Abolition 2000 – Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons

Youth Network

The Abolition 2000 Youth Network is a working group which provides a forum for networking and building cooperation between various youth-led nuclear disarmament initiatives, and with youth working on other related issues or peace and sustainable development. The working group also provides a bridge between youth and other Abolition 2000 actions and initiatives.

The working group includes representatives from Amplify, Ban All Nukes generation (BANg), Chain Reaction 2016, CTBTO Youth Group, Global Zero, IPPNW Student Network, Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament (youth), Parliament of the World’s Religions (youth ambassadors), UNFOLD ZERO, Youth Future Project and others.

Contact:  To join the Youth Network contact info@baselpeaceoffice.org  or join through facebook.
Convenor: Marzhan Nurzhan marzhan@pnnd.org

Activities:
The network organised an international youth conference in Prague, November 27-29, 2017, which released Reach High for a Nuclear-Weapon-Free World, a youth appeal to world leaders to participate constructively in the 2018 UN High Level Conference on Nuclear Disarmament.

Prior to this, the network met in New York in June 2017 during the UN negotiations on a Treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons, at which members discussed a range of youth actions for September 26 (the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons) and to build support for the 2018 UN High-Level Conference on Nuclear Disarmament. These included:

  • Signing the petition against nuclear weapons at the ATOM project website (int`l campaign);
  • Screening the powerful film “Where the wind blew” at universities or in local cinemas with the help of local peace and disarmament organizations
  • Youth sending video messages to their countries’ leaders, calling on them to participate in 2018 UNHLC and to adopt concrete nuclear disarmament measures at the conference. For non-nuclear States this could be announcing their ratification of the ban treaty. For nuclear-armed and allied countries it could include adopting no-first use policies and announcing a framework to achieve a nuclear-weapon-free world;
  • Asking their mayors, parliamentarians and religious leaders to endorse the joint statement ‘A Nuclear-Weapon-Free World; Our Common Good’, which is being used to build global support for UN initiatives such as the ban treaty and the UNHLC.
  • Using hashtags #YouthAgainstNukes and #NukeFreeFuture for social media actions and other posts.

See Youth plan actions for nuclear abolition day and the 2018 UN High Level Conference.

Examples of other youth nuclear disarmament initiatives:

 

UNFOLD ZERO youth present ambassadors to the OEWG negotiations in 2016 with origami cranes. The cranes include a peace message inside.

UNFOLD ZERO youth present ambassadors to the OEWG negotiations in 2016 with origami cranes. The cranes include a peace message inside.