the Afghan singers Shekib Mosadeq and
Masoud Hasanzada from Kabul/Germany. Greek music from MikisTheodorakis-Ensemble
with participation of the Peace delegation from Syria.



Wednesday, 2nd November 2016, Visits and concerts in other refugee camps in Athens
3nd November, Departure to Lesbos



Programme in Mytilene/Lesbos:



Friday, 4th November 2016, Visit of the refugee camps around Mytilene.
19.30h, Hotel Lesvion, Mytilene, “Refugee crisis or Political Crisis ?”,
Public discussion about causes of flight. With the peace delegation from
Syria, Heike Hänsel, (Member of German Parliament), Leo Gabriel
(Journalist, Austria), Members of the local community and Siniparxi in Mytilene.
Moderation by Henning Zierock (Society Culture of Peace),
Music by the Afghan singers Shekib Mosadeq, Masoud Hasanzada.
Songs from Mikis Theodorakis



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Question for this article:

The refugee crisis, Who is responsible?

How can there be a political solution to the war in Syria?

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Press meeting:
Saturday, 5th November 2016, 11.00h in the Hotel Lesvion, Mytilene
14.00h Manifestation, Sappho Square, “Overcoming the causes of flight –
We must win peace not war!” with international speakers and music.
Center of Mytilene, “Message from the Sea” , by boat.



Sunday 6th November 2016 visit of historical places around Mytilene
12.00h, Monument of Liberty. March to the Port of Mytilene in
commemoration of the dead refugees in the Aegean Sea. Appeal from Lesbos
for a “Culture of Peace and new relation-ship between the peoples”



Contact: Henning Zierock, Gesellschaft Kultur des Friedens, Tel. 0049 172 7406310
email: info@kulturdesfriedens.de, www.kulturdesfriedens.de



Monday, 7th November, 18.00h at the Press Center ESIEA (organized by
www.peaceinsyria.org ) with participation of leading members of the
 Syrian Civil Society,Contakt: Leo Gabriel, email:lgabriel@gmx.net



Panel discussion
”TOWARDS PEACE THROUGH A NEW CONSTITUTION IN SYRIA ?”
Given the humanitarian disaster in and around Syria and the failure of
the international community of States to produce a sustainable peace
some prominent members of the Syrian civil society got together in
Austria and elaborated the ground for a future constitutional process in
Syria.


In the context of a tour of concerts for the refugees in Greece
organized by the German based NGO Cultures of Peace the international
initiative www.peaceinsyria.org will present the results of this
conference in order to promote in Greece a Constitutional Assembly for
Syria in the upcoming months.


Speakers: Mouna Ghanem from Damascus, Madjoleen Hassan from Latakia,
Sheruan Hassan from Rojava, Evangelis Pissias from Greece and Leo
Gabriel from Austria.



Music by the Afghan singers Shekib Mosadeq, Masoud Hasanzada.
Songs from Mikis Theodorakis
Date and time: Monday, 7th November 2016 at 18.00h
Place: ESIEA (Trade Union of Journalists); Akadimias Str. No 20 (Metro
Syntagma) Athens

(Thank you to Henning Zierock for sending this to CPNN)

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, Europe

International Women’s Boat to Gaza

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article by Mairead Maguire for Transcend

I was a participant onboard the Zaytouna-Oliva boat | 29 Sep-5 Oct 2016.

26 Oct 2016 – A few weeks ago, the US government agreed to give Israel $38 billion dollars, the largest military funding package the U.S. has given any nation.  This $38 billion in military and other type of Aid will be used to imprison the Palestinians of Gaza, and continue Israel’s military occupation, and imposition of an apartheid state, upon the Palestinian people.

mairead
Click on photo to enlarge

This money will be used in the training fields of Israeli military, which are in Gaza, where military experiments are done, using US military weaponry, by the Israeli Occupation Forces.  The U.S. military and government is complicit in the crimes against the people of Gaza and the Palestinian occupied territory by the use of military hardware given by USA and by the training that Israelis give to Americans and USA gives to Israel.  It is also estimated that some 70% of European humanitarian aid to Palestine ends up in Israeli pockets.

Gaza continues to suffer from the continuing Israeli blockade, naval and land, and this 25-mile-long tiny strip, 5 miles wide, with l.9 million people, living in it, is a brutal blockade and Israel controls everything including electricity, food, etc.

