Speaker Elizabeth Minor from Article 36, plus AGM
Event Date: 21st April 2017
Location: The Quaker Meeting House, 51 Wilton Road, Salisbury SP2 7EP.- 7.30 pm
Title: The Proposed UN Ban on Nuclear Weapons
Elizabeth Minor will be at the first session of the negotiations in March, so can give an update on how these are proceeding. She will also give the background to the whole initiative, and explain how Article 36 expect things to proceed, and will comment on the implications for the UK.
Article 36’s work focuses on a variety of weapons, disarmament and protection of civilians in conflict related issues. The name comes from Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions, whose article 36 obliges states to review new weapons, means and methods of warfare that they are intending to employ. As unacceptable technologies frequently come into use despite this obligation, they feel it is the role of civil society to monitor and campaign against particular developments and technologies. Article 36’s approach takes a humanitarian perspective – so they are campaigning for the prohibition or regulation of certain weapons based on the the harm that would be or is being caused by them to people and places.
Article 36 consists of a small team based in London and Geneva, with background in the leadership of the Cluster Munition Coalition. They successfully campaigned for an international ban on those weapons. The main way in which they work is through global coalitions of civil society organisations, of which they sit on the leadership committee of a few. Their main focus areas at the moment are on the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, increasing autonomy in weapons systems, armed drones, and nuclear weapons. They are part of the international steering committees of the International Network on Explosive Weapons (which they coordinate), the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, and the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).
Nuclear weapons have been one of their focus issues for the past few years, and in particular they have been focusing on developing analysis, policy work and strategies towards achieving the ban treaty with other civil society organisations as well as key states and international organisation (a few of their key reports are available via this link: