Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (PNND)
is a global network of over 800 parliamentarians from more than 80 countries
working to prevent nuclear proliferation and achieve nuclear disarmament. Membership is open to current members of legislatures and parliaments at state, federal, national and regional levels.
Become a member today!
The work of PNND
is made possible through the generous contributions of the Disarmament Education United Nations Implementation Fund (Aotearoa-New Zealand), the Simons Foundation, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Global Security Institute and a number of individual supporters. Thank you!
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PNND France Coordinator, Jean-Marie Collin, holds a copy of "Nucléaire, un mensonge français" |
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He once swam in the waters of Moruroa atoll to ‘prove’ how safe the French nuclear tests were. Now, former Defense Minister Paul Quilès has published a book entitled “Nucléaire, un mensonge français: Réflexions sur le désarmement nucléaire” (Nuclear, a French lie: Reflections on nuclear disarmament) in which he re-examines the assumptions made in France about nuclear deterrence. In doing so, Quilès concludes that the cloak of nuclear deterrence no longer has any validity, and that repeated adherence to nuclear doctrine as a form of security is a lie of monstrous proportions.
Quilès was assisted in his analysis and in writing the book by representatives of Global Zero, Mayors for Peace, and PNND France. In addition to providing analysis debunking nuclear deterrence, PNND France Coordinator Jean-Marie Collin contributed a chapter on the vital role French parliamentarians must take to challenge the status quo and to advance collaborative nuclear disarmament initiatives in bilateral, regional and multilateral forums.
» Click here for more information on the French version
» Download the English version
For further information, contact collinjeanmarie@yahoo.fr
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Astana, Kazakhstan |
From 27-30 August, parliamentarians from around the world will gather in Astana, Kazakhstan for the 2012 Astana-Semipalatinsk Forum: From a nuclear test ban to a nuclear-weapons-free world. Hosted by the Kazakhstan Parliament and organised by PNND, the forum will build upon the nuclear disarmament experience and inspiration of Kazakhstan in order to shape parliamentary action and build political momentum to achieve the global abolition of nuclear weapons.
Kazakhstan, under the continuing leadership of President Nazarbayev, closed down the Soviet nuclear test-site on their territory in 1991, facilitated the withdrawal of over 1500 nuclear weapons deployed on its territory following the collapse of the USSR, negotiated with its neighbours to establish a Central Asian Nuclear Weapon Free Zone, sponsored the UN resolution which established the International Day to End Nuclear Tests, and in 2011 launched an international effort to achieve a nuclear-weapon-free world (See the Astana Declaration for a Nuclear Weapon-Free World).
The three-day Forum, to be opened by President Nazarbayev, will include a trip to the former nuclear test site in Semipalatinsk and the Kazakhstan Radiation Research Centre, along with discussions on key nuclear disarmament issues followed by the PNND annual assembly. For more information contact alyn@pnnd.org.
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On October 15-16, 2011, the network of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament convened its Annual Assembly in Bern, Switzerland.
Held immediately prior to the 125th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union October 16-19, legislators from around the world strategized ways to leverage their roles in the collaborative work to build the framework for a nuclear weapon-free world.
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Parliamentarians from around the world appealed to the leaders of China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States to use the forthcoming Summit on Nuclear Security in Paris to reduce their reliance on nuclear weapons and make concrete steps toward fulfilling the vision of a nuclear weapons free world.
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US Congressman
Ed Markey,
PNND
Co-President |
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In a joint letter to the leaders of the five nuclear weapon States (NWS), the seven Co-Presidents of PNND today commended the heads of government for convening such a meeting and noted that ‘there is a global expectation that the consultations you are commencing will result in significant advances in reducing the dangers posed by nuclear weapons and in making progress towards the achievement of nuclear disarmament.’
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We express our concerns and thoughts for our members, friends and colleagues in Japan in the wake of the disastrous earthquake and tsunami. We express our condolences for all those who have lost their lives, our sympathies for all those injured and our best wishes for the rescue, recovery and rebuilding efforts over the next few days, weeks and months.
