ICAN leader: – Nuclear weapons are prehistoric

Nuclear bomb ICAN Nobel Peace Prize youth politiciansNuclear bomb. Photo: Pixabay.com

ICAN leader: – Nuclear weapons are prehistoric

ICAN leader Beatrice Fihn asks world leaders to make a choice and create a policy that is not dependent on nuclear weapons.

 

Sunday, the International Campaign Against Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) are presented with the Nobel Peace Prize. On Saturday, ICAN leader Beatrice Fihn, survivor of the Hiroshima bomb, Setsuko Thurlow, and one of ICAN’s founders, Tilman Ruff, attended a press conference in Oslo.

There Fihn got the initial speech and went straight to the core of the organization’s message:

– We must force our leaders to make a policy that does not depend on nuclear weapons, Fihn firmly stated, before using North Korea and the United States as examples.

– You can ask yourself: Are you comfortable with Kim Jong-un having nuclear weapons? Are you comfortable with Donald J. Trump having nuclear weapons? If you’re not comfortable with that, you’re not comfortable with nuclear weapons.

ICAN asks the two leaders to reduce the rhetoric and work together to defuse the conflict.

Take a stand

Fihn implroed the world leaders to take a stand.

– Nuclear weapons are prehistoric. Mass destruction is prehistoric. We must force our leaders to make policies that is not dependent on the production of nuclear weapons, she said.During the questions section, Fihn urged all NATO countries to show that they are working towards a world without nuclear weapons.

– NATO has a clear goal in its security policy, and it’s a world without nuclear weapons. I expect all NATO countries and NATO’s Secretary-General to show us that they are working towards that goal, Fihn states.

She also encouraged all NATO countries to support the treaty and find ways to join in. She however did not specifically mention the other nuclear nations.

Remove nuclear weapons

The International Nuclear Weapons Campaign (ICAN) is working towards that all countries should join an UN Treaty on Nuclear Weapons. July 7, 2017 the UN General Assembly voted for the treaty, with Norway, among many other nations including the nuclear nations abstaining.

On Friday, December 8, three more countries signed the treaty, already signed by 56 countries. Several countries will sign the treaty during the weeks that come, ICAN stated.

One of ICAN’s founders, Australian Tilman Ruff, pointed out to the press that ICAN not only works for nuclear weapons disarmament, but they are working to remove nuclear weapons entirely.

The Nobel Prize includes SEK 9 million. The money will be used by ICAN to initiate a  fund called the “1,000-days fund”. The fund will be used to strengthen the organization’s work for the next 1,000 days.

Hiroshima survivor

Hiroshima survivor Setsuko Thurlow will receive the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of ICAN on Sunday. On Saturday, Thurlow told her that she and other survivors after the attack in 1945 for decades fought nuclear weapons. But they did not feel they were heard.

– We told the story, but the world did not listen, therefore we decided to collaborate with ICAN, says Thurlow.

On questions from NTB about her thoughts  on that a number of foreign ambassadors, including the United States, Britain and France, won’t attend Sunday’s award ceremony, she responded:

– When I heard about it, I was not surprised. This is not the first time they behave in this manner.

 

©  NTB Scanpix / Norway Today