Today, the 15th of June 2017 the final round of United Nations-mandated negotiations on a treaty prohibiting the development, stockpiling and use of nuclear weapons, began. It is not a surprise that the British government has refused to participate at the discussions and we have, yet again, a disappointing empty seat.

Read  their full briefing here.

Meanwhile, hundreds of countries are living up to their values and have gathered at the UN in New York to negotiate the treaty. Scottish MPs and MSPs are sending us video statements to show their support for a global ban on nuclear weapons.

While some of the official chairs are empty, the civil society section does not seem to have enough seats to accommodate us all.

For more updates and info please check this website and our social media posts.

On the Eve of the resumption of Negotiations for the Global Ban Treaty on Nuclear Weapons Tommy Sheppard MP sends a message of support to those trying to achieve a multilateral ban on nuclear weapons.

In less than a week’s time we’re marching together across the planet to support the Global Ban treaty on Nuclear weapons!

At the same time as the Women’s March to Ban the Bomb in New York there will be solidarity events all over the world, including several in Scotland.

Events planned so far for Saturday 17th June are listed below. If there is not one in your area don’t be shy – go ahead and organise your own.

• LIVESTREAM: Women’s March to Ban the Bomb! 5-7pm, at the Serenity Cafe, 8 Jackson’s Entry, The Tun, 111 Holyrood Rd, Edinburgh, EH8 8PJ
• Brodick, Isle of Arran. Gathering opposite the Douglas 4.45-5.15pm
• Edinburgh, Demo with singing at 4 pm-6 pm, on the Mound.
• Glasgow Gathering at Donald Dewar Statue 12.00 noon (Timing intended to allow people to attend at both Glasgow and another site if they wish)
• Kilmarnock rally at 5 pm, at the Burns Statue

You can publicise any event you are organising by posting on solidarity event online map and sending information to Scottish CND for our website and to make a Facebook Event. In any case – please call the local press and take pictures to send to them and to us.
Over in New York the Scottish delegation will be going to the march with a Scottish Banner.

Whatever you decide to do this Saturday all eyes will be on the second round of negotiations for the nuclear weapon ban treaty, taking place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City from 15 June–7 July 2017. You can stay updated by subscribing for the Nuclear Ban Daily or follow the action live on Twitter through @RCW

Scottish Civic Society will be well represented at the UN discussions for a global ban on nuclear weapons. This will take place in New York, between 15 June – 7 July 2017.

Delegates attending:

Janet Fenton

• Vice Chair of Scotttish CND
• Scottish Parliamentary Liaison – Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom
• Member of Trident Ploughshares

“As a committed internationalist, I have been an enthusiastic campaigner with  ICAN since its inception in 2007 and was one of the organisers of a launch in the Scottish Parliament  in 2009.

The idea of a ban treaty seemed a long way off, and it is wonderful to me that over the last year the UN set up a working group and has already published  the first draft. I have participated in the process and felt happy to represent Scotland’s desire to be rid of these horrific instruments of death, and to help to rid the world of them. Having participated in these meetings I am very happy to be going to New York with a great team of campaigners and to know that we can be effective in ensuring a strong treaty and coming home to make sure that Scotland knows about it and that the pressure on the UK Government to disarm becomes irresistible.”

Flavia Tudoreanu

• Scottish CND member of staff since 2012

“Scottish CND is one of the largest and most active partners of ICAN in Scotland and along with all my colleagues, we have played a vital role in contributing to its success on a national level. I have taken part in various conferences organised by ICAN, but the most important one was the Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons which clarified the urgent need to prohibit these weapons under international law.

I look forward to attending the UN nuclear ban negotiations and working with our Scottish based campaigners, who will not be attending the discussion, but will play a crucial role in spreading the message and raising awareness of the talks.”

