Scottish CND have just returned from a week in New York, where we attended the Third Meeting of State Parties (3MSP) to the UN nuclear ban (TPNW).
The objective was to support the proceedings, absorb the collective knowledge of international anti-nuclear campaigns and establish Scotland’s role in this global movement.
As we wrote in The National at the beginning of this week, the TPNW is the surest path to a nuclear free world. It comprehensively bans nuclear weapons and is signed by almost half of the world’s nations. It also, importantly, has a uniquely progressive architecture. This was reflected in the nature of the proceedings and events this week in New York.
Centrally, the TPNW places the experiences of nuclear victims at the forefront of the fight for worldwide disarmament. These include the Japanese and Korean hibakusha survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Marshallese and other Pacific island peoples, the indigenous people of Australia and the United States, nuclear victims in Algeria and Kazakhstan as well as the military veterans involved in the over 2,000 nuclear trial explosions around the world. There were also important contributions from those affected by Uranium mining – the first step in the nuclear development process – in the US and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. These communities and many more have suffered the devastating effects of nuclear weapons use and development over multiple generations since 1945, and were a key constituency leading the proceedings at 3MSP this week.
It is vital that such voices are at the forefront of the disarmament movement. We cannot fully understand the immense risks and horrific legacy of the nuclear era without the testimonies of affected communities, and so their leadership in advancing the TPNW’s core aims is essential.
(Above Left: Representatives of Korean & Japanese hibakusha meet with North East Asian civil society to discuss the crisis on the Korean peninsula).
(Above Right: Alan Owen, founder of Labrats, presents on British nuclear tests and the cross-generational health impacts on UK veterans like his father).
(Below Left: Scottish CND representatives!).
(Below Right: Korean and Japanese hibakusha in solidarity).
The TPNW also recognises the disproportionate harm posed by nuclear weapons to women and girls through the effects of ionising radiation. Side-events were dedicated to discussing the acute health effects of by nuclear test explosions on women’s reproductive health as well as the heightened risks of various radio-induced cancers and thyroid defects. Whilst nuclear weapons are indiscriminate, we cannot overlook these dynamics of gendered harm.
We will be publishing more of our findings from 3MSP soon, as well as taking concrete campaigning action based on what we learned this week. For now, a reminder of our peace conference this coming May, where many of the issues of the 3MSP will be applied to the Scottish context.
How can we work towards a Scotland free of nuclear weapons, and what should this Scotland look like? Get your advance tickets now, and we’ll find out on May 17th!
You can also click on the poster below to get your tickets:
