denuclearization

Nuclear Weapons and International Law in the Contemporary Era

You are invited to: A Virtual Conference on Nuclear Weapons and International Law in the Contemporary Era

12 November 2020, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST

Seeking to address the huge gap in public awareness of nuclear weapons risk and applicable international law, the New York State Bar Association International Section is holding an all-day virtual conference that will bring together leading public officials, thought-leaders, policymakers, and experts for a comprehensive look at this often ignored subject.

According to Professor Charles J. Moxley, Jr., an LCNP director and a conference organizer, “International law may well hold the world’s best prospect for addressing and getting ahead of the existential risks posted by nuclear weapons.”

Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy (LCNP) is one of the co-sponsors of the conference and is well-represented in the program.

Register (no charge) and see the agenda here.

Among the speakers:

  • Professor Moxley, Kathleen Lawand of the International Committee of the Red Cross, and Professor David Koplow of Georgetown Law
  • Izumi Nakamitsu, UN Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, will deliver a keynote address, followed by a panel on the role of the United Nations featuring her, LCNP Senior Analyst John Burroughs, Allison Pytlak of Reaching Critical Will/WILPF, and LCNP Executive Director Ariana Smith (moderator)
  • Jerry Brown, former Governor of California and Executive Chairman, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, will engage in a dialogue on responding to the greatest threats to humanity with Jonathan Granoff, President of Global Security Institute and an LCNP director
  • A panel on advancing the rule of law and morality in relation to nuclear weapons includes Jacqueline Cabasso, Executive Director of Western States Legal Foundation, LCNP advisor Laurie Ashton, an attorney who served on the legal team for the Marshall Islands in its nuclear disarmament cases in the International Court of Justice, and Tom Collina, Director of Policy, Ploughshares Fund, and co-author with William Perry of The Button

Additional panels will address nuclear weapons risks, consequences and responses, and the treaty regime on nuclear weapons.

Conference co-sponsors in addition to LCNP are Fordham Law School, Center on National Security; Georgetown University, Berkley Center for Religion, Ethics and World Affairs; American Bar Association, International Law Section; New York City Bar Association, Committees on International Law, Military and Veteran Affairs, Nuclear Policy and the United Nations, and Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice; New York County Lawyers Association, Committee on Foreign & International Law; Global Security Institute.

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Disarmament, Peace, and Security, please visit ngocdps.wordpress.com. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-Vienna, please visit ngocsdvienna.org.

[Cyber Conference] There’s Still Hope and Here’s Why

On Nov. 5, join PEAC Institute and the United Methodist Church-General Board of Church and Society for a cyber conference designed to foster post-election reflections, healing, and mobilization.

Register here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_OArdeLrcSaO4A4JHpXdDQA

Background: From Tulsa to Hiroshima, from Auschwitz to the Trail of Tears, the scenes of death and destruction are the same. The root causes of these atrocities are the same too: cultures of violence fueling systems of oppression.

What can the people do to reclaim their rightful democratic power when corrupt governments fail to honor the contracts that ensure we live in a civil society with a sustainable future?

This action-driven conversation, co-sponsored by PEAC Institute and the General Board of Church and Society, will explore the challenge of dismantling cultures of violence. Through both historical and contemporary lenses, we will highlight some of the terrifying consequences we’re facing due to not fixing our culture of violence while also offering examples of nature-based solutions that people are successfully executing today. Speakers from multiple continents will include foreign policy experts, peace activists, and volunteer humanitarians reporting from the field.

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the Decolonization Alliance, please email President Bautista at lbautista@umcjustice.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Disarmament, Peace, and Security, please visit ngocdps.wordpress.com.

[Member’s Meeting] NGO Committee on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

The NGO Committee on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples will hold its regular monthly members’ meeting on Thursday, October 15, 2020 from 1:00 – 3:00 pm EST.

EST Zoom link: us02web.zoom.us/j/85866826804?pwd=MlA0TEJ2V3lYdHZNWmRCd3pXTjhqZz09

Next meeting: November 19, 2020

Agenda

1. Moment of Silence

2. Introductions

3. Rashmi Jaipal, Chair of the Health subcommittee of this NGO Committee, will introduce our speaker, Professor Dorlanda Thathing of the University of Jharkland, India

a. See Prof. Thathing’s bio below for more information

b. Topic – Indigenous Health Beliefs

4. Meeting minutes of Sept. 17, 2020

5. Executive Committee Report

6. Update on Climate March

7. Discussion on Activities around Indigenous Peoples Day

8. Election December 2020

Speaker Bio: Dr. Khathing is retired as a Professor of Physics at the North-Eastern Hill University. He is a nuclear scientist by training and his research had earlier been carried out at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Trombay. His research group has been using the different nuclear facilities at Kolkata, Delhi, Trombay and Germany. He has authored over 70 research articles in refereed international journals of repute. He has successfully completed over twenty major research projects as the Principal Investigator. Eight PhD and three MPhil scholars have successfully been awarded degrees under his direct supervision.