We pray that no further lives are lost, and that there is no additional destruction or threats to lives from after-shocks or other damage. We sincerely hope that authorities are able to control the situation in the damaged nuclear power facilities, and we express our admiration for the bravery of those working in the dangerous radioactive environment in the facilities in order to minimize the danger to human health and the environment from further radioactive releases.
Alyn Ware
PNND Global Coordinator
Admiral James G Stavridis, Supreme Allied Commander for Europe - one of NATO’s most senior commanders, recently warned that global warming and a race for resources could lead to conflict in the Arctic – possibly a new Cold War. (See Climate change could lead to Arctic conflict, warns senior NATO commander, The Guardian, 11 October)
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Three polar bears approach a US nuclear submarine that surfaced near the North Pole |
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Stavridis made his views known in a foreword to a Whitehall paper, entitled Environmental security in the Arctic Ocean: promoting co-operation and preventing conflict, written by Prof Paul Berkman, head of the Arctic Ocean geopolitics programme at the University of Cambridge. Berkman notes that "Strategic long-range ballistic missiles or other such military assets for national security purposes in the Arctic Ocean are no less dangerous today than they were during the cold war. In effect, the cold war never ended in the Arctic Ocean."
PNND Special Representative Romeo Dallaire joined other Canadian arms control experts (Adele Buckley, Erika Simpson and Mike Wallace) in September calling for innovative co-operation to ensure a peaceful future in the Arctic including establishment of an Arctic Nuclear Weapon Free Zone. (See A nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Arctic, The Embassy, 15 September).
PNND has collaborated with Pugwash Canada and Pugwash Denmark on a number of meetings and conferences to explore the possibilities of establishing such a zone.
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Alyn Ware and President de Klerk co-chair the PNND roundtable at the Nobel Summit |
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In a joint declaration released on 12 November, Nobel Peace laureates meeting in Hiroshima paid tribute to the atomic bomb survivors who have dedicated their lives to the campaign for nuclear disarmament, and called for a universal treaty to abolish nuclear weapons. The Dalai Lama, Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Fredrik de Klerk, Jody Williams, Shirin Ebadi and a number of Nobel Laureate organizations (see Summit Participants) declared that “Nuclear weapons cannot be dis-invented, but they can and must be outlawed, just as chemical and biological weapons, landmines and cluster munitions have been declared illegal.”
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Members of parliaments of Belgium, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Turkey are circulating a sign-on letter to President Obama, supporting his vision of a nuclear weapons-free world and calling for the removal of US tactical nuclear weapons from their soil. PNND is collecting parliamentarians' signatures through April 19.
Members of Parliament! Click here to read and sign the letter.
Members of the European Parliament, led by PNND Member Frieda Brepoels, sent a similar letter to President Obama, co-signed by 64 Members of the European Parliament. MEPs are still encouraged to endorse.
PNND member Hideo Hiraoka and 203 other Japanese legislators sent a letter today to US President Obama supporting his stated policy objectives of moving towards a world without nuclear weapons—undercutting a key argument against President Obama’s nuclear disarmament vision.
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(L-R): Mani Shankar Aiyar, Tadashi Inuzuka, Narae Lee, Mikyung Lee, Dennis Kucinich, Alyn Ware, Uta Zapf, Ban Ki-moon, Jonathan Granoff, Henrik Salander, Bill Siksay, Maryan Street, Douglas Roche, Bill Kidd, Edine von Herold. |
Members of the PNND Council had a private meeting with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 12 October to discuss his five-point plan for nuclear disarmament, reducing the reliance on nuclear deterrence and proposals for regional security including nuclear-weapon- free zones. The meeting included a presentation to the Ban Ki-moon of the Parliamentarians’ Declaration Supporting a Nuclear Weapons Convention (a core component of his five-point plan), and a Parliamentarians’ Statement in Response to North Korea’s Nuclear Weapons Test. PNND plans further collaboration with the UN Secretary-General and the UN Office of Disarmament Affairs.
