Experts urge Canadian leadership on nuclear ban

From a meeting in Ottawa last month (“Experts urge Canadian leadership to ban nuclear weapons,” 18 April 2011):

The Canadian government should join a new international effort to construct a global legal ban on all nuclear weapons, concluded disarmament experts meeting in Ottawa.

“Canada should host a meeting of governments and civil society experts to prepare for negotiations for universal, verifiable and irreversible nuclear disarmament as called for by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon,” said former Senator Douglas Roche, Canada’s former UN Ambassador for Disarmament.

Five Canadian civil society organizations urged the Canadian government to act on motions already adopted by both the Senate and the House of Commons calling on the government “to deploy a major worldwide Canadian diplomatic initiative” for nuclear disarmament.

The expert seminar, held April 11th and 12th, was attended by diplomats from 20 embassies, parliamentarians, and government officials to consider the threat posed to Canadians and all global citizens by the 22,000 nuclear weapons still in existence.

The seminar was sponsored by the Canadian Network to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Canadian Pugwash, Physicians for Global Survival, Project Ploughshares, and World Federalist Movement – Canada.

Tags: Canadian Network to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Canadian Pugwash Group, Douglas Roche, Middle Powers Initiative, Nuclear disarmament, Nuclear weapons, Physicians for Global Survival, Project Ploughshares, World Federalist Movement-Canada