Ann Suellentrop, MSRN, a leader in PeaceWorks KC and the national Physicians for Social Responsibility, is telling us what she’s seeing/hearing/suffering/loving at the third meeting of states parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. From this “ban treaty” meeting at the UN Headquarters in New York City March 3-7, Ann shares the following.
Some 350 persons/group leaders in the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) are attending the meeting. Plus many others from NGOs. They’re firing each other up!
The treaty was propelled into being by ICAN, of which PeaceWorks is a member. The UN passed the treaty July 7, 2017, and it “entered into force,” took effect (once 50 nations had incorporated it into their own legislation), on Jan. 22, 2021. By now, 73 countries have embraced the treaty—wow! They constitute the “states parties” to the treaty.
In advance of this “ban treaty” meeting, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the treaty “an important step towards the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons and a strong demonstration of support for multilateral approaches to nuclear disarmament.”
ICAN and PAX (peace) just released their report, At Great Cost: The Companies Building Nuclear Weapons and Their Financiers. It identifies 260 banks, pension funds, insurance companies, and other financial institutions with significant financial or investment relations with the 24 main nuclear weapons producers.
You know some of these names: The “most significant contracts” for nuclear-weapon-related work went to Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, BAE Systems, Boeing, Leonardo, Lockheed Martin, and RTX. But amazingly, says At Great Cost, the number of institutions with significant financial exposure to such companies has dropped by a quarter since the TPNW came into force in 2021. Mark that up for hope.
The tragedy of US nuclear tests was made clear in an email to Ann and others, sent by Liz Mattson of Washington State (lizm@hanfordchallenge.org): “The nuclear legacy and how it connects us is much deeper than we know it. On March 1, 1954, the United States tested its most powerful hydrogen bomb at 15 megatons, code named Castle Bravo. The plutonium and ionizing radiation weapons were created here in Washington State and detonated upon Bikini and Enewetak Atoll-Marshall Islands. In generations to come, people may be displaced, food security lost, and other chronic health conditions as an outcome of the nuclear era. We are not alone! We shall never forget! The resilience and strength of nuclear frontline communities who are continuing to fight for dignity and respect must be upheld by these remembered stories towards justice.”
Liz Mattson credited this statement to CANN-W, The COFA (Compacts of Free Association with the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau) Alliance National Network of Washington.
