Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors:
Happy Canada Day! For those who mark the occasion, a special celebration is in order this year with the announcement of 204 recipients of the Order of Canada calling for a Nuclear Weapons Convention. See below for details. Also check out a student contest from WFUNA and plan your registration for a civil society/UN disarmament conference in Mexico City this September.
In peace,
Ray Acheson, Project Director
1) 204 recipients of the Order of Canada call for a Nuclear Weapons Convention
204 Recipients of the Order of Canada have joined an initiative led by John Polanyi, C.C., Douglas Roche, O.C. and Murray Thomson, O.C. calling for international negotiations to achieve a Nuclear Weapons Convention.
The initiative notes that:
There is a growing consensus expressed by world leaders on the urgent need for ridding the world of nuclear weapons, well expressed by the Global Zero movement.
A Nuclear Weapons Convention (NWC) is widely recognized as the best negotiating process yet devised to bring about nuclear disarmament. In a recent speech to the UN General Assembly, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stated that “All parties to the Non Proliferation Treaty could consider negotiating a nuclear weapons convention, backed by a strong verification system, as has long been proposed at the United Nations.”
However, the vision of the elimination of all nuclear weapons, put forward by President Obama and many others today, requires the political will of governments, including Canada’s, for it to be achieved.
A number of the endorsers will be working together to advance the call for a NWC through meetings with parliamentary leaders, promotion through the media, and collaboration with Mayors for Peace and Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament. This will include seeking endorsement from parliamentarians for the Parliamentarians’ Declaration supporting a Nuclear Weapons Convention.
The Order of Canada is the country’s highest civilian honour and is the centre-piece of Canada’s honours system. It recognizes a lifetime of outstanding achievement, dedication to the community and service to the nation.
For more information contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
2) Students for a Nuclear Weapons Free World 2009 Campaign Contest
From now through the end of July 2009, the World Federation of United Nations Associations (WFUNA) is accepting submissions for this year’s Students for a Nuclear Weapons Free World Contest. The mission is to design/develop a local campaign that educates, invigorates, and mobilizes one’s community (local, regional, national, online, or anywhere), especially youth, to become a part of the global movement to free the world of nuclear weapons. Use your resources to create your own campaign with events, materials, videos, posters, journals, web pages, social networking groups or anything you can take from imagination and bring into action.
Send WFUNA links, pictures, execution plans, journals and more! A handful of the most creative, engaging, and effective campaigns will be selected as winners. Winners will be invited to present their campaigns to the United Nations Department for Public Information and Non-Governmental Organisations (UN DPI/NGO) conference in Mexico 9–11 September 2009. The theme for the 2009 conference will be on disarmament.
For more information and directions, visit disarmamenthub.org or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
3) 62nd annual DPI/NGO Conference: “For Peace and Development: Disarm Now!”
The Government of Mexico will host the 62nd Annual DPI/NGO Conference on disarmament and peace, to be held in Mexico City from 9–11 September 2009.
This year’s conference will bring together NGOs working in the field of disarmament and also in the fields of human rights, health, education, poverty eradication, women and children’s issues.
The Conference aims to highlight effective ways in which civil society, in partnership with other actors, can contribute to the advancement of disarmament and peace, and as a result promote sustainable development.
It will provide an opportunity to exchange ideas and experiences between the diverse experts and organizations operating in the field of disarmament and peace.
It will provide a valuable network-building opportunity.
Diverse representatives of NGOs, civil society organizations, grassroots constituencies, the UN System, Member States, media, academia, the private sector and other institutions will be present.
The Conference will provide various opportunities to engage participants in sharing experiences and articulating perspectives on how to enhance their activities in the name of promoting peace and development including roundtable panel discussions, break-out sessions, interactive dialogues, workshops, and other activities and special events.
Registration is open now until 1 August 2009. Please see http://www.un.org/dpi/ngosection/conference/ for details.
4) UK network against depleted uranium weapons
In response to growing international concern over the impact that depleted uranium (DU) weapons have on civilians and service personnel, leading UK NGOs and faith groups have now joined forces to demand that the government abides by a Europe-wide call for a moratorium on their use and testing. The groups have also called on the UK government to work towards a global treaty banning the weapons, just as it did for the Oslo Process on cluster munitions.
The 11-member strong UK Uranium Weapons Network is supported by: the Campaign Against the Arms Trade, Campaign Against Depleted Uranium, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Environmental Justice Foundation, Medact, the Muslim Council of Britain, the Northern Friends Peace Board, Pax Christi, People & Planet, Quaker Peace & Social Witness and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.
For more information, please see:
