Unfold Zero Newsletter

Posted: 23rd March 2026

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UN Day of Sport for Peace and Development
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Nuclear Abolition Day Appeal and the NPT Review Conference

April 6 is the the UN International Day of Sport for Development and Peace. The theme for 2026 is Sport: Building Bridges, Breaking Barriers,” underscoring sport’s unique capacity to foster connection, inclusion, and peace in an increasingly fragmented world.

“As a universal language that transcends cultural, social, and boundaries, sport serves as a powerful catalyst for social transformation. Sport connects communities across borders and generations, reducing isolation among marginalized groups, and creating spaces for dialogue, solidarity, and mutual respect.”

There are many things individuals and communities can do to commemorate the UN Day of Sport for Peace and Development. One easy way is to join the #WhiteCard for Peacesocial media action. Organized by Peace and Sport, it will include Champions for Peace, decision-makers, sports clubs, international organizations, and individuals around the world around in shared message for peace, inclusion, hope, and solidarity.

See also Preventing nuclear war through no-first-use policies below, which is being organised in conjunction with the UN Day of Sport for Peace.

Note: As April 6 is Easter Monday this year, many will be commemorating UN Day of Sport for Peace on April 7. Join sports stars, sports clubs, administrators, parliamentarians, and other individuals and organizations from around the world to commemorate UN Day of Sport for Peace and Development on April 6.

Nuclear Abolition Day Appeal and the NPT Review Conference

September 26 has been declared by the UN General Assembly as the International Day for the Total Abolition of Nuclear Weapons (Nuclear Abolition Day). Every year on this date, the UN holds a high-level meeting of world leaders to discuss “urgent and effective measures” to achieve global nuclear disarmament. At the same time, civil society organizations organize events and undertake actions to support nuclear weapons abolition.

In 2025, for the first time, civil society organizations from around the world joined together to establish a common platform and joint actions for Nuclear Abolition Day. These included a social media action Stop Nuclear Weapons: Peace is in our Hands and an Appeal that was endorsed by over 600 organizations and more than 1200 additional individuals from 99 countries, and presented to the high-level plenary on September 26.

This civil society cooperation was so successful that the Nuclear Abolition Day core team has decided to repeat the actions in 2026. The Appeal has been re-opened for endorsement, with the plan to present it to the NPT Review Conference in April and again to the UN High-Level Meeting in September.

We encourage you to endorse the appeal, if you have not already done so, and to circulate it to your colleagues inviting them to also endorse.
 

Quotes from some of the appeal endorsers:

The Future of Governance in a Fractured World

Thursday March 26: 3pm East Coast Time (USA) / 8pm Central Europe Time / 8am New Zealand Time on Friday March 27

Democratic institutions face growing strain. Systems designed for representation and collective decision-making struggle with complex global challenges, while public trust declines and citizens feel increasingly distant from political power. This event brings together two thinkers on democratic reform to explore how democracy might evolve to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

Speakers:

• Dr Hanno Scholtz, political and social theorist. Author of seven books and many articles, a.o., Rethinking Democracy (2026, de Gruyter) and “Large scale democratic policy design” (2025, Policy design & practice)
• Dr. Doina Stratu-Strelet, political scientist, jurist, and researcher. Associate at Democracy Without Borders and Board member of Union of European Federalist-Spain. Former President of Young European Federalists-Spain.

Register for the Future of Governance

Event cosponsors:

ImPact Coalition on Strengthening International Judicial Institutions: Town Hall Meeting

Session 1: Americas/Africa/Europe. March 31

1pm EST / 6pm CET
Register for Session 1
Session 2: Asia/Pacific. March 31-April 1
March 31: 4pm Hawai’i / 7pm Pacific Time USA
April 1: 10 am Singapore / 1pm Canberra / 3pm New Zealand.
Register for Session 2

An online meeting for updates and discussion on the issues and activities of the ImPact Coalition on Strengthening International Judicial Institutions. This includes:

• LAW not War: Increasing the acceptance of compulsory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice;
• International Criminal Court:
  • Opposing the illegal sanctions against the Court, and supporting the Court in the face of such sanctions;
  • Strengthening the court’s jurisdiction over the crime of aggression, and the addition of jurisdiction over the crime of ecocide;
• Crimes Against Humanity Treaty: Promoting the adoption of a strong and effective treaty;
• International Anti-Corruption Court: Promoting the establishment of such a court;
• Legal limits to the Security Council use of Veto: Promoting an Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice to affirm the legal limits.

Australia and the Doomsday Clock:
Preventing nuclear war, in particular through no-first-use policies

Tuesday April 7
4:00-5:30pm, Australian Eastern Standard Time / 8:00-9:30am Central Europe Time
Registration
Event flier

A discussion with parliamentarians, policy experts and civil society representatives on proposals for no-first-use policies, and the roles these could play in nuclear risk reduction and disarmament. This event is being held in preparation for the 2026 Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference taking place at the UN from April 27 – May 22, 2026.
 

Speakers:

• Hon Gareth Evans
  Former Foreign Minister of Australia. Founder, Asia-Pacific Leadership Network on Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament.
• Senator David Shoebridge
  Member, Australian Parliament Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade. Member, Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament (PNND).
• Zali Steggall OAM, MP.
  Co-Chair of the Australian Parliamentary Friends of Climate Action and the Parliamentary Friends of Women in Sport. Olympic Bronze Medalist, (Slalom, 1998 Winter Olympic Games, Nagano). Member, International Court of Arbitration for Sport.
• Manpreet Sethi.
  Distinguished Fellow, Centre for Air Power Studies, New Delhi. Senior Research Adviser at APLN.
• John Hallam.
  Director, People for Nuclear Disarmament. Co-founder, NoFirstUse Global. Coordinator, PNND Australia.

This event is being held in conjunction with the UN International Day of Sport for Development and Peace and will include observation of the Peace and Sport #White Card for Peace. More information on the event page. Yours sincerely
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