History

Alyn Ware

The Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (PNND) was initiated by the Middle Powers Initiative (MPI) in 2001 to help parliamentarians, an increasingly vital constituency, understand the details and appreciate the urgency of nuclear threats.

PNND provides guidance and helps parliamentarians effectively utilize their positions to advance domestic and international disarmament. PNND and MPI both became programs of the Global Security Institute in early 2002, and share the same steering committee. Since then PNND has more than doubled its membership and has spread to more than 40 countries. Outreach
to parliamentarians has been assisted considerably by PNND’s regional coordinators,
Hiro Umebayashi (East Asia) and Karel Koster (Europe).

PNND members have been actively promoting disarmament in their own parliaments and courts, in the media and civil society, and in a number of international forums including the United Nations General Assembly, Non-Proliferation Treaty meetings, the European Parliament, the World Summit on Sustainable Development, the Inter-Parliamentary Union and regional Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone bodies.

PNND has produced a range of supportive resources for parliamentarians including brochures, fact-sheets, email alerts, a website, a briefing book and a newsletter -- most of these in multiple languages. The materials include up-to-date information on nuclear disarmament and provide parliamentarians with inspiring examples of legislative action.

PNND organized a two-day seminar in the European Parliament in November 2002 on the topic of Trans-Atlantic Security and Arms Control: The Role of Parliaments and Legislators. The seminar was attended by parliamentarians and their aides from Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.S., and the U.K. The predominant theme of the forum was how parliamentarians in North America and Europe can cooperate more effectively to strengthen multilateral mechanisms for disarmament and security.

National sections of PNND have been established in Aotearoa-New Zealand and Japan with parliamentary members from a broad spectrum of political parties. PNND Aotearoa-New Zealand has decided to focus on promoting a Southern Hemisphere and Adjacent Areas Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone. PNND Japan hosted a Parliamentary forum in Nagasaki in November, 2003. PNND also organized an international conference of parliamentarians in Vancouver, Canada in
the latter part of 2003 in cooperation with the Simons Foundation.

Alyn Ware
Global Coordinator