Please see EVENTS for information on ECNDs meeting on 11th October (and other events)
Wednesday 11th October 7pm at the Quaker Meeting House, 7 Victoria Terrace: Faslane Peace Camp – what can we learn – organized by Edinburgh CND https://www.facebook.com/events/1928856954056199/
Scottish CND: As you might have heard the 2017 Peace Nobel Prize goes to ICAN for the work to rid our world of the evil of nuclear weapons and the major role played in achieving the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). This is a well deserved award and Scottish CND are honored to have been partners for such a long time (read Scottish Scrap Trident Coalition – Press Release). However, the work has just started and we urge you to write to your representatives and join the series of nuclear ban meetings.
The TPNW signed by more than 50 member states which will soon be coming into force. Parliamentarians across the world played a major role in realising the treaty through their actions in the campaign. Now we are seeking their help to promote the signature and ratification of the treaty by all nations. The Parliamentary Pledge is a commitment by parliamentarians around the world to work for their government to join the treaty.
Given the position of the Scottish Parliament in opposing nuclear weapons, this is a very important way in which they can put pressure on the UK Government.
You can see if your parliamentarians have signed here.
If they have not, please ask your MSPs and MPs to sign it.
Send them a letter (find model here) and follow up with a phone call to their office. If you are unsure who your representatives are, this website might be of help https://www.writetothem.com.
The TPNW signed by more than 50 member states which will soon be coming into force. Parliamentarians across the world played a major role in realising the treaty through their actions in the campaign. Now we are seeking their help to promote the signature and ratification of the treaty by all nations. The Parliamentary Pledge is a commitment by parliamentarians around the world to work for their government to join the treaty.
Given the position of the Scottish Parliament in opposing nuclear weapons, this is a very important way in which they can put pressure on the UK Government.
You can see if your parliamentarians have signed here.
If they have not, please ask your MSPs and MPs to sign it.
Send them a letter (find model here) and follow up with a phone call to their office. If you are unsure who your representatives are, this website might be of help https://www.writetothem.com.
See http://www.banthebomb.org/ for meetings around Scotland (see end for meetings in Scotland)
Message from CND ICAN – the global peace network – of which CND Is a partner organisation, has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
At a time when the prospect of nuclear war seems closer than it has for a generation, the award of this prestigious prize is an essential recognition of the global majority against nuclear weapons – and the movement that has done so much to advance it.
Campaigners have worked tirelessly over the last few years, together with the 122 states who launched the first ever nuclear weapons ban treaty at the United Nations just a few weeks ago. We congratulate all the grassroots activists and campaigners, in Britain and around the world, who have done so much to make this possible.
The US-North Korean nuclear brinkmanship is an enormous challenge to this fantastic work. So too is President Trump’s determination to unpick the Iran nuclear weapons deal, a deal that has been widely recognised as successful. That’s why we warmly welcome the decision of the Nobel committee to support those who are struggling for more co-operation and less confrontation, defying the sordid logic of our present world leaders who appear to be hell bent on war.
Anti-nuclear weapons campaigns in Britain have responded to the Nobel peace prize announcement.
Kate Hudson, CND general secretary, said:
“At a time when the prospect of nuclear war seems closer than it has for a generation, the award of this prestigious prize is an essential recognition of the global majority against nuclear weapons – and the movement that has done so much to advance it.
“ICAN – the global peace network – of which CND is a partner organisation, has worked tirelessly over the last few years, together with the 122 states who launched the first ever nuclear weapons ban treaty at the United Nations just a few weeks ago. We congratulate all the grassroots activists and campaigners, in Britain and around the world, who have done so much to make this possible.
“The campaigns to highlight the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons were an important factor in convincing the majority of the world’s states that they must take matters into their own hands in creating this new multilateral framework for abolishing nuclear weapons. See end for ICANs Press Release
Kate Hudson, CND general secretary, said:
“At a time when the prospect of nuclear war seems closer than it has for a generation, the award of this prestigious prize is an essential recognition of the global majority against nuclear weapons – and the movement that has done so much to advance it.
“ICAN – the global peace network – of which CND is a partner organisation, has worked tirelessly over the last few years, together with the 122 states who launched the first ever nuclear weapons ban treaty at the United Nations just a few weeks ago. We congratulate all the grassroots activists and campaigners, in Britain and around the world, who have done so much to make this possible.
“The campaigns to highlight the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons were an important factor in convincing the majority of the world’s states that they must take matters into their own hands in creating this new multilateral framework for abolishing nuclear weapons. See end for ICANs Press Release
The Basle Peace Office and UNFOLD ZERO add: Governments are meeting at the United Nations in New York right now, and until the end of October, to discuss and adopt nuclear disarmament resolutions.
One of these UN resolutions will set the dates and mandate for a unique event in 2018 – a UN High-Level Conference on Nuclear Disarmament.