Amy Christison

She graduated from the University of St Andrews in June 2016 with a degree in Management, and has since been interning at the United Nations House Scotland. In December 2016, Amy was assigned as a rapporteur at the Scottish Parliament Conference: ‘Humanitarian and Environmental Costs and Responsibilities of Nuclear Weapons’, and was given the opportunity to report on the work and thoughts of Beatrice Fihn, Head of ICAN. Having long had an interest in the topic of Nuclear Disarmament, and becoming even more knowledgeable on the topic in recent months, Amy is delighted to be invited to the Conference in New York where she hopes to work with the rest of the team in ensuring a                                                                        strong and robust treaty is negotiated.

Andy Hinton

“I am excited and very privileged to have been asked to go. I have never been to such an event before and it is quite a responsibility to represent the area.”

Member of Scottish CND and Aberdeen & District CND. Strong campaigner outside the Central Belt of Scotland.

Dagmar Topf Aguiar de Medeiros

She is a PhD candidate at the University of Edinburgh, studying international climate change law from the perspective of international constitutionalism and human rights. Dagmar has been an intern at the United Nations House Scotland and participated in the Scottish Parliament Conference: ‘Humanitarian and Environmental Costs and Responsibilities of Nuclear Weapons’ as a rapporteur on the breakout workshop entitled ‘Responsibilities and Roles of Host Countries in Preventing Nuclear Dangers and Complying with National and International Law. Dagmar’s background in international law as well as her interest in human rights and the environment prompted her engagement in the nuclear disarmament movement and she is looking forward to contributing to the campaign and participating in the team heading to the Conference in New York.

Isabelle Smith (Scottish team member in New York)

Born in 1931 in Beith ,Ayrshire and educated in Scotland ,I became a teacher.
A career change by my husband Jack, took us to to Connecticut, USA ,where our 3 children were born. I started businesses promoting Scotland. We were always politically active and after the negotiations which led to the installation of the Polaris in Scottish waters at Faslane, we found support in the Scottish National Party regarding their removal .However as the yearswent by ,we watched with increasing alarm, the escalation of the number of more and more powerful weapons of mass destruction.

After my husband’s death in 1994 I returned to my beloved Scotland, getting involved in the changing patterns of Scottish society, keeping not only independence but ” Scrapping Trident ” also to the fore. In 2016 I returned to the States though returning regularly to ,what I consider home. This I intend to continue to do.

It will be my privilege to be a voice for Scotland in ICAN at the Nuclear Ban Treaty Negotiations. It will somewhat alleviate the images that have haunted me since 1945 when as a fourteen year old I saw pictures of the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The week before I had viewed the horrors on film of Belsen concentration camp .Have never quite recovered !
Now 72 years later perhaps a little hope .

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A draft of the ground-breaking UN Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty, arising out of the first session of the negotiation conference in March this year, which was attended by the representatives of 132 nations is now publicly available.

The Conference arises from two main sources and has the support of the overwhelming majority of the UN member states. One source is the growing awareness worldwide of the catastrophic humanitarian effects of nuclear weapons, as underscored by declarations from the International Red Cross and Red Crescent that even a regional exchange of nuclear weapons would mean a disaster beyond any human remedy1. The other is the growing impatience among non- nuclear weapon states with the failure of the nuclear-armed states to make progress on Article 6 of the Non-Proliferation Treaty which obliges them to make genuine progress towards complete disarmament.

The Treaty will follow the pattern of the treaties banning other weapons, such as landmines and chemical weapons. Like these it will not require ratification by all UN states to be effective. Prior to the vote at the UN last October the US, in leaked letter, warned its NATO allies not to support the process since a completed treaty would impose significant restraints on the ability of the US to maintain their nuclear posture.

The nuclear-armed states have boycotted the talks and the US and the UK have been prominent in disparaging the Treaty.

Arthur West, Chair of Scottish CND said:

“Defenders of the UK’s status as a nuclear-armed state are fond of saying that the way forward is step-by-step multilateral disarmament. By completely boycotting these multilateral talks the UK has shown that mantra to be wholly specious. We are particularly conscious of this in Scotland since, if we were independent, we would be playing a full and enthusiastic part in the negotiations, instead of being completely misrepresented as at present. Above all, the Treaty will put nuclear weapons globally in the moral category to which they belong, as hideous and barbaric weapons that bring shame on their promoters and possessors.”