» View the photo gallery
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PNND Ex-officio member and GSI President Jonathan Granoff delivering his presentation to the PNND Assembly |
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PNND held its Annual Assembly and Council Meeting in New York on 11-12 October during the time of the United Nations General Assembly. The PNND Assembly included UN officials, government representatives, disarmament experts and parliamentarians from around the world. It focused on the role of parliamentarians in achieving a nuclear-weapons-free world.
» View the photo gallery
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PNND Co-President Mikyung Lee |
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PNND held a special forum in New York on 12 October on Implementing the UN Secretary-General’s Five-Point Plan for Nuclear Disarmament, with a key focus on the phasing out of extended nuclear deterrence. The forum included key legislators from Japan, the Republic of Korea, the United States and Germany. (Background document: Implementing the vision – time to close the nuclear umbrella).
» View the photo gallery
From 4-15 May the States parties to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) met at the United Nations in New York to prepare for the 2010 Conference.
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Video presentation by US Congressman
Dennis Kucinich |
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PNND members played an active role to support the NPT Prep Com by promoting the adoption of key resolutions prior to the meeting (especially at the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the European Parliament), organising a special panel at the NPT Prep Com, and by making a number of presentations at key NPT events and to the Chair of the NPT Prep Com.
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Ambassador Boniface Chidyausiku |
On 12 May PNND Global Coordinator Alyn Ware presented the Parliamentary Declaration Supporting a Nuclear Weapons Convention to Ambassador Boniface Chidyausiku, Chair of the 2009 NPT Prep Com. The Declaration was released by a cross-party group of European Parliamentarians in July 2008 on the 40th anniversary of the NPT. It calls for implementation of the NPT through negotiations leading to the conclusion of a comprehensive Nuclear Weapons Convention.
Ambassador Chidyausiku agreed with the proposal for a NWC and included this in his first draft of recommendations for the 2010 NPT Review Conference. The 2009 NPT Prep Com was unable to reach consensus agreement on the Chair’s package of draft recommendations. However, Ambassador Chidyausiku expressed hope that the 2010 Review Conference would agree to the NWC proposal leading to its subsequent implementation.
See: - Ambassador Chidyausiku’s response to the NWC Declaration
- Ambassador Chidyausiku’s NPT-TV interview on the NWC
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Special PNND panel event at the NPT PrepCom, (L-R): Bill Kidd, MSP Scotland; Alyn Ware, Global Coordinator; Bill Siksay, MP Canada; Hideo Hiraoka, MP Japan; Hiro Umebayashi, PNND Japan |
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On 8 May PNND hosted a panel of parliamentarians at the NPT Prep Com at the United Nations in New York. The panel outlined parliamentary actions around the world to support the NPT and to encourage governments to act on specific measures including:
- Ratification and Entry-into-force of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
- Commencing negotiations on a fissile materials treaty;
- Reducing the operational readiness to use nuclear weapons;
- Reducing nuclear weapons stockpiles
- Establishing Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones
- Commencing deliberations and negotiations on a nuclear weapons convention to bring in States outside the NPT into a disarmament process that would lead to the abolition and elimination of all nuclear weapons.
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See also: PNND Alert – US President Obama’s message to the NPT preparatory meeting
NPT-TV is a project of the Student Peace Bureau, which aims to bring reports on nuclear disarmament diplomacy and the expertise of the NGO community a larger audience.
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Jeremy Corbyn |
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At the 2009 PrepCom, several PNND leaders were interviewed:
See also: Nuclear Weapons Convention on NPT-TV
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H.E. Laura Thompson (Ambassador of Costa Rica to the United Nations in Geneva), Mohammed Bedjaoui and Lisa von Trapp (PNND Senior Officer – France) |
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On November 13, PNND joined the Costa Rican Mission to the United Nations, the Simons Foundation, the International Network of Engineers and Scientists against Proliferation (INESAP) and the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms (IALANA) in co-sponsoring a day-long diplomatic roundtable at the United Nations in Geneva (Palais des Nations) on Steps toward a Nuclear Weapons Convention: Exploring and developing legal and political aspects.