Similar UN High Level Conferences on other topics have been very successful, agreeing on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopting the Paris agreement on Climate Change and adopting the 14-point Action Plan to Protect our Oceans
Will governments use the opportunity of the 2018 High-Level Conference on Nuclear Disarmament to prevent nuclear war in North-East Asia and between Russia and the West, reduce nuclear stockpiles and advance the new treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons?
Or will the nuclear armed and allied governments continue the status quo and spiral towards a nuclear catastrophe?
Reaching HIGH virtual conference, Oct 11-12, 2017
Find out more about the 2018 High-Level Conference. Input your ideas into the deliberations at the UN in New York.
Join the global virtual conference, a series of webinars on Oct 11-12 organized by the Basel Peace Office, UNFOLD ZERO, PNND, Global Security Institute and the Abolition 2000 working group on the 2018 UN High-Level Conference.
One of these UN resolutions will set the dates and mandate for a unique event in 2018 – a UN High-Level Conference on Nuclear Disarmament.
Similar UN High Level Conferences on other topics have been very successful, agreeing on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopting the Paris agreement on Climate Change and adopting the 14-point Action Plan to Protect our Oceans
Will governments use the opportunity of the 2018 High-Level Conference on Nuclear Disarmament to prevent nuclear war in North-East Asia and between Russia and the West, reduce nuclear stockpiles and advance the new treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons?
Or will the nuclear armed and allied governments continue the status quo and spiral towards a nuclear catastrophe?
Reaching HIGH virtual conference, Oct 11-12, 2017
Find out more about the 2018 High-Level Conference. Input your ideas into the deliberations at the UN in New York.
Join the global virtual conference, a series of webinars on Oct 11-12 organized by the Basel Peace Office, UNFOLD ZERO, PNND, Global Security Institute and the Abolition 2000 working group on the 2018 UN High-Level Conference.
- Click here to register.
- Click here for more background and for the conference program.
Together we can achieve a nuclear-weapon-free world.
Nobel Peace Prize Statement – ICAN UK – 6 October 2017
ICAN UK represents the British-based NGOs who are partners of ICAN, a civil society network
of over 450 organisations in one hundred countries.
Dr Rebecca Johnson, an original co-chair of ICAN and member of the International Steering
Group based in the UK, said:
“We thank the Nobel Committee for recognising and honouring ICAN and the thousands of
people in our international network that have worked so hard to ban and eliminate nuclear
weapons. The nuclear threats being issued by President Trump and North Korea remind us
that nuclear sabre rattling can lead to nuclear war through arrogance or miscalculation.
With British civil society at the forefront of nuclear disarmament efforts for so many years,
this Nobel Award encourages us to redouble our efforts to persuade the British government
to sign the UN Nuclear Prohibition Treaty, cancel Trident and take the lead to eliminate all of
these abhorrent weapons of mass destruction.”
Professor David McCoy, physician and former director of Medact, an ICAN-UK partner, said:
“Nuclear weapons are an unacceptable threat to human health and global security – they
have no place in the modern world. The UK government should be leading international
efforts to get rid of nuclear weapons instead of boycotting them. Health professionals are
calling on Government to scrap Trident and spend the money on the NHS.
Richard Moyes, Managing Director of UK NGO Article 36 – part of ICAN’s International
Steering Group, said:
“The 2017 Nobel Peace Prize highlights the importance of this new treaty at a time when the
threat of nuclear weapons is more pressing than ever in recent decades. ICAN focused
attention on the humanitarian impact that the use of these weapons would cause – with just
a single weapon threatening to kill and injure hundreds of thousands of people and to poison
their environment for the future. Despite the politics of these weapons, the scale of
humanitarian suffering that they can cause means they cannot be considered acceptable,
and that is why ICAN here in the UK and internationally has worked for them to be banned.”
Kate Hudson of ICAN partner CND said “This Nobel Peace Prize commits all of us to bring the
UK on board the historic UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
Meetings on the Treaty Ban:
Edinburgh had a great meeting on September 20th. Meetings are also planned for:
- East Kilbride, Sun 8 Oct | 7:00 pm Calderwood Community Centre, Blackbraes Rd, 7 pm, hosted by Radical Independence Campaign
- Cromarty, Fri 13 Oct | 7:30 pm The Victoria Hall, Cromarty, hosted by Cromarty Peace Group
- Scottish Greens Autumn Conference 2017,Sat 21 Oct | 6:00 pm Edinburgh (Sighthill campus of Napier University in Edinburgh)
- Inverness, Thu 26 Oct | 7:00 pm The Chieftain Hotel, hosted by SNP Inverness Branch
- Skye, Sat 28 Oct | 11:00 am Aros Portree, hosted by Yes Skye and Lochals
- Peterhead, Sat 28 Oct | 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm Encounter Cafe on Drummers Corner Known by some as the old Habitat shop, hosted by Aberdeen CND
- Dunbar, Mon 30 Oct | 7:00 pm Dunbar Methodist Church Hall, 10 Victoria street Dunbar, hosted by Anglican Pacifists hosted by Anglican Pacifists