Contact: Arthur West 07826127759 Janet Fenton 07795594573 for more info

Full background at http://www.icanw.org/updates/

DRAFT TREATY RELEASED

People in Scotland have been chanting ‘ban the bomb’ since the first US weapons came up the Clyde, so let’s be celebrating this week’s big news! The chair of the UN Conference to ban the bomb, Costa Rican ambassador Elayne Whyte Gómez, released the first draft of the Ban Treaty in Geneva, Switzerland, on 22 May. She presented the text to diplomats and civil society representatives then took questions from the media.

This draft is based on the elements identified by the 133 member states and the NGOs at the UN in March at the first round of the UN Conference, and it will be the basis of the final three weeks of intense talks during June and early July.

The Ban Treaty draft outlines how the Treaty will enter into effect , which can happen once 40 nations sign and ratify it. Signing by ambassadors can happen very quickly but it can take a wee bit longer for ratification. Essentially, each nation has its own process to incorporate the treaty into its own legal system, so it is law rather than an agreement by the government of the day, but the timescale will be months rather than years.

We need to get everyone talking and sharing this great news – it seems hard to credit that we are finally actually prohibiting nuclear weapons, but we are and this can lead to their elimination in time to save the world. Everyone can help.

On the first Saturday of the negotiations, June 17th The Women’s March To Ban The Bomb, in New York is being organised by WILPF (Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom) an ICAN founder member which has been instrumental in co-
ordinating civil society’s important part in gaining the Ban Treaty. The plan is for representatives from as many countries as possible to take part in the march and rally, and to support the march at home too. The Scottish Working Group for the Ban will have our Scottish delegation in New York out with a big new banner. Check Facebook and this website to see the gatherings happening here in Scotland.

The nuclear weapons states which have said that they will not join the treaty will be stigmatised and shamed and the practical arrangements for the so-called nuclear “protection” services to the “umbrella” states will be affected in ways that will turn a political asset into a dangerous liability. The NATO states in Europe are good prospects for breaking with the nuclear alliance, and hopefully the SNP will see that clearly. Once any question hanging over the legality of any nuclear weapon is resolved there is a clear argument that will convince banks and pension funds to disinvest and that will impact on the nuclear weapons states ability to continue their modernisation and upgrading programmes.

The Scottish peace movement was privileged to host two Japanese A-bomb survivors, known as Hibakusha, during March 2017. The visit coincided with the dates of the first session of the critical UN negotiations for a nuclear ban treaty.

Reiko Yamada and Midori Yamada visited with their translator Shigeo Kobayashi. Reiko survived the bomb despite being caught in its blast in the school playground age 11. Midori is a second generation Hibakusha, one whose parents survived the bomb, and who lives with its effects. Both women have lived their entire lives with physical and psychological effects as well as enduring stigma and social exclusion resulting from their experience and radiation exposure.

This enduring trauma makes it all the more remarkable that they are willing, in their old age, to undertake gruelling tours around the world to talk about their experiences, not once, or even once a day, but several times each day. Their stories are hard enough to listen to the first time. Despite both translation and repetition they retain both their freshness and their horror. The visitors also retained their graciousness and freshness, despite a demanding schedule.

On their first full day in Scotland they began at the Peace and Justice Centre on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, meeting local activists. This was followed by meetings in Holyrood, arranged by Bill Kidd. Many of his SNP colleagues came along to speak to them, as well as some representatives from Labour and the full complement of Green MSPs in the building. An audience with the First Minister followed, where

Nicola Sturgeon reaffirmed her commitment to a nuclear free Scotland and signed a signature campaign calling for eliminations of all nuclear weapons. Although they were behind schedule, the visitors were also keen to have a tour around the iconic Scottish Parliament building.