Indeed, everything that comes into Gaza comes through Israeli hands.  Gaza’s only airport was completely destroyed in 2002 by Israeli jets and ground forces.  Egypt continues to be a part of this blockade as they have blocked Gaza’s southern border; and Egypt continues to receive USA military funding.  Medical authorities have reported that the time for operations in Gaza now goes up to 2025 as so many are awaiting health care, and the increasing issues around food, water, sewage, electricity, all of these mounting problems have led the U.N. to declare in their latest Report, that by the year 2020 Gaza will be uninhabitable.  What hope is there for the Palestinians of Gaza, the vast majority of whom are young people?

In order to give hope to the people of Gaza by showing solidarity and support the Women’s Boat to Gaza sailed in September 2016. Also we sailed in order to challenge this illegal and immoral blockade and occupation of Palestine by Israel, and draw international attention to the fact that under Geneva Conventions it is illegal to punish civilians, which is what Israeli government policies continues to do.

The Women’s Boat to Gaza set sail from the Spanish Port city of Barcelona (Barcelona is twinned with Gaza) in mid- September 2016.  The three legs of the trip were 1715 miles from Barcelona to Ajaccio, Corsica, France and then down to Messina in Sicily, Italy. 

It was hoped to have two boats but when one developed engine trouble in Barcelona, the other 50’ sailing boat, Zaytouna-Oliva, continued alone.  At all Ports the women were greeted and hosted by mayors, officials, and supporters of the Free Palestine Movement.   Over 40 women from around the world flew to Messina in hopes of being able to sail to Gaza.

I joined the boat in Messina, and was grateful to be chosen as one of the 13 women from thirteen countries, being finally chosen to sail to Gaza.   It was sad for those of us sailing to leave behind so many wonderful women due to not enough boats to sail, but it is hoped the Palestinian Coalition will be able to get more sailings to accommodate those wishing to go on a future occasion.   The 13 chosen participants included Ann Wright, (boat leader) the captain and two crew, two Al Jazeera journalists, and women from USA, Ireland, Russia, UK, Spain, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden/Chile, Malaysia, South Africa, Australia, and Algeria.

The third leg of the journey from Messina to Gaza was almost 1000 miles and a nine-day journey.  On 29th September 2016, we set sail from Messina, Sicily, after a wonderful reception from the mayor, the Muslim community, and many Palestinian friends in Messina.

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Question related to this article:

Presenting the Palestinian side of the Middle East, Is it important for a culture of peace?

(Article continued from left column)

The first few days sailing the weather was rough and many of us were seasick, but several days into the journey we had got our sea-legs and busied ourselves helping with the tasks to be done such as cooking, reporting, night watches with the crew, etc.  We shared our stories and held nonviolence training.   It was a wonderful experience getting to know the women whose courage was inspiring. Their love for the Palestinian people and their freedom was very deep.  Unfortunately, some 400 miles from Messina, with some 600 miles to go, we had problems with the boats rigging.  An appeal to friends in Crete resulted in a boatful of people coming out to meet us, bringing many gifts of food, and four men to fix the rigging!  This was for me one of the most moving experiences of the journey, and it proved yet again, the magnificence of the human spirit. Around 20 men and women answered our call for help and came to our aid, and all for the people of Gaza.  After the men fixed our boat rigging, we passed greetings to our rescuers from Crete and sailed in a happy and hope filled mood towards Gaza.

On Wednesday 5th October, we were contacted by the Israeli navy by phone.  A few hours earlier all communications via our own phones were cut off.  The Israeli navy communicator told Captain Madeleine that we were nearing the 20-mile military Israeli security zone and were breaking Israeli law.  They said if we did not turn back or agree to be escorted to Ashdod, they would confiscate our boat and take us to Israel.

However, we kept sailing towards Gaza.   We saw several Navy military ships on the horizon.  At 6 p.m., a Zodiac boat came alongside our boat.  There were 30 Israeli sailors including Israeli women sailors who were the first to come on board our boat. 

They were not in combat gear.  They wore baseball caps, and long sleeved jerseys.  In 2010,   I had been on the Rachel Corrie Irish/Malaysian boat, which was part of the Freedom Flotilla and when we were boarded by Israeli sailors, they were in combat gear, with rifles, and sniffer dogs, and we were handcuffed and forcibly taken to Israel.  I was surprised when this different approach was used to confiscate our boat, the Zaytouna.  In 2010, on the Mavi Marmara, the Israelis murdered nine people, and subsequently a 10th person died as 50 people were wounded.  Therefore, the treatment of our women’s boat to Gaza participants was very different from what happened on previous ones where I had travelled.

