Nuclear weapons are a dangerous legacy of the last century. 17,000 nuclear warheads still remain in the world, hundreds of them on high-alert, able to be launched in minutes by accident, miscalculation or intent. Any use of nuclear weapons would have catastrophic humanitarian, environmental and economic consequences - killing and injuring thousands of people on site, polluting the environment for decades, spreading radioactive cloud across borders and possibly causing a global climate change that could put a billion people at risk of starvation.
Despite the growing general support for the vision of a nuclear weapons free world, there hasn't been enough political will among the world leaders to act towards nuclear abolition.
In March 2013, the Inter-Parliamentary Union adopted a landmark resolution calling on parliaments to take concrete actions towards a nuclear weapon free world. Further work is needed to encourage and assist parliamentarians to implement this resolution in their countries. We plan to use this opportunity to conduct a series of parliamentary hearings and events that will influence government policy, advance legislation to prohibit nuclear weapons and funding for them, and promote multilateral negotiations to achieve a nuclear-weapon-free world.
As elected representatives, parliamentarians constitute the link between civil society and governments. This project aims to inform and educate parliamentarians about measures that could be taken to achieve a world without nuclear weapons and the role their countries can play to ensure success.
About the organizers
The project will be carried out by the PNND network (Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament) in cooperation with the Inter-Parliamentary Union. PNND is a non-partisan forum for parliamentarians nationally and internationally to share resources and information, develop cooperative strategies and engage in nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament issues, initiatives and arenas. PNND runs as a joint programme of the Basel Peace Office (Switzerland) and the Global Security Institute (USA).
Your donations will help cover costs for organizing a series of parliamentary hearings (events) including staff time, promotion, logistics (travel and accommodation for expert speakers), informational materials and follow-up.
The more money we raise, the more parliamentary events we can organize.
