The 2017 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons [ICAN] went to the right campaign at the right moment!
As the dangers of nuclear escalation rise to levels not seen in decades, we are greatly heartened by this validation of organizing by civil society that placed humanitarian concerns above “national security,” culminating with the adoption, on July 7, of the Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty. The Treaty prohibits the possession, development, testing, use and threat of use of nuclear weapons. It will enter into force when 50 countries have signed and ratified it. While binding only on those countries that join, the Ban Treaty will give new momentum to disarmament movements in the nuclear-armed states and their allies, and will help to stigmatize and delegitimize nuclear weapons and the increasingly unstable doctrine of deterrence.
United for Peace and Justice stands with ICAN and will redouble our efforts to reach that great day for humanity and the planet when the most terrifying and destructive of all weapons will finally be abolished, despite the recalcitrance of the U.S. and the rest of the “nuclear club.”