On the Zaytouna, when the Israeli navy sailors confiscated our boat, took us under protest against our will to Israel, arrested, held us for several days without contact with our families, and deported us for ten years, it was all completely illegal under international law. However, it is sad to report that no governments or international bodies have taken up our case for being hijacked, and again the Israeli government has been allowed to break international laws.

All the women were deeply saddened as we knew many people in Gaza were preparing for our visit, and yet again Israel was denying our entry into Gaza. So as we watched the coastline of Gaza in complete darkness and then the coastline of Israel fully lit up against the night sky, we were again witnessing the injustice and unfairness of the Israeli policies against the Palestinians. 

With this experience, many of us committed in our hearts to continue our support for the Palestinian people’s ongoing work to break the blockade and end the occupation. We also saw just off the coast of Gaza two huge gas rigs fully lit up and whose gas is piped to Israel. Yet Gaza has only a few hours of light, as Israeli bombings have destroyed most of its electricity and sewage infrastructures.

When we reached Ashdod, Israel, after six hours sailing, we were processed by Israeli security and searched, taken to Prison and released two days later.   All the women on board the Zaytouna, now have a ten-year deportation order. As this is my 4th time being given a 10-year deportation order, it will be 40 years before I can return to Israel or get into Palestine.  This thought reminds me that there are over 7 million Palestinian people who cannot return to their country, and this is why it is so important to campaign for the right to return for the Palestinian people.

I would like to thank the Freedom Flotilla Coalition who gave us the opportunity to participate on the journey to Gaza.  Their work of joining in solidarity with the people of Gaza is so important and I thank them for all they do.

To the Palestinian people of Gaza, please keep your hopes high and believe that freedom and peace will come. Thank you for your perseverance and ongoing inspiration to us all.

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, Mideast

UN votes to outlaw nuclear weapons in 2017

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons

The United Nations today [October 14] adopted a landmark resolution to launch negotiations in 2017 on a treaty outlawing nuclear weapons. This historic decision heralds an end to two decades of paralysis in multilateral nuclear disarmament efforts.

icanw

At a meeting of the First Committee of the UN General Assembly, which deals with disarmament and international security matters, 123 nations voted in favour of the resolution, with 38 against and 16 abstaining.

The resolution will set up a UN conference beginning in March next year, open to all member states, to negotiate a “legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination”. The negotiations will continue in June and July.

The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), a civil society coalition active in 100 countries, hailed the adoption of the resolution as a major step forward, marking a fundamental shift in the way that the world tackles this paramount threat.

“For seven decades, the UN has warned of the dangers of nuclear weapons, and people globally have campaigned for their abolition. Today the majority of states finally resolved to outlaw these weapons,” said Beatrice Fihn, executive director of ICAN.

Despite arm-twisting by a number of nuclear-armed states, the resolution was adopted in a landslide. A total of 57 nations were co-sponsors, with Austria, Brazil, Ireland, Mexico, Nigeria and South Africa taking the lead in drafting the resolution.

The UN vote came just hours after the European Parliament adopted its own resolution on this subject – 415 in favour and 124 against, with 74 abstentions – inviting European Union member states to “participate constructively” in next year’s negotiations.

Nuclear weapons remain the only weapons of mass destruction not yet outlawed in a comprehensive and universal manner, despite their well-documented catastrophic humanitarian and environmental impacts.

“A treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons would strengthen the global norm against the use and possession of these weapons, closing major loopholes in the existing international legal regime and spurring long-overdue action on disarmament,” said Fihn.

“Today’s vote demonstrates very clearly that a majority of the world’s nations consider the prohibition of nuclear weapons to be necessary, feasible and urgent. They view it as the most viable option for achieving real progress on disarmament,” she said.

Biological weapons, chemical weapons, anti-personnel landmines and cluster munitions are all explicitly prohibited under international law. But only partial prohibitions currently exist for nuclear weapons.

Nuclear disarmament has been high on the UN agenda since the organization’s formation in 1945. Efforts to advance this goal have stalled in recent years, with nuclear-armed nations investing heavily in the modernization of their nuclear forces.

Twenty years have passed since a multilateral nuclear disarmament instrument was last negotiated: the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, which has yet to enter into legal force due to the opposition of a handful of nations.