The next day they began by travelling to Glasgow for an interview with the BBC. This was broadcast later the same evening on Timeline. Lunch was eaten with Helensburgh CND before a visit to the peace camp. It was particularly moving to witness the interaction between the young and the elderly peace campaigners. More than anyone the Hibakusha ‘get’ the peace camp, and they expressed gratitude for its existence. After a further presentation and exchange of gifts there was tea, journalists, photos and lots of chat. On the way back to Glasgow they stopped at the lay-by above the Faslane base to look at the view. They could see Vanguard, one of the Trident submarines docked below. There followed a rather slow drive into the city for their final engagement with Glasgow CND members who had gathered to meet them.

The Japanese visitors were equally at ease whether in the first Ministers Office or at the Faslane Peace camp. Everyone who met them was awed by their courage and dedication, as well as their charm and adaptability.

Thanks are due to many people at Scottish CND, WILPF, Helensburgh CND, Peace Camp, Bill Kidd and his office and Edinburgh Peace and Justice Centre.

By the last day of the first session of the UN Nuclear Ban Treaty discussions in New York, there was an exuberant excitement in the room at the enormous significance of what is under way.

132 UN Member states participated in this meeting to agree the elements for a nuclear weapons ban treaty. This important treaty is a real step towards general and complete disarmament, leading to peace, security, and human rights.  It is not an end itself, but an major tool.

When the nine states that possess nuclear weapons exhibited no good faith commitment to nuclear disarmament and chose to boycott the conference, their absence did not have the effect they had intended but allowed thoughtful deliberation and exchanges, and a useful example of how the United Nations can operate in terms of open, fluid conversation amongst states, international organisations, academics, and non-governmental organisations. This was particularly helpful around the discussions of positive obligations that  states would commit to, such as ensuring the rights of victims and survivors of nuclear weapons activities, and identifying actions to address damage to affected environments and providing for international cooperation and assistance to meet the obligations of the treaty.

Member states showed their concerns that the devastating effect of nuclear weapons can never be contained  by national borders or their governments and they listened respectfully  to survivors describing the awful reality of nuclear weapons and tests, and the expert advice from organisations like the International Red Cross and Red Crescent.

All of the key points that ICAN hoped the states would raise were discussed and hopefully will be  incorporated into the draft treaty that the chair will now compile for further discussions  in the second session, which takes place from the 17th of June till the beginning of July.

Ensuring that the information is available for the diplomats, encouraging them to work together in groups to resist the financial pressure and threatened removal of military support by the nuclear weapons states, organising or participating in the many side events to help people to be well informed, and keeping track of who is there who is speaking and what they are saying is a lot of work. We need to ensure that civil society and parliamentarians who support the treaty are there, speaking out. Lots of people are pinning hopes on Scotland succeeding in disarming the UK, and it is essential that we share this news here – the mainstream media are not listening in the UK.

The conference is starting to change the norm and stigmatise and delegitimise nuclear weapons in the eyes of the world.

Article written by Janet Fenton, Vice-Chair of Scottish CND and an accredited civil society participant in the Treaty negotiations

Over 120 UN states have started this week the negotiations to develop a legally binding instrument for the prohibition of nuclear weapons, along the lines of the bans on chemical weapons and landmines.

The UK Government decided to use its access to the United Nation, not to enter the discussion, but to join the US ambassador in a protest outside the room.

Despite the desperate efforts of nuclear countries to boycott this process it is clear that there is a worldwide support for the treaty.

UK’s statements had the following points:

• The ban fail’s to address key issues that must first be overcome to achieve lasting global disarmament
• The  UK is completely committed to the long term goal of a world without nukes
• It recognises it has obligations as every country under the NPT
• The UK has a strong record on nuclear disarmament that it is proud of – it has reduced nuclear forces by 50% since the height of the cold war
• The UK is not attending negotiations because it does not believe that they will lead to effective progress – the ban cannot and will not work
• The best way to achieve the goal of global nuke disarmament is gradual multilateral negotiations with a step by step approach within existing international frameworks
• A step by step approach is what we need for trust and confidence
• We must take tangible steps towards a world where those with nukes feel able to relinquish them
• A ban will not in itself improve the international security environment, or increase trust and transparency, or meet the technical and procedural challenges of verification
• That is why the UK is standing with US Ambassador Haley today