Dr. Khathing is a life member of many national scientific societies ( Electron Microscope Society of India, National Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Society, Indian Assoc. of Analytical Scientists, Indian Physics Association, Indian Assoc of Physics Teachers, Indian Science Congress, Indian and International Society of Radiation Physics, etc) . He served on the Executive of many of them. He was also the founding Chairman of several regional Chapters of the national bodies. He is a Governing Board / Executive Council member in many central institutions including IIM Ranchi, Inter University Accelerator Centre New Delhi, Central Universities of Himachal Pradesh and Bihar, Indira Gandhi National Tribal University Amarkantak.

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, please visit facebook.com/NGOCoRIP.

Nuclear Weapon Free World: Global civil society commemoration of the UN Day for Nuclear Abolition

September 26, 2020, will be the 7th International Day for Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.

Join people around the world in celebrating the vision of a nuclear weapons free world, raising awareness and calling on their leaders to advance nuclear disarmament.

Organised by #WeThePeoples2020, an initiative of over 100 participating organizations, to promote and engage in the 75th anniversary of the United Nations and key UN days and events.

The Nuclear Weapon Free World event takes place in two parts:
Part 1: Timed to suit people in Asia and the Pacific
Part 2: Timed to suit people in the Americas, Europe and Africa

Registration:

  • Click here to register for Part 1: Asia/Pacific event
  • Click here to register for Part 2: Americas/Europe/Africa event

Each part will have three sessions:

Session 1: 10-12 presentations on nuclear disarmament issues
Session 2: Practical workshops on key approaches to nuclear disarmament, including using the arts, how to move the nuclear weapons budgets/investments to better things, how to engage and empower women and youth, how to engage your legislators (mayors, parliamentarians)…
Session 3: A panel discussion followed by Q&A on how to achieve nuclear disarmament, how to move the nuclear-armed states to relinquish nuclear deterrence, the role of non-nuclear states, how to build on the connections between nuclear disarmament and other key UN issues.

PROGRAM:

Moderators:

  • Part 1: Vanda Proskova (Czech Republic), Deputy Chair of the PragueVision Institute for Sustainable Security, PNND Program Director for Women, Peace and Security;
  • Part 2: Kehkashan Basu (UAE/Canada), Youth Ambassador for the World Future Council, former United Nations Environment Programme Global Coordinator for Children & Youth, and winner of the 2016 International Children’s Peace Prize.

Opening comments:

  • Part 1: Yuriy Kryvonos (United Nations), Director of the UN Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific;
  • Part 2: Izumi Nakamitsu (United Nations), UN Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs.

Presentations, messages and panels with:

Maria Fernanda Espinosa (Ecuador), President of the 73rd UN General Assembly (2018-2019), former Ecuador Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Defence and a poet; Mani Shankar Aiyar (India), Chair of the Rajiv Gandhi Action Plan Group for a Nuclear-Weapon-Free and Nonviolent World Order and former member of the Indian Parliament; Yasmeen Silva (USA), Partnerships Manager for Beyond the Bomb; Solomon Yeo (Solomon Islands), Co-founder of World Youth for Climate Justice; Prof Azza Karam (Netherlands), Secretary-General of Religions for Peace; Gareth Evans (Australia), Chair of the Asia-Pacific Leadership Network or Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament and Co-convenor of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament; Dr Hedy Fry MP (Canada), Special Representative on Gender Issues for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE); Rev Emma Jordan-Simpson (USA), Executive Director of Fellowship of Reconciliation USA; Karipbek Kuyukov (Kazakhstan), Artist, second generation victim of nuclear tests and Honorary Ambassador of the ATOM Project; Jeremy Corbyn (UK), Vice-President of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and former Leader of the UK Labour Party; Kathleen Burkinshaw (USA), Daughter of a Hiroshima nuclear bomb survivor and Author of The Last Cherry Blossom;  Mikyung LEE (Republic of Korea), President of the Korea International Cooperation Agency; John Hallam (Australia), People for Nuclear Disarmament and the Human Survival Project; Jackie Cabasso (USA), Director of Western States Legal Foundation and North America Coordinator for Mayors for Peace, Fabian Hamilton MP (UK), Shadow Minister for Peace and Disarmament; Douglas Roche (Canada), Former Senator, Member of Parliament and Canadian Disarmament Ambassador; Marzhan Nurzhan (Kazakhstan), Convenor of the Abolition 2000 Youth Network, PNND Coordinator for CIS (former Soviet) Countries; Bill Kidd (Scotland), Convener of the Cross-Party Group in the Scottish Parliament on Nuclear Disarmament; Ela Gandhi (South Africa), Founder of the Gandhi Development Trust; Kelly Slater (USA), 11 times world surfing champion; Cynthia Lazaroff (USA), Founder, NuclearWakeUpCall.Earth, Antony Owen (UK), Poet and Patron of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Sooyoung Hwang (South Korea), Disarmament Program Manager, Peoples Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, General Bernard Norlain (France), Vice-President, Initiatives pour le Désarmement Nucléaire. Former Air Defense Commander and Air Combat Commander of the French Air Force; and more to come.

Event outline and program: Click here for the event flyer and program outline with session times. Click here for the full program. Click here for guidance on taking specific action.

For further information contact vanda@pnnd.org or  info@unfoldzero.org.

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Disarmament, Peace and Security, please visit ngocdps.wordpress.com.

 

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