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Question related to this article:

Can we abolish all nuclear weapons?

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Today’s resolution, known as L.41, acts upon the key recommendation of a UN working group on nuclear disarmament that met in Geneva this year to assess the merits of various proposals for achieving a nuclear-weapon-free world.

It also follows three major intergovernmental conferences examining the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons, held in Norway, Mexico and Austria in 2013 and 2014. These gatherings helped reframe the nuclear weapons debate to focus on the harm that such weapons inflict on people.

The conferences also enabled non-nuclear-armed nations to play a more assertive role in the disarmament arena. By the third and final conference, which took place in Vienna in December 2014, most governments had signalled their desire to outlaw nuclear weapons.

Following the Vienna conference, ICAN was instrumental in garnering support for a 127-nation diplomatic pledge, known as the humanitarian pledge, committing governments to cooperate in efforts “to stigmatize, prohibit and eliminate nuclear weapons”.

Throughout this process, victims and survivors of nuclear weapon detonations, including nuclear testing, have contributed actively. Setsuko Thurlow, a survivor of the Hiroshima bombing and an ICAN supporter, has been a leading proponent of a ban.

“This is a truly historic moment for the entire world,” she said following today’s vote. “For those of us who survived the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it is a very joyous occasion. We have been waiting so long for this day to come.”

“Nuclear weapons are absolutely abhorrent. All nations should participate in the negotiations next year to outlaw them. I hope to be there myself to remind delegates of the unspeakable suffering that nuclear weapons cause. It is all of our responsibility to make sure that such suffering never happens again.”

There are still more than 15,000 nuclear weapons in the world today, mostly in the arsenals of just two nations: the United States and Russia. Seven other nations possess nuclear weapons: Britain, France, China, Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea.

Most of the nine nuclear-armed nations voted against the UN resolution. Many of their allies, including those in Europe that host nuclear weapons on their territory as part of a NATO arrangement, also failed to support the resolution.

But the nations of Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Southeast Asia and the Pacific voted overwhelmingly in favour of the resolution, and are likely to be key players at the negotiating conference in New York next year.

On Monday, 15 Nobel Peace Prize winners urged nations to support the negotiations and to bring them “to a timely and successful conclusion so that we can proceed rapidly toward the final elimination of this existential threat to humanity”.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has also appealed to governments to support this process, stating on 12 October that the international community has a “unique opportunity” to achieve a ban on the “most destructive weapon ever invented”.

“This treaty won’t eliminate nuclear weapons overnight,” concluded Fihn. “But it will establish a powerful new international legal standard, stigmatizing nuclear weapons and compelling nations to take urgent action on disarmament.”

In particular, the treaty will place great pressure on nations that claim protection from an ally’s nuclear weapons to end this practice, which in turn will create pressure for disarmament action by the nuclear-armed nations.

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, global, United Nations,

March of Hope gathers 20,000 in historic Jerusalem rally

DISARMAMENT AND SECURITY .

An article by Fatima for Alliance for Middle East Peace

An estimated 20,000 women and men marched in Jerusalem for the final rally of the Women Wage Peace March of Hope on October 19th. That morning, almost 4,000 Israeli and Palestinian women met near Jericho to begin the journey. Those who were able continued on to Jerusalem, where the March of Hope culminated in a historic rally outside the Prime Minister’s Residence, demanding a political solution to the conflict.

marchforhope
Thousands of women marching to Qasr al-Yahud on the border between Isral and Jordan (Photo: Women Wage Peace)
(click on photo to enlarge)

This is all thanks to the hard work of the amazing activists at our member organization Women Wage Peace, including ALLMEP’s regional director Huda Abuarquob. Huda played an integral role in organizing this march and ensuring its success on both sides.

At the final rally, Huda gave an electrifying speech which was reported in Ha’aretz:

“Huda Abu Arqoub, a political activist from Hebron, won rousing applause when she said, in English, that she was there as a free woman, and that the time had come for women to speak their piece and to work for peace, security for everyone and mutual recognition. She ended her speech by declaring that there is a partner for peace.”

[additional notes from other news sources]

Among the participants in the final rally were Hadassah Froman, the widow of Rabbi Menachem Froman, and her daughter-in-law Michal Froman, who was wounded in a stabbing attack in 2015, Leymah Gbowee, one of three Liberian women to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011, and Singer Yael Deckelbaum, who performed at the rally.

