Irish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

Address by Louise Sarsfield Collins, Irish Red Cross International Humanitarian Law Dissemination Officer, at the Irish CND AGM, 13th May 2013

The Mansion House, Dawson Street, Dublin 2

Monday 13th May at 7.30 p.m.

Guest speaker:
Louise Sarsfield Collins, Irish Red Cross
"Tackling nuclear weapons: Humanitarian perspectives"

Global Day of Action on Military Spending

Nine states spend over US$100 billion per year on their nuclear weapons, while projections indicate that by 2015 about one billion people will be living on an income of less than US$1.25 per day, the World Bank’s measure of extreme poverty. The use of those weapons would wreak havoc to the global economy, undermine sustainable development, and increase existing inequalities.

The historic Oslo Conference, convened by the Norwegian government, on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons has concluded with the announcement of a follow-up meeting to be hosted by Mexico. A wide range of states and organisations agreed that an understanding of the global humanitarian consequences of nuclear detonations should be the starting point for urgent action to ban and eliminate nuclear weapons.

Speaking at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Eamon Gilmore TD has strongly re-affirmed Ireland's commitment to nuclear disarmament, warning of the risk of the Non-Proliferation Treaty unraveling if there is not progress on disarmament from states possessing nuclear weapons.

Following a third nuclear test explosion by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea), the Irish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament has joined other international organisations working for the abolition of nuclear weapons to condemn the test. The detonation is believed to be around twice as large as North Korea’s last test in 2009, according to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organisation.

Below is the full text of the letter sent by Irish CND to Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Eamon Gilmore T.D., urging strong Irish involvement in the international conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons, to be hosted by the Norwegian government in March 2013.

Dear Minister Gilmore

Ireland is among 34 United Nations member states who signed a strong statement on the humanitarian impacts of nuclear weapons, delivered by Switzerland at the UN General Assembly in New York on 22 October.

To mark the United Nations International Day of Peace on September 21st, the Irish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament has launched a new policy document on Irish financing of the nuclear weapons industry, calling for legislation to end the investment of state funds in companies involved in the manufacture, testing and maintenance of nuclear weapons, their components and their delivery systems.