International issues

The Convergence of Cultures calls for urgent action to help refugees in Libya where reports of violence have been received with authorities failing to assist the injured and making deportations to countries in humanitarian crisis. Many of the victims are men, women and children rejected by European authorities, in violation of the Geneva Convention.

After 6 months of metamorphosis into a democratic international federation the new-look World Coordination Team gets to work on supporting a grassroots social movement that connects the daily issues of violence experienced at home and work with global threats of war and nuclear weapons. “We aspire to do for war and violence what Greenpeace does for environmentalism”.

The NPT conference has come to an end after 4 weeks of intense debate and horse-trading in New York with little progress on disarmament. The Conference calls on Ban Ki-Moon to convene a conference to work on a nuclear weapon free zone in the Middle East. NGOs are disappointed by lack of progress on a convention to ban weapons and by the proliferation of nuclear energy.

As the NPT conference comes to an end with no hope on the horizon for a speedy disarmament, Hillel Schenker, from the Jerusalem-based Palestine-Israel Journal talks about the often talked about Nuclear Weapon Free Zone in the Middle East. “One thing is clear—asking Israel to sign the NPT is a futile exercise, because it will not unilaterally disarm.”

The 17th of May marked the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO). Events were held in tens of countries around the world to send a strong message that these forms of discrimination should be consigned to the dustbin of history. Portugal legalised same-sex marriage. Malawi sentences 2 gay men for the crime of homosexuality.

The tired old mantra of arms control and incremental steps is still dominating discussions at the NPT Review Conference, despite the growing push for a Nuclear Weapons Convention. Calls by Nuclear Weapons States, for the most part, lack any sense of real urgency — even though it is clear that meaningful action for abolition is needed now, and cannot continue to be postponed.

The last day of the first week of the NPT conference sees space given to civil society organisations to address the delegates and submit papers for consideration by the States, party to the treaty. Nobel Laureate Jody Williams, famous for her work in achieving a Land Mine Treaty says, “Nuclear weapons are not–nor can they be allowed to be–the exception”.

Non-governmental organizations at the NPT Abolition Caucus express dismay at the unashamed pushing of a nuclear energy agenda at the NPT conference. They condemn the false advertising of the benefits of nuclear energy by the IAEA and the P5. “985,000 people died of cancer caused by the Chernobyl catastrophe between 1986 and 2004.”

The NPT conference continues in New York with expectations high among anti-nuclear organisations that an intention to move towards a Nuclear Weapons Convention – a treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons – will be expressed in the final documents. The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons is closely following what different nations are saying about such a convention.

The official World March documentary film is premiered at the United Nations in New York one year after it was officially presented in the same location. The video, produced by Spanish filmmaker Alvaro Orus is a 45 minute compilation of some of the most emotional, touching and inspiring moments of the 93 day globe trotting adventure in the name of Peace and Nonviolence.