Abolition 2000 was this week nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Thore Vestby, Vice-President of Mayors for Peace and an alternate member of parliament from Norway.
‘The issue of nuclear weapons came to a peak last week when the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists moved the Doomsday Clock to 2.5 minutes to midnight reflecting the extreme risks of nuclear conflict’ says Mr Vestby in his nomination letter to the Nobel Peace Committee.
‘On the other hand, there are new initiatives by the United Nations – and recent pronouncements by the leaders of China, the US and Russia – that give rise to hope for nuclear disarmament and concrete agreements to establish a nuclear weapon free world.’
‘With over 2000 member organisations from around the world, this (Abolition 2000) is the biggest nuclear abolition network‘ says Mr Vestby. ‘Abolition 2000 has had considerable success, especially in building United Nations, government and public support for a nuclear weapons convention – a global treaty to prohibit and eliminate nuclear weapons.’
Mr Vestby also nominated Global Zero and UNFOLD ZERO for the prestigious award.
“If nobody had them, nobody would need them”, is a saying that gains ground‘ says Mr Vestby. ‘It has now come to be a point that is has been expressed by President Xi in a ground-breaking speech to the Davos World Economic Forum, and by Presidents Putin and Trump who have raised the possibility of a Reykjavik Summit that would finally deliver on the promise of the 1986 Reykjavik Summit between Presidents Reagan and Gorbachev.’
‘In addition, the United Nations General Assembly has decided to convene negotiations in 2017 on a nuclear ban treaty, and to hold a High Level Conference on Nuclear Disarmament in 2018 to build political traction and global support for nuclear disarmament measures leading to a nuclear-weapon-free world.’
I believe that the 3 organisations nominated have been instrumental in these positive developments, and their continued work will be vital to the success of the bi-lateral, plurilateral and multilateral initiatives mentioned above.’
The Nobel Peace Committee is not permitted under its statutes to release information about the individuals and organisations nominated for the prize. However, those making the nominations are able to make their nominations public. Nobel Peace Prize Watch publishes a list of nominations that they believe conform to the intentions Alfred Nobel had for the prize.
The following are nominations of other nuclear disarmament activists and organisations listed by Nobel Peace Prize Watch: Nihon Hidankyo, IALANA, David Krieger, Karipbek Kuyukov, Mayors for Peace, Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament, Arundhati Roy and Peter Weiss.