Public event: Canada's Contribution to Global Security, 23-26 July
Register now for “Canada’s Contribution to Global Security”, a three day public conference in Halifax, on the occasion of Canada’s 150th and Pugwash's 60th.
Join the expert speakers and breakout discussions on the past, present and future; share your views from a Canadian perspective. Download a poster or browse the program here.
Register separately for a day trip to Thinkers Lodge in Pugwash Village on 26 July. While you are in the area, take in the Vern Theissen play Pugwash at Ships Company Theatre in Parrsboro. More information here.
Good News Service #49
- Ottawa, March 14/17 Malala Yousafzi's speech to Canada's Parliament wasn't just moving; it was also funny
- International Criminal Court provides redress for victims of violations of their human rights
- Small Farmers Aided by Back Yard Communities project in Mozambique
- UN's International Fund for Agricultural Development active in Cambodia
- UNESCO Leadership Training is designed by Earth Charter International
- Climate Change resistance linked to food security in rural areas
- Up to 24 million small farmers helped to access water for their crops in Indonesia
- Owls Build Bridges to Peace
- Turning Ashes into Accommodations
- The link between agriculture and peace
Download issue #49 here (pdf)
Good News Service #50
- Canada on the wrong side of the anti-nuke movement
- General Lee Butler: from Cold Warrior to Outspoken Disarmer
- What You can do today: Let your views be known by phone to: Global Affairs Canada. Ask to speak with Chrystia Freeland, Foreign Affairs Minister. 613.992.5234
- The 81-year-old woman inspiring a nation to recycle
- 110 recipients of the Order of Canada called on the Prime Minister to support UN negotiations to rid the world of nuclear weapons
- Afghanistan authorities make progress in fight against corruption
- UN Women's Executive Board visits Women's work in Rural India
- Mexican Senate approves new law on disappearances of women
- RWANU helps Ugandan women grab life by the horns
- Iranian President Rohani Wins Re-election in a Landslide - a Blow to Hardliners
Download issue #50 here (pdf)
Douglas Roche: Canada on the wrong side of anti-nuke movement
The release of a draft of a UN agreement to ban nuclear weapons provides further momentum for the effort to stave off one of humanity’s greatest threats.
Published 31 May 2017 in The Hill Times, p.20.
By Douglas Roche
Leaders of the Canadian government who in the past few months have contented themselves with vapid excuses for not supporting efforts at the United Nations to prohibit nuclear weapons will have to work overtime to find credible reasons to maintain resistance, now that the draft text of a convention has been released.
The heart of the matter is contained in Article 1 (a), in which each state party undertakes never under any circumstances to “develop, produce, manufacture, otherwise acquire, possess, or stockpile nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.”
In other words, nuclear weapons are stigmatized, put beyond the pale, and never to be a part of a nation’s armoury. The Canadian government, tied so closely to the nuclear policies of Washington and NATO, will not accept this. The integrity of the Canadian position that it really wants to do away with nuclear weapons, but not just yet, is in tatters.
2017: The year in which nuclear weapons could be banned?
Published 20 March 2017 at https://www.sipri.org/commentary/essay/2017/2017-year-which-nuclear-weapons-could-be-banned
Tariq Rauf
At the end of 2016, the General Assembly of the United Nations voted by a large majority (Resolution 71/258 of 23 December 2016) to convene in 2017 a UN conference to negotiate a ‘legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination’. The result of the vote was 113 in favour, 35 against and 13 abstentions. Four of the five nuclear weapon states—France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States—voted against, along with the majority of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) states plus Australia, Israel, Japan and South Korea, all of which rely on US nuclear guarantees. Interestingly, North Korea voted in favour. Those abstaining included China (the only nuclear weapon state that did not vote against), India, the Netherlands, Pakistan and Switzerland.