Unfold Zero Newsletter
Posted: 29th December 2023
UNFOLD ZERO wishes you the very best for the holiday season. We thank you most sincerely for your engagement in international peace, nuclear disarmament and climate protection issues, including the initiatives and actions which we have promoted over the year.
In this issue we:
- Highlight the recent progress made advancing the inadmissibility of nuclear weapons;
- Remind you of the current opportunity to engage in the UN Summit of the Future on Peace and Disarmament issues – deadline for submissions is December 31;
- Encourage you to save the date of February 2 - the Annual Strategy and Networking meeting of Abolition 2000, the global civil society network for the elimination of nuclear weapons.
Inadmissibility of the threat or use of nuclear weapons
In November 2022, G20 leaders meeting in Bali adopted a statement in which they stated that “the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible.” The significance of this statement comes from the fact that the endorsers included the leaders or foreign ministers of six nuclear-armed and seven nuclear allied countries (See Breakthrough at the G20 Summit: Leaders of nuclear weapon and allied states affirm the inadmissibility of nuclear weapons threat or use).NoFirstUse Global, an international coalition of more than 80 organizations, followed-up the Bali Statement with a Declaration of Public Conscience entitled Nuclear Taboo from Norm to Law. The declaration, endorsed by over 1100 notable people, is part of a broader campaign calling on:
- The United Nations to affirm the Bali statement as a customary legal prohibition on nuclear weapons use, and
- Nuclear-armed and allied states to implement the Bali Statement through changes in their nuclear doctrines, including by adopting no-first-use policies as an initial measure.
Nuclear weapons inadmissibility campaign receives a boost from the Ban Treaty (TPNW)
The campaign received a big boost on December 1 when the States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) applauded “the growing explicit recognition that the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible” and noted “that these declarations, such as that agreed by members of the G-20, must go beyond statements and result in meaningful and tangible actions.” (See the TPNW States Parties’ statement Our commitment to upholding the prohibition of nuclear weapons and averting their catastrophic consequences).
NoFirstUse Global has welcomed the TPNW Parties’ statement and has called for further action at the UN and at the next Preparatory Meeting and Review Conference of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The declaration Nuclear Taboo from Norm to Law remains open for endorsement for those people who have not already endorsed.
UN Summit of the Future
The UN General Assembly will hold a Summit of the Future: Multilateral solutions for a better tomorrow, in September 2024. The Summit is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to enhance cooperation on critical challenges – such as peace and the climate – and to improve global governance to better manage and resolve these issues.
Civil society is able to engage in the Summit in a number of ways.
One of these is to participate in the Global Futures Forum and the Peoples Pact for the Future which is being facilitated by the Coalition for the UN We Need.
Another is to make a submission to the facilitators of the Summit (Germany and Namibia) on elements to be included in the Pact for the Future which will be adopted by governments at the Summit.
Making a submission for the UN Summit of the Future
UNFOLD ZERO encourages organizations to make a submission for the Pact for the Future on peace and nuclear disarmament issues before the deadline of December 31, 2023.
Such submissions could be guided by the peace and nuclear disarmament proposals adopted in the Interim People’s Pact for the Future. These were developed through consultations of hundreds of civil society organizations earlier this year on proposals for the Summit of the Future across seven thematic strands. The adopted proposals in the Peace and Security strand include those calling on governments at the UN Summit of the Future to:
- Support the inclusion of nuclear abolition in the post-2030 Sustainable Development Goals with the objective to achieve the global elimination of nuclear weapons no later than 2045, the 100th anniversary of the UN;
- Commit to better prevent war (including nuclear war) by strengthening Legal Alternatives to War (LAW not War) such as universal acceptance of the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice, and by the adoption of nuclear-risk reduction measures including no-first-use policies;
- Implement Article 26 of the UN Charter through plans and action for disarmament to release resources from the $100 Billion global nuclear weapons budget and the $2.3 trillion global military budget to instead support economic and social development.
For an example of a submission please see Submission from Canadian Network to Abolish Nuclear Weapons to the Summit of the Future.
Click here for the submission template. Click here for the online form to send in your submission.
Abolition 2000 Annual Meeting: Save the Date
Are you interested in effective civil society cooperation and campaigns to achieve a nuclear-weapon-free world? Then we encourage you to participate in the 28th Annual General Meeting of Abolition 2000, the global civil society network to eliminate nuclear weapons.The Annual Meeting will be held virtually, in two sessions, on Friday February 2, 2024(timed for the Asia/Pacific) and Saturday February 3, 2024, (timed for the Americas, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East). This year’s theme is “Keeping the Network Connected.”
The Annual Meeting will include reports from working groups and affiliated networks, discussions on the new challenges facing nuclear disarmament in an increasingly volatile world and breakout groups on key issues and campaigns. To get a taste of the event, please see the materials and reports from last year’s Annual Meeting.
Save the date! Abolition 2000 and UNFOLD ZERO will circulate further information in a couple of weeks.
Abolition 2000 with the #3DNuke Missile at the NPT Prep Com in Vienna (United Nations) on Nagasaki Day (August 9, 2023). About UNFOLD ZERO
UNFOLD ZERO is a platform for United Nations (UN) focused initiatives and actions for the achievement of a nuclear weapons free world. It’s an affiliated network of Abolition 2000 and a joint project of Aotearoa Lawyers for Peace, Basel Peace Office, Global Security Institute, Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament, PragueVision Institute for Sustainable Security, World Federalist Movement-Institute for Global Policy and World Future Council.