Nuclear Age Peace Foundation

Tag: Nobel Peace Laureates

  • Breaking Down Walls for a World With Peace and Justice

    The Nobel Peace Laureates, representatives of non-governmental organizations and youth representatives, gathered in Berlin on 10-11, November, 2009, having considered the historical implications of the fall of the Berlin Wall and global developments during the 20 years since then, call on the international community to break down the national, international, personal, and institutional walls,

    Walls that stand in the way of a nuclear weapons free world by:

    • achieving a paradigm shift from counter-productive and excessive militarization to collective security based on cooperative initiatives to address global threats;
    • fully implementing the non-proliferation and disarmament obligations under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, and all other international agreements on nuclear weapons by all members of the international community;
    • negotiating a new convention for the universal and verifiable elimination of nuclear weapons;
    • supporting the successful conclusion of the initiative of President Obama and President Medvedev of adopting a new agreement on  nuclear disarmament and its successful implementation;
    • supporting the UN Secretary-General’s five-point plan on nuclear disarmament;
    • respecting the rules of international humanitarian law and adopting the conventions banning indiscriminate weapons such as landmines and cluster bombs; and
    • addressing the root causes of regional and global conflicts to assure that the security of all states can be safeguarded without nuclear weapons.

    Walls between rich and poor by:

    • mobilizing all necessary national and international resources to achieve the full implementation of the Millennium Development Goals, and by
    • using the current financial crisis to construct a new global economic system that will be fair for all mankind and that lays the foundation for a strong, sustainable and balanced growth through the creation of decent work.

    Walls between cultural, religious, and ethnic communities by:

    • calling on the UN General Assembly to convene an international conference on minority rights, with a view to strengthening protections of the rights of religious, cultural and linguistic minorities.

    Physical walls or barriers that separate or isolate people in various parts of the world and limit freedom of movement and the possibilities of communication by:

    • breaking down walls and barriers such as those that divide Palestinians and Israelis, North and South Koreans, and the people of Kashmir; as well as by
    • addressing the reality and perception of the fears of aggression and terrorism upon which such walls and barriers have been constructed.

    Walls that stand in the way of the crucial need to combat climate change by:

    • ensuring the success of the upcoming Copenhagen conference in securing firm international commitment to effective global action as expressed in the (attached) special statement of the Summit; and
    • assuring sustainable development that will enable mankind to live in harmony with the fragile global environment and with each other.

    Walls that stand in the way of inter-generation justice by:

    • including youth and youth-led organizations effectively in the decisions concerning their future; and by
    • ensuring active dialogue and communication between generations.

    The Summit also calls on the international community to build bridges based on our shared values, vision and humanity. It also calls on all people to show love, compassion and toleration in their relations with one another. In this spirit we recommit ourselves to the Charter for a World Without Violence which articulates our vision for a world with peace and justice.

  • Nobel Laureates Call for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons

    “A world in which nuclear weapons are eliminated … is possible.”
    –Ottawa, September 24, 2009.

    In the wake of US President Obama’s call at the UN Security Council for greater commitment by nations towards disarmament and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, a group of 17 Nobel Laureates today issued a call for the abolition of nuclear weapons.

    The group—which includes Archbishop Desmond Tutu, His Holiness The Dalai Lama, F.W. de Klerk, Shirin Ebadi, Jody Williams, Mairead Maguire and John Hume—is calling for a comprehensive international ban on nuclear weapons.

    The call notes that “nuclear weapons are indiscriminate and thus already illegal under international humanitarian law”.  The Laureates are calling for a plan for “safe disarmament under effective international control”.

    Here is the complete statement:

    WHEREAS the nuclear age has unleashed unprecedented destructive force that can destroy our planet in an afternoon, as well as radioactive poison that will contaminate it for 250,000 years;

    WHEREAS waste from every aspect of the nuclear fuel chain is a threat in all forms to the human gene pool and the sustainability of our environment;

    WHEREAS nuclear weapons are indiscriminate and thus already illegal under international humanitarian law;

    WHEREAS the 8 July 1996 Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice on the Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons found that “there exists an obligation to pursue in good faith and bring to a conclusion negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament in all its aspects under strict and effective international control”;

    WHEREAS the call for nuclear disarmament and a Nuclear Weapons Convention is growing, including from former military and political decision makers who once oversaw nuclear weapons policy; and

    RECOGNIZING that while the linkage between nuclear power and the building of nuclear weapons is clear and a clear threat to security, nuclear energy is an issue that will likely be addressed in other frameworks;

    WE CALL FOR:

    A comprehensive ban on nuclear weapons: their development, production, testing, deployment, stockpiling, or use; and

    A plan for the safe disarmament and disposal of all nuclear weapons under effective international control.
     
    A world in which nuclear weapons are recognized as indiscriminate, illegal and immoral and thus rejected and eliminated is possible. Working together, we can make that vision a reality.

    Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Prize (1976)
    Betty Williams, Nobel Peace Prize (1976)
    Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Nobel Peace Prize (1980)
    Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize (1984)
    Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Prize (1986)
    His Holiness The Dalai Lama, Nobel Peace Prize (1989)
    Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Nobel Peace Prize (1992)
    F.W. de Klerk, Nobel Peace Prize (1993)
    President José Ramos-Horta, Nobel Peace Prize (1996)
    Jody Williams, Nobel Peace Prize (1997)
    John Hume, Nobel Peace Prize (1998)
    Kim Dae-jung, Nobel Peace Prize (2000) *
    Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Prize (2003)
    Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize (2004)
    Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize (2006)
    ~
    Leon M. Lederman, Nobel Prize in Physics (1988)
    Richard J. Roberts, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1993)
    September 2009
    * (President Kim Dae-jung signed onto this call some months before his passing.)

