The International Day of Peace ("Peace Day") is observed around the world each year on 21 September. Established in 1981 by unanimous United Nations resolution, Peace Day provides a globally shared date for all humanity to commit to Peace above all differences and to contribute to building a Culture of Peace. This year is particularly significant: It is the 20th Anniversary of the UN Resolution on the Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace. A/RES/53/243 B.
Join the Baltimore Nonviolence Center and Baltimore Peace Action
in a Vigil to celebrate the International Day of Peace on Mon., Sept. 21 from 5
to 6 PM at 33rd and N. Charles Sts. What better place than across the street
from Johns Hopkins University, a major weapons contractor. There will not be a
Tuesday "No Drone Research at JHU." You may consider contacting President
Ron Daniels and telling him that the university should reject all military
contracts, including those for killer drone and nuclear weapons research.
The president’s mailing address is Office of the President, 242
Garland Hall, The Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N. Charles St., Baltimore,
Maryland 21218. You can also reach his office by Phone: (410) 516-8068, Fax: (410) 516-6097 or email: president@jhu.edu. Contact
Max at mobuszewski2001 at Comcast dot net or 410-323-1607.
MALTA
RATIFIES TREATY, ONLY FIVE MORE TO GO!
By Tim
Wallis on Sep 21, 2020 10:43 am
Congratulations to Malta, the 45th country to ratify the Treaty on the
Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons!
Only five more ratifications to go before the Treaty has the requisite number
of 50 to “enter into force” as binding international law. Already there are
more than 40 countries in the process of ratifying the treaty, so the race is
on to be among the first 50. While a president, prime minister or other senior
official can sign a treaty on behalf of their country, ratification is a more
complex process requiring, in most cases, a majority or even a super-majority
in one or more legislatures, such as a national congress or parliament.
The post
MALTA RATIFIES TREATY, ONLY FIVE MORE TO GO! appeared first on Treaty
Compliance Campaign.
Former
World Leaders Join Call to Ban Nuclear Weapons
By Tim
Wallis on Sep 21, 2020 09:52 am
September
21, 2020: More than fifty former world leaders have signed a letter released
today, in support of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, or
Nuclear Ban Treaty. The former leaders and ministers, from 22 NATO members as
well as from Japan and South Korea, state that their countries, by claiming protection
from an ally’s nuclear forces, are “promoting the dangerous and misguided
belief that nuclear weapons enhance security” and “perpetuating nuclear
dangers” when they should instead be “enabling progress towards a world free of
nuclear weapons”. They urge current leaders to “show courage and boldness — and
join the treaty”.
The
letter, signed by 56 former Presidents, Prime Ministers, Foreign Ministers and
Defense Ministers, including former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and two
former Secretary-Generals of NATO, Javier Solana and Willy Claes, is the most
significant demonstration of high-level support for the Nuclear Ban Treaty from
NATO members and other close allies of the United States to date. So far, 84
countries, mostly from Latin America, Africa and the Pacific, have signed the
Treaty. Fifty ratifications are needed for the Treaty to enter into force as
binding international law, and so far 44 countries have ratified, bringing
entry into force possible by the end of this year or early in 2021.
Ireland
ratified the Nuclear Ban Treaty earlier this month, and the Irish Dail has
already passed legislation enforcing the Treaty in Irish law. The new law makes
it a crime, punishable by fine or life in prison, to “assist, encourage or
induce” any other person to have anything to do with nuclear weapons. Once the
Nuclear Ban Treaty enters into force, this will be the law in all countries who
have signed and ratified the Treaty. While countries that have not joined the
Treaty are not legally bound to abide by it, the Treaty establishes in
international law a legal “norm” against nuclear weapons that will continue to
shape the behavior and policies of countries that remain outside the Treaty.
For
instance, while the US has not signed or ratified the Landmines Treaty or the
Cluster Munitions Treaty, it has not used these weapons since those treaties
entered into force, partly because of the international stigma now attached to
those weapons, and partly because of the difficulties of working alongside
allies who have signed those treaties and thus cannot participate in their use.
US companies making prohibited weapons have also stopped making them, in part
because of international campaigns of divestment directed at companies that
make “controversial” weapons prohibited under international law. These same
factors are already affecting US nuclear weapons policies and the companies
that make nuclear weapons.
For more
information, see ICAN’s page on the Open Letter at: https://www.icanw.org/56_former_leaders
Or article
in the New York Times at: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/20/world/treaty-nuclear-arms-united-nations.html
Donations can be sent to Max Obuszewski,
Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 431 Notre Dame Lane, Apt. 206, Baltimore, MD
21212. Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski2001 [at] comcast.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class has always declared
the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has
had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to
gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs
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