Nuclear risk reduction, no-first-use and the UN Summit of the Future

Posted: 23rd September 2024

Nuclear risk reduction, no-first-use and the UN Summit of the Future

Summit of the Future opens today, Sep 22
Pact for the Future includes nuclear-risk-reduction
Join WFM and MEGA Live from the Summit, Sep 23

The long-awaited UN Summit of the Future opens today (at 8:30am Eastern time/2:30pm CET) and runs for two days. This follows nearly two years of preparations including negotiations on the Pact for the Future, Declaration on Future Generations and Global Digital Compact. On Friday, the UN Secretary-General circulated these (as a draft resolution to the UN General Assembly) to UN Member States for their expected support at the Summit.

NoFirstUse Global leaders and member organizations have been active in the run-up to the Summit of the Future advocating for the Pact for the Future to include commitments to uphold the norm against any use of nuclear weapons, and to adopt nuclear risk-reduction measures including no-first-use policies.

Our proposals were adopted and advanced in the Peoples Pact for the Future (in Chapter 2), a global civil society advocacy initiative for the Summit. The Pact for the Future, which is planned for adoption by consensus at the Summit, includes strong references to preventing nuclear war but does not pick up on specific policy proposals such as no-first-use.

For analysis on the broader issue of nuclear disarmament and the Summit, see Peace, nuclear disarmament and the Summit of the Future: Breakdown or Breakthrough? 

You can watch the Summit of the Future deliberations today and tomorrow Live on UNWebTV.

We invite you to join World Federalist Movement (WFM) for a live event reporting from the Summit tomorrow (September 23), and to join Abolition 2000 and others for a special follow-up event on October 1 on From the Summit of the Future to a Nuclear-Weapon-Free World.23rd September, 12:00-12:40 Eastern Time USA / 18:00-18:40 CET
Online via Zoom. Event page
Reporting from 41st Street and First Ave (overlooking the UN)

Join John Vlasto, Caroline Vernaillen, Andreas Bummel, Maja Groff and Tad Daley- leaders of WFM-IGP and Mobilizing an Earth Governance Alliance (MEGA) – live from New York for a report on how the historic UN Summit of the Future is going. They will be interviewed by Alyn Ware (Member, NoFirstUse Global Steering Committee) and Ayleen Roy (PNND). Following short updates, they will answer questions live from you, the global audienceRegister for WFM and MEGA Live from the Summit of the FutureTuesday October 1
An event commemorating the International Day for the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons (Sep 26) and the International Day for Nonviolence (Oct 2).

Online in two sessions. 
Session 1 (timed for Asia/Pacific and early risers in Europe). Session 2 (timed for the Americas, Africa, Europe and Middle East)

Civil society leaders involved in the UN Summit of the Future and in the global nuclear abolition movement will discuss nuclear disarmament proposals to, and commitments adopted at, the Summit of the Future, plus campaigns for their implementation.

Speakers and moderators include: 

• Ela Gandhi (South Africa) – by video message
  Founder, Gandhi Development Trust. Co-President, Religions for Peace. Grand-daughter of Mahatma Gandhi. 
• Kunihiko Shimada (Japan)
  Principal Director, Hiroshima Organization for Global Peace 
• Rebecca Shoot (USA)
  Executive Director, Citizens for Global Solutions. Co-drafter of Chapter 2 (Peace and Security) of the Peoples Pact for the Future. 
• Ivan Siluianov (Russia/USA)
  Master’s Student at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Member, European Leadership Network. Secretary to Abolition 2000.
• Alyn Ware (Czech Republic)
  WFM-IGP Program Director. PNND Global Coordinator. Member, NoFirstUse Global Steering Committee
• Ayleen Roy (Austria)
  Masters student at London School of Economics. PNND Program Officer. Member, WFM-IGP Transnational Working Group on Values, faith-based perspectives and global governance.
• Jackie Cabasso (USA)
  Executive Director, Western States Legal Foundation. Member, Abolition 2000 Coordinating Committee. North America Coordinator for Mayors for Peace. 
• Vanessa Lanteigne (Canada)
  Rotary Peace Fellow. Former Executive Director of Canadian Voices of Women for Peace.
• John Vlasto (UK)
  Chair, World Federalist Movement-Institute for Global Policy. Co-convenor, Earth Governance ImPACT Coalition. Co-founder, Mobilizing an Earth Governance Alliance

Register for Session 1Register for Session 2