  • 17 Nobel Peace Laureates Call for a Nuclear Weapons-Free World

    Sixty-four years ago, the horror of atomic bombs was unleashed on Japan, and the world witnessed the destructive power of nuclear weapons. Today, with just a year until the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference convenes at the United Nations in the spring of 2010, we, the undersigned Nobel Peace Laureates, echo U.S. President Barack Obama’s call for a world without nuclear weapons and appeal to the leader of every nation to resolutely pursue this goal for the good of all.

    We find ourselves in a new era of proliferation. Despite the near universal ratification of the 1970 treaty, which binds states to nuclear disarmament, little progress has been made to fulfill this pact and eliminate nuclear weapons from our world. On the contrary, as the nuclear powers have continued to brandish their weapons, other nations have sought to produce their own nuclear arsenals.

    We are deeply troubled by this threat of proliferation to non-nuclear weapon states, but equally concerned at the faltering will of the nuclear powers to move forward in their obligation to disarm their own nations of these dreadful weapons.

    The fact that humanity has managed to avoid a third nuclear nightmare is not merely a fortunate whim of history. The resolve of the A-bomb survivors, who have called on the world to avert another Hiroshima or Nagasaki, has surely helped prevent that catastrophe. Moreover, the millions who have supported the survivors in their quest for peace, as well as the reality of our collective restraint, suggest that human beings are imbued with a better, higher nature, an instinct for inhibiting violence and upholding life.

    In the months leading up to the NPT Review Conference, this higher nature must rise to guide our efforts. Nations are now reviewing progress in the treaty’s implementation and mapping a path forward. For the first time in many years, the opportunity exists for genuine movement toward reducing and eliminating nuclear arms.

    As this process unfolds, world leaders will be faced with a stark choice: nuclear non-proliferation or nuclear brinkmanship. We can either put an end to proliferation, and set a course toward abolition; or we can wait for the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to be repeated.

    We believe it is long past time for humanity to heed the warning made by Albert Einstein in 1946: ”The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking, and we thus drift toward unparalleled catastrophe. We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive.”

    We know that such a new manner of thinking is possible. In the past ten years, the governments of the world, working alongside international institutions, non-governmental organizations, and survivors, have negotiated treaties banning two indiscriminate weapons systems: landmines and cluster bombs. These weapons were banned when the world finally recognized them for the humanitarian disaster they are.

    The world is well aware that nuclear weapons are a humanitarian disaster of monstrous proportion. They are indiscriminate, immoral, and illegal. They are military tools whose staggering consequences have already been seen in the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the long-term impacts of those attacks. Eliminating nuclear weapons is indeed a possibility — more than that, it is a fundamental necessity in forging a more secure planet for us all.

    As Nobel Peace Laureates, we call on the citizens of the world to press their leaders to grasp the peril of inaction and summon the political will to advance toward nuclear disarmament and abolition. To fulfill a world without nuclear weapons, and inspire a greater peace among our kind, humanity must stand together to make this vision a reality.

    * This declaration was published by the Hiroshima Peace Media Center

  • Nobel Peace Laureates Centennial Appeal

    We, the undersigned Nobel Peace Laureates gathered for the centennial of the Nobel Prizes, express our joy at this year’s award to the United Nations and its Secretary General, Kofi Annan.

    We hope that our message of peace and justice will reach the hearts and minds of those in and out of government who have the power to make a better world.

    We look forward to a world in which we the peoples, working in cooperation with governments, with full respect for international law, will enable the UN to fulfil its mission to save this and succeeding generations from the scourge of war.

    We call for the prompt establishment of the International Criminal Court and full implementation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including economic, social, and cultural as well as civil and political rights.

    We offer our support for the unrelenting, patient, and non-violent pursuit of peace wherever conflicts may rage today or tomorrow, such as the Middle East, Colombia, or the Great Lakes of Africa.

    We commit ourselves to work for the elimination of all weapons of mass destruction and the reduction and control of small arms and other conventional weapons.

    We call on the human family to address the root causes of violence and build a culture of peace and hope. We know that another world is possible, a world of justice and peace. Together we can make it a reality.

    Oslo, December 10, 2001

    Institute of International Law 1904

    INTERNATIONAL PEACE BUREAU 1910

    Cora Weiss
    AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE

    Mary Ellen McNish 1947
    Norman E. Borlaug 1970
    Máiread Corrigan Maguire 1976

    AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

    Colm Ó Cuanacháin 1977
    Adolfo Pérez Esquivel 1980
    Lech Walesa 1983
    Desmond Tutu 1984

    INTERNATIONAL PHYSICIANS FOR THE PREVENTION OF NUCLEAR WAR

    Bernard Lown 1985
    Oscar Arias 1987
    Rigoberta Menchú Tum 1992
    Joseph Rotblat 1995
    José Ramos-Horta 1996

    INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO BAN LANDMINES

    Jody Williams 1997
    Jerry White 1997
    John Hume 1998