Civil Society and Nuclear Disarmament: Why 2017’s Nobel Prize is Yours!

Speaker: Dr. Vidya Shankar Aiyar, Nuclear Disarmament activist based in Delhi and news media professional

 

Chair: Shri Mani Shankar Aiyar

 

The Nobel Peace Prize for 2017 has been awarded to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, ICAN and against all odds, and in the teeth of opposition from nuclear armed states of the world, 122 of the total UN membership of 193 states succeeded in adopting a UN Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons on 7 July 2017. What does the treaty mean? What does it do and what does it not do? If nuclear armed states are unwilling to get on board, is there any hope for this treaty to rid the world of nuclear weapons? The rising fears of conflict such as one involving North Korea and the US or several other scenarios, now demand an urgent understanding of these issues. Does civil society have a constructive role in this?