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Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament (PNND) is cooperating with the Inter-Parliamentary Union on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament issues in order to engage parliamentarians around the world more actively to implement measures within their own legislatures and to build political will for additional initiatives.
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The latest publication from the global network of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament is now available online in English, Spanish French and German.
To receive hard copies of the report, contact us.
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L-R: Theo Kelchtermans, Belgian MP and Mayor of Peer; MEP Angelika Beer (Greens/EFA, Germany); MEP Annemie Neyts (ALDE, Belgium); MEP Ana Gomes (PSE, Portugal); MEP Girts Kristovskis (UEN, Latvia) MEP Frieda Brepoels (PPE-DE, Belgium) |
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Senator Douglas Roche, Alexa McDonough, MP and Senator Roméo Dallaire
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Pugwash, Nova Scotia: Key parliamentarians and nuclear weapons experts from around the world gathered at the historic Thinkers’ Lodge in Pugwash, Nova Scotia from July 10-12 to consider the growing dangers from nuclear weapons proliferation, and how to make use of the new opportunities for progress on nuclear disarmament.
Specific attention was given to the emerging possibilities for progress on tactical nuclear weapons, the establishment of additional nuclear weapons free zones, entry-into-force of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, negotiations on a treaty to control fissile materials, further reductions in nuclear stockpiles, national measures such as criminalising nuclear weapons and divesting from nuclear weapons corporations, and the start of deliberations (and possibly even negotiations) on a nuclear weapons convention – a global treaty for the elimination of nuclear weapons under international control.
The conference culminated in the dedication by Canada of the Thinkers Lodge as a National Historic Site.
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PNND Member MPI Eduardo Namburete and PNND Assistant Global Coordinator Kaspar Beech |
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On the 26th of March 2008 the Mozambican Parliament voted to ratify the Pelindaba Treaty. This was largely due to the sterling efforts of new PNND member Eduardo Namburete, who, as the Opposition Foreign Minister, worked with the Foreign Ministry, the Foreign Minister and parliamentary colleagues across the isle to get this result.
Read the report from PNND Asst. Global Coordinator Kaspar Beech on his tour of several African states, promoting the Pelindaba Treaty's ratification.
Read more about the Pelindaba Treaty, the treaty that aims to make Africa a Nuclear Weapons-Free Zone, and other NWFZs around the world.
Read the analysis from PNND Member Raphael Chegeni and PNND Assistant Global Coordinator Kaspar Beech on completing the Pelindaba Treaty.
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Christie Brinkley with panelist
Cora Weiss, President, Hague Appeal for Peace |
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Supermodel Christie Brinkley spoke emotionally at the United Nations on the need to abolish nuclear weapons in order to protect children of the world from the horrors of a nuclear disaster.
Christie was part of a panel hosted by the Parliamentary Network for Nuclear Disarmament and the Global Security Institute which included leading women parliamentarians Alexa McDonough (Canada) and Marian Hobbs (New Zealand) and leading disarmament advocate Cora Weiss.
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The Parliamentary Network for Nuclear Disarmament (PNND)
is tremendously shocked and saddened by the tragic murder of Nagasaki
Mayor Iccho Itoh on April 17. Mayor Itoh was a long-time peace and
anti-nuclear advocate with whom PNND has had a very close and
collaborative relationship. He was President of the Japanese
Association of Nuclear Free Local Authorities and the Vice-President of
Mayors for Peace, an international movement of over 1600 cities calling
for the abolition of nuclear weapons.
