ICAN
United Nations – NY – OCTOBER 9, 2017 – The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), winner of the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize, held a press conference at UN headquarters, sponsored by the Permanent Mission of Austria to the UN. Beatrice Fihn (centre), Executive Director of ICAN, addresses journalists. She is flanked by Tim Wright (left), Asia-Pacific Director of ICAN; and Ray Acheson, Director of Reaching Critical Will and advocate with ICAN. Brazilian Ambassador Mauro Vieira is pictured at Left, Costa Rica Ambassador Juan Carlos Mendoza García is pictured at right. (Luiz C. Ribeiro/Europa Newswire)
United Nations, October 09 2017
This year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner Non-Governmental Organization ICAN called on the US government “to continue certifying and stay in” the Iran Nuclear deal.
Talking to media at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, Beatrice Fihn, Executive Director of the ICAN – International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, said the eventual pull-out of the US from the Iran nuclear deal “would have a lot of negative impact.”
Fihn also said “we see no evidence that Iran isn’t complying with it. Instead everyone – the IAEA and all the other partners of this deal are saying that Iran is complying with it. So we are really calling on the US government to continue certifying and stay in this deal and to avoid causing anymore conflict or tensions.”
Earlier this month, the Geneva-based ICAN was awarded the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize for spearheading the Concerted efforts of civil society organizations and several governments that resulted in the adoption of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in July this year, the first multilateral legally binding instrument for nuclear disarmament in decades.
One hundred and twenty two country, none of them a nuclear power themselves, voted to adopt the Treaty – a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination.
On winning the Nobel Prize, Fihn said “this peace prize brings extremely timely and very urgently needed attention on this issue.”
More than 15,000 nuclear weapons remain in global stockpiles, with many on high levels of alert. Furthermore, tensions have flared over the nuclear weapons development programme of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea since past few months.
The Executive Director pointed out that “one American nuclear weapons-armed submarine has explosive power of seven World War two on it. And there are ten of these patrolling the world at the same time. We are talking about 70 World War two on our seas right now. And that is just the United States.”
Source: UNTV. Photo: Luiz Ribeiro/EuropaNewswire