Applause rang through the Assembly Hall in the Palais des Nations at the 2^nd PrepCom after South Africa read out the names of the 78 states who comprised the newly-formed Humanitarian Initiative and signed the statement on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons. Ambassador Abdul Samad Minty of South Africa read the statement which expressed deep concern on behalf of the signees about the catastrophic humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons and demanded their “recognition as a fundamental and global concern that must be placed at the core of all deliberations on nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation.” Read more »

On April 18, 2013, DC’s Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton introduced the HR-1650, the “Nuclear Weapons Abolition and Economic and Energy Conversion Act“ which calls on the United States government to negotiate and enter into a multilateral treaty for the dismantlement and elimination of all nuclear weapons in every country by not later than 2020; and for strict and effective international control of such dismantlement and elimination. Read more »

Protest march to the Japanese Mission. 24 April 2013.

In the early evening of 23 April nearly a hundred people took to the street in front of the Japanese mission to UN organisations in Geneva. The march left the UN building at 18.00 and proceeded to walk to the Japanese mission, stopping for photos at the Canadian mission along the way.

Japanese public broadcasting- NHK- ran an English language news report on the demonstration- which can be seen here.

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20130425_11.html