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.”
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- Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons
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- Hibakusha & First Minister
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.
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- Andy Hinton
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- Aberdeen CND stall
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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