Page 3912 - Week 10 - Thursday, 20 September 2018
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The committee made this acknowledgement in their statement when awarding the prize:
We live in a world where the risk of nuclear weapons being used is greater than it has been for a long time. Some states are modernizing their nuclear arsenals, and there is a real danger that more countries will try to procure nuclear weapons, as exemplified by North Korea. Nuclear weapons pose a constant threat to humanity and all life on earth. Through binding international agreements, the international community has previously adopted prohibitions against land mines, cluster munitions and biological and chemical weapons. Nuclear weapons are even more destructive, but have not yet been made the object of a similar international legal prohibition.
It is for their ongoing efforts to address this legal gap that ICAN was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. ICAN first opened its offices in Melbourne in 2006. It has since grown into a coalition consisting of several hundred non-government organisations, from local peace groups to global federations from over 100 countries representing millions of people.
The Nobel Prize committee has acknowledged that the coalition has been a driving force in prevailing upon the world’s nations to pledge to cooperate with all relevant stakeholders in efforts to stigmatise, prohibit and eliminate nuclear weapons. To date, 127 states have made such a commitment, known as the humanitarian pledge.
Although ICAN began in Australia, the Australian government’s recent track record on nuclear non-proliferation is less impressive. Australia did not participate in the negotiation of the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. It voted against the UN General Assembly resolution in 2016 that established the mandate for nations to negotiate the treaty. Earlier that year, Australia had attempted to derail a special UN working group on nuclear disarmament in Geneva, which adopted a report recommending the negotiation of the treaty.
While it is certainly disappointing, it is perhaps no surprise that former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull made no effort to congratulate ICAN on their award. Australia’s recent attitude towards disarmament is particularly disappointing considering that Australia played a very proactive role in this space in the early days of the United Nations.
Today marks one year since the treaty opened for signature. Sixty countries have signed on and 10 have ratified. The treaty is well on the way to entering into force, which we hope will be within the next year or two. To mark one year since the treaty opened for signature, as the Deputy Chief Minister noted, a group of cyclists has cycled from Melbourne, where ICAN originated, to Canberra, where action is needed to ensure that Australia signs the new treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons.
The group is carrying a copy of the treaty and also the Nobel Peace Prize medal. It has stopped along the way to raise awareness of the nuclear weapons issue, the treaty and Australia’s role. They left Melbourne on 2 September and are arriving at Parliament House in Canberra today. I would like to extend a warm welcome and congratulations to the riders.
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