On Wednesday 7 February, the Executive Director of the International Campaign against Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) and the 2017 Nobel Prize winner, Beatrice Fihn, urged the European Union to spearhead in the abolition of these weapons throughout the world.
Ms Fihn stated, "We are capable of banning nuclear weapons. The world has its eyes trained on the EU and we are waiting for it to show leadership and that it becomes a spearhead and assumes a responsible role”. She also said that the EU was the only authority that had the power to ensure respect for humanitarian and international law. She added that all member states should sign up to the Treaty on banning nuclear weapons and that this treaty involved a political means for ensuring a world free from nuclear weapons. The Executive Director of ICAN said that MEPs should also exert pressure in their respective countries to obtain support for the treaty.
This treaty was adopted on 7 July by 122 out of 192 countries but no nuclear power participated. It enters into force 90 days after 50 countries have ratified it. 4 out of 9 nuclear powers are in Europe: France, the United Kingdom, Russia and Israel.
Ms Fihn expressed her concern that, "We are on the brink of nuclear disaster now more than ever because some leaders are prepared to push the button. If we keep these nuclear weapons, they will be used, voluntarily or not”.
She also expressed her wish for the European Parliament to provide financial support to civil society in defending a world free of nuclear weapons. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)