Co-Sponsored by many coalition partners:

Building Political Support for the Nuclear Ban Treaty in Congress and at state and local levels  

 Zoom event: Saturday, April 24, 2021 10:30am-12:45 EDT

Click here for Registration

Program 

10:30 AM - 11:00 AM: Global Support for the Nuclear Ban Treaty 

·      Beatrice Fihn, Executive Director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)

·      Thomas Hajnoczi, Former Head of Disarmament at the Austrian Foreign Ministry 

·      John Finnie, Member of Scottish Parliament

·      Vicky Reynaert, Member of the Belgian Federal Parliament  

11:00 AM - 11:20 AM: The US Congress and the Nuclear Ban Treaty 

·      Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (District of Columbia)

·      Rep. Rashida Tlaib (Michigan 13th Congressional District)

·      Rep. Jamie Raskin (Maryland 8th Congressional District) 

11:20 AM -11:40 AM:  Supporting the Treaty at State and Local levels 

·      State Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa, Massachusetts 

·      Mayor Nicole LaChapelle, Easthampton 

11:40 AM - 12:10 PM: Panel Discussion – “ICAN pledge - Collecting signatures in other nuclear-armed and nuclear-reliant countries” 

·      Heidi Kassai (ICAN Germany)

·      Tilman Ruff (ICAN Australia) 

·      Erin Hunt (Mines Action Canada/ICAN Partner)  

12:10 PM - 12:30 PM: Breakout Rooms - Writing to Your Elected Representatives

Participants will break up into small groups by state/region to write letters and emails to federal, state, and local representatives in their own states and districts. 

12:30 PM – 12:40: Debrief and next steps 

12:40 PM – 12:45 PM: Closure  

Background on the ICAN Pledge and Nuclear Ban Treaty:

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) went into effect on January 22nd of this year. Everything to do with nuclear weapons is now illegal in 54 countries, and that number will continue to rise. In countries where governments are not yet ready to sign this treaty, their elected officials are pressuring them to do so. Over 250 parliamentarians in Italy have signed the ICAN Pledge, nearly 200 in Germany, over 100 in Australia, and almost every member of the Scottish Parliament. 

So far, ten members of the US Congress have signed the ICAN Pledge. Join us on April 24th to hear from Beatrice Fihn, Executive Director of International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) and from ICAN campaigners around the world, on how they have successfully used the ICAN Pledge to build support for nuclear abolition in other nuclear-armed and nuclear-weapon-reliant countries. Also hear from US legislators who have signed the ICAN Pledge or are considering doing so. We will discuss how to get many more members of the US Congress to sign, and how this could begin to change the conversation about nuclear weapons in Washington towards a clear call for the abolition of these weapons. We will also look at how getting state and local legislators to sign the Pledge can help build pressure on Members of Congress to also sign.