Ynet News quoted Hadassah Forman as saying: “There is a lot of energy which will lead us on a new path—maybe even to change. I hope that it will be possible to see the connections and to see what can be done to create a solution.” And they quoted Michal as saying: “I believe that the peace we want will happen, and that it will come after we see what is possible and what is definitely not possible. Even the right-wing will work with us towards peace,” she said.

According to Jews for Justice for Palestinians Leymah Gbowee said that the two days she spent marching with Israeli and Palestinian women were days of hope and of looking toward the future, and they had convinced her that peace was possible. And the singer Yael Deckelbaum spoke about the women’s prayer service she had attended Wednesday morning at Qasr al-Yahud, near Jericho. “We were 4,000 women, half of them Palestinians,” she said. “They told me there was nobody to make peace with. Today, we proved that wrong.”

Questions related to this article:

How can a culture of peace be established in the Middle East?

How effective are mass protest marches?

Readers’ comments are invited on this article and question. See comments box below.

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, Mideast

Film review: Disturbing the Peace

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

By David Swanson

A new film called Disturbing the Peace tells the story — unknown to most Americans but painfully familiar to others — of Israel and Palestine. Of the many films I’ve seen, this is one of the best. It presents both sides without equating them. It opens itself to a broad audience without boring anybody.

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Disturbing the Peace presents personal stories of soldiers and of suicide bombers. You should come away understanding while opposing all of these stories.

In a nod to the power of other films, this film recounts how Palestinians in an Israeli prison watched the film Schindler’s List and found themselves sympathizing with the grandparents of their jailers, and then thinking about what that could mean.

We also see, in Disturbing the Peace, an Israeli whose eyes are opened, who gains the ability to see children, to recognize children, to appreciate the suffering of some of Israel’s victims — and then to cease participating.

We see Israeli soldiers resist.

We see Palestinians learn nonviolence in prison.

We see an Israeli see courage, the courage of unarmed nonviolent Palestinians bringing blankets to those in need, at risk to their own lives.

Turn off your television. Avoid an election circus. Watch this film and see what you see.

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DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, Mideast

UK: Stop the War Conference

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

Excerpts from the website of the Stop the War Coalition

Last weekend’s Stop the War conference was a big success. It attracted around 700 people who came together to discuss the wars which have raged for 15 years across Asia and the Middle East. It contained people who were involved in Stop the War from the very beginning, as well as young people from very diverse backgrounds. Speakers included trade union representatives, international guests, campaigners over drones and nuclear weapons and of course the Leader of the Opposition, Jeremy Corbyn.

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Photo credit: Justin Tallis/reportdigital.co.uk
(Click on image to enlarge)

At the conference on 8 October, the following Anti-War Charter was adopted:

After fifteen years of catastrophe it is time to end Britain’s involvement in wars of aggression. While the electoral choices look bleak in the US, we have the opportunity to send an anti-war message around the world by committing to a sharp change in direction, including an end to new interventions and a withdrawal of troops from the Middle East, Central Asia and beyond.

1)  An end to foreign policy based on Washington’s global ambitions or on a junior imperial role for Britain.

2)  Recognition of the illegality of wars for regime change and the rights of peoples to self-determination and to oppose foreign occupations.

3)  No war by executive decision of the cabinet.

4)  Action to be taken against those found to have misled parliament and the people in the run up to the Iraq War by the Chilcot report, and a recognition that the series of foreign wars have made the world a more dangerous place.

5)  Withdrawal of all British troops, including special forces from Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries.

6)  Opposition to all military interventions and an effort to end the war in Syria rather than escalate.

7)  An independent investigation into Britain’s involvement in extraordinary rendition during the War on Terror.

8)  An end to military support and arms sales to countries involved in foreign military aggression or domestic repression, including Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

9)  An immediate initiative to de-escalate tension with Russia, including the withdrawal of all British troops from Eastern Europe and the Baltic, and opposition to the Eastward expansion of NATO.

10)  Freedom for Palestine and an end to illegal settlements and the siege of Gaza.

After fifteen years of catastrophe it is time to end Britain’s involvement in wars of aggression. While the electoral choices look bleak in the US, we have the opportunity to send an anti-war message around the world by committing to a sharp change in direction, including an end to new interventions and a withdrawal of troops from the Middle East, Central Asia and beyond.

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DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, Europe