ICAN (International Campaign to abolish nuclear weapons) won the Nobel Peace Prize today.
One of the founding organizations of ICAN was IPPNW = International Physicians
for the Prevention of Nuclear War. IPPNW held a conference in York (UK) last
month where I participated in two workshops.
ICAN has has been the moving force behind the Treaty on the Prohibition of
Nuclear Weapons. The wording was approved by 122 member States
of the UN General Assembly (about 2/3 of the membership) in July 7 2017 of this year.
The Treaty will come into force when 50 States have ratified it. The Treaty was
open for signatures on September 20, and on that day 53 countries signed the
Treaty. Already 3 have ratified the Treaty.
Canada did not sign the Treaty, and along with other NATO countries and the
five major nuclear weapons states (USA, Russia, China, England, France) did
everything it could to stop the Treaty from being approved, given their commitment
to nuclear weapons. NATO proclaims nuclear weapons as “essential” to its security
and says that NATO would be the first to use nuclear weapons in a conflict that was
unwinnable using conventional weapons.
ICAN is only about 10 years old. Based in Geneva, ICAN has 468 participating
organizations in 101 dfferent countries. Nobel Prize – So well deserved!
Congratulations to all who have been working for a nuclear weapons free world.