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Nuclear Weapon Convention Advocacy Promotion
of the Nuclear Weapons Convention will take place throughout the 2010 NPT Review
cycle. At the recently concluded 2008 PrepCom in Geneva, IPPNW presented a paper
on the climate effects of regional nuclear war during a formal NGO session attended
by states parties. We also organized an ICAN seminar for NGOs and diplomats as
a means to inform and motivate new campaign partners and participated in public
education events in Geneva to coincide with the PrepCom, including a simulated
NWC negotiating session open to diplomats and to the public.
IPPNW will
prepare resolutions for adoption by national and international medical associations,
calling for negotiation and adoption of a Nuclear Weapons Convention.
We
are also collaborating with the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear
Arms (IALANA), the International Peace Bureau (IPB), the International Network
of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility (INESAP), and other NGOs
on a project to obtain a new advisory opinion on nuclear weapons from the International
Court of Justice, as a followup to the successful initiative organized by these
groups more than a decade ago. (The Court declared in 1995 that the use or threat
of use of nuclear weapons was a violation of international law, and that the nations
of the world had an obligation to complete the task of nuclear disarmament set
out for them in Article VI of the NPT.) A followup opinion by the Court spelling
out what would be required for the nuclear weapon states to act in good faith
to fulfill their disarmament obligations would provide invaluable legal and moral
support for Nuclear Weapons Convention advocacy.
Resources
For
more information about the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN),
contact John Loretz, Program Director,
IPPNW, 66-70 Union Square, #204, Somerville, MA 02143; 617-440-1733, ext. 280.
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