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Nagasaki Mayor Iccho Itoh in October 2006 at unveiling of a Peace Sculpture from New Zealand, with Alyn Ware (PNND Global Coordinator), Barbara August (Christchurch City), Hon Phil Goff (PNND
member and the New Zealand Minister for Disarmament), HE Mr John
McArthur (New Zealand Ambassador to Japan) and Dr Kate Dewes (Peace
Foundation). |
PNND worked with Mayor Itoh and
Mayors for Peace on a number of initiatives including the Nagasaki
Assemblies for Nuclear Abolition and the Mayors and Parliamentarians Appeal for a Nuclear Weapons Free World.
Mayor Itoh was a very dedicated and effective
leader, who worked locally, nationally and internationally to promote
an end to these inhumane weapons of mass destruction. In this he
represented not only the people of Nagasaki, including the survivors
and families of the victims from the nuclear bombing of his city in
1945, but he also represented all people in this world now, and for
future generations.
We remember Mayor Itoh fondly and will
continue to pursue the dream he shared with us of a world free from the
threat of nuclear weapons.
Senator Emeritus Douglas Roche O.C.
Chair of PNND Global Council
Parliamentarians from North East Asia and
around the world are responding to the shock announcement on October 9
by the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea ( North Korea or DPRK) that
they had tested a nuclear weapon. The Japanese parliament adopted a
unanimous resolution (日本語)
condemning the nuclear test and installing a broad spectrum of economic
and travel sanctions to the DPRK. The Speaker of the South Korean
parliament toured Europe in late October to discuss ways to resolve the
North Korean nuclear issue.
PNND has invited legislators globally to endorse a parliamentary statement
which will be delivered to the leaders and chief negotiators of the
countries involved in the Six Party talks - China , DPRK, Japan,
Republic of Korea , Russia and the United States. The statement will
also be sent to United Nations ambassadors as all members of the UN are
required to implement Security Council Resolution 1718 adopted on October 14 condemning the nuclear test proclaimed by the DPRK.
See Invitation to
parliamentarians/legislators to endorse a joint statement on North
Korea 's nuclear test - English, - Espanol, - Français, - Deutsch
Parliamentary Statement on North Korean Nuclear Test also available in French, Spanish, German, Japanese, Korean and Arabic
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Alexa
McDonough, Vice-Chair of PNND Canada, speaking
at the 60th anniversary of
the UN after presenting mayors and parliamentarians
joint statement |
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On
October 24, 2005, the 60th anniversary of the founding of
the United Nations, the Parliamentary Network for Nuclear
Disarmament and Mayors for Peace presented a
joint nuclear disarmament statement by mayors and
parliamentarians
to the President of the United Nations General Assembly
and the Chair of the United Nations General Assembly
Disarmament Committee,
and was distributed to every UN ambassador.
The
statement, which has been endorsed
by over 300 mayors and parliamentarians from around
the world, was presented to the UN in order to support
the adoption of key UN resolutions calling for the start
of nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament negotiations.
The
statement will continue to be used to encourage such
negotiations until countries agree to their commencement.
To join
the list of endorsers please click here
or send your name, position and country to
alyn@pnnd.org.
See "What's
New" box on right for links to the statement in
other languages.
Further
information
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Rt.
Hon. Helen Clark
Photo:
The Sydney Morning Herald
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Parliament
of New Zealand,
Wellington,
December 8, 2004
NZ Prime Minister Rt. Hon. Helen Clark, addressing an
international conference of parliamentarians in New
Zealand, called on parliamentarians globally to act
more vigorously to achieve a nuclear weapons free world,
and highlighted the special responsibility of Nuclear
Weapon States to take the lead in the abolition and
elimination of nuclear weapons.
The conference, sponsored by the Parliamentary Network
for Nuclear
Disarmament and Parliaments for Global Action (New Zealand),
brought parliamentarians from around the world to consider
ways to strenghten the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
and support a Southern Hemisphere and Adjacent Areas
Nuclear Weapon Free Zone.
Please
click here
for more information about the conference or here
for the Prime Minister's speech.
Please
note that PNND's website has recently had an upgrade.
Some content has not yet been transferred from the old
site, which remains available by clicking here.
We hope that
you find the new website a useful resource. Please email
your feedback so
we can continue to improve.
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