Antinuclear

International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) started in Melbourne

Nobel peace prize awarded to Melbourne-born International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/nobel-peace-prize-awarded-to-melbourneborn-international-campaign-to-abolish-nuclear-weapons-20171006-gyw4wh.html Melissa Cunningham 

During a time when the risk of nuclear conflict is imminent, the prestigious Nobel peace prize has been awarded to a Melbourne-born advocacy group that pushed to establish the first treaty to ban nuclear weapons.

The Nobel Committee honoured the now Geneva-based group, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, “for its work to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and for its ground-breaking efforts to achieve a treaty-based prohibition of such weapons.”

The group worked to advance the negotiations that led to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which was passed earlier this year at the United Nations.

In July, 122 nations voted to pass the treaty, but nuclear-armed states including the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France stayed out of the talks.

Australia is also yet to sign the treaty.

October 7, 2017 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, politics international, weapons and war