about ican

 
 
The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) was launched in September 2007 by the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) to specifically address the need for a Nuclear Weapons Convention (NWC).

ICAN has joined with mayors, civil society groups, non-government organisations, churches and citizens to demand an end to nuclear weapons through a Nuclear Weapons Convention which will make nuclear weapons illegal, banning their development, possession, use and threat of use.

Physicians first confronted the horrors of nuclear war in 1945 following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s physicians played a key role in the debate over atmospheric tests of nuclear weapons and the health effects of radioactive fallout.

In the 1970s physicians began to discuss ideas to foster medical cooperation between physicians of the two superpowers in order to spearhead a worldwide movement away from nuclear disaster.

IPPNW received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985 for uniting doctors across the Cold War divide to raise awareness of the threats posed by nuclear weapons. Its prescription for survival was, and remains, the complete elimination of nuclear weapons.
 
A NWC would prohibit the development, testing, production, stockpiling, transfer, use and threat of use of nuclear weapons, as well as the production of fissile material suitable for making them. It would require all nuclear-armed countries to destroy their nuclear weapons in stages:
 
a) Take nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert
b) Remove nuclear weapons from deployment
c) Remove the warheads from their delivery vehicles
d) Disable the warheads by removing the explosive “pits”
e) Place the fissile material under United Nations control.
 
ICAN-UK gratefully acknowledges the support of the Polden-Puckham Charitable Foundation and the Poola Foundation (Tom Kantor Fund).
 
ICAN-UK's Aims:

1. The negotiation of nuclear weapons abolition

The abolition of nuclear weapons is achievable through a Nuclear Weapons Convention (NWC). The majority of UN Member States call for immediate negotiation of such a treaty, which would prohibit the development, production, testing, deployment, stockpiling, transfer, threat, or use of nuclear weapons.

The NWC would provide for the elimination of nuclear weapons in much the same way comparable treaties have banned landmines and chemical and biological weapons.

The UK Government should pursue multilateral negotiations with a view to concluding a Nuclear Weapons Convention by the year 2020 to ensure the elimination of nuclear weapons world wide.

2. No new nuclear weapons

The UK (and other nuclear weapon states) must immediately stop upgrading, modernizing, and testing new nuclear weapons such as Trident.

Producing new nuclear weapons undermines the goal of non-proliferation, and violates the legal obligations of the nuclear weapon states under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to negotiate disarmament in good faith.

The five original nuclear weapon states made an “unequivocal undertaking” at the NPT Review Conference in 2000 to “accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals leading to nuclear disarmament”.

The hypocritical claim that nuclear weapons are valuable instruments of policy and power projection in some hands but are intolerable threats when owned by others must be abandoned.

3. Reduce the likelihood of nuclear weapons use

Nuclear weapons must be taken off high alert. This would greatly decrease the chance of accidental use. The UK and all other nuclear weapon states should commit themselves to a “No First Use” policy – a pledge never to initiate a nuclear exchange – as an interim step toward abolition and to reduce the stimulus to nuclear proliferation.

Nuclear Weapon-Free Zones, which shrink the geographical space in which nuclear weapons can play a role, should be expanded globally.
 
ICAN-UK members

Medact is the UK affiliate of IPPNW and co-ordinates a group of UK NGOs to take the ICAN campaign forward. ICAN-UK's Core Members are:
 
-       Abolition 2000 UK www.abolition2000uk.org
 
-       Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament www.cnduk.org
 
-       Greenpeace UK www.greenpeace.org.uk
 
-       Medact www.medact.org
 
-       Movement for the Abolition of War www.abolishwar.org.uk
 
-       Pax Christi (British Section) www.paxchristi.org.uk
 
-       Scientists for Global Responsibility www.sgr.org.uk
 
-       Women's International League for Peace and Freedom UK www.ukwilpf.org.uk
 
-       World Court Project UK www.worldcourtproject.org

ICAN-UK Patrons

ICAN-UK is pleased to announce the following have all agreed to be patrons supporting our work to bring about a Nuclear Weapons Convention: 
 
-       Professor Robert Hinde, Emeritus Royal Society Research Professor of Zoology, Cambridge University

-       The Baroness Susan Miller of Chilthorne Domer

-       Air Commodore Alistair Mackie

-       Bishop Malcolm McMahon, RC Bishop of Nottingham

-       His Eminence Keith Patrick Cardinal O’Brien, Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh

-       Rt Rev. Stephen Cottrell, Bishop of Reading
 
-       Bishop Thomas McMahon, RC Bishop of Brentwood

-       Dr Rebecca Johnson, Co-founder of the Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy

-       Mairead Maguire, Nobel Laureate

-       Rodney Bickerstaffe, former general secretary of UNISON

Contact ICAN-UK

If you require any further information, please contact us.
ICAN-UK (c/o Medact) The Grayston Centre 28 Charles Square London N1 6HT
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7324 4739 Fax: +44 (0)20 7324 4734
Email: tim_street@icanw.org
 
 

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