Izumi Nakamitzu

Securing Our Common Future: An Agenda for Disarmament, United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs.

Izumi Nakamitzu is Undersecretary General and  High Representative for Disarmament Affairs. She is also an International Gender Champion.  There is actually a pledge for this if you follow the link. I don't see a lot of Canadian involvement as 'Gender Champions" and we can act on this 'room for growth'. In fact this is a theme echoing here, we, as Canadians are  just not showing up to champion justice and peace issues on the international state. We haven't signed onto the Ban Treaty and we haven't commented on the Agenda for Disarmament. This article in the Toronto Star  is a reminder about the urgency to wake up about nuclear war and it highlights Izumi Nakamitzu's work.

Ms. Nakamitzu  met with the VOW delegation and our discussion focused on the Secretary General's Agenda for Disarmament.  I appreciated her openness and clarity. More than anything, I rejoice in the potential of what she is doing. The road to disarmament is a highway with  many lanes  and gender, non-violence, and security it is one of the collector lanes to the fast lane - climate change.

The agenda addresses three priority areas: Disarmament to Save Humanity – the elimination of weapons of mass destruction; Disarmament that Save Lives – the stricter regulation of conventional weapons; and Disarmament for Future Generations – the emerging challenges of rapid developments in science and technology. Good stuff.

She said that the written document is a little dry but the interactive platform was much better. She is right. I  took a look at the 40 action points ( that include 116 concrete action steps with implementation updates) searching for Canada. I was happy to hear that Canada has potential to play an important role in the disarmament process.

Unless we go beyond the UN partnership groups we will not be able to make change. Although there is no legislated mandate for the Agenda,  and no required communication 80 - 90 member states and 30 civil society members welcomed it. Many countries have publicly supported it. Onward to the   'dynamic platform'. Countries can either be champions or supporters. My search for Canada begins!



ACTION 1:        FACILITATE DIALOGUE FOR NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT


                          Ireland,Sweden and Japan


ACTION 2:      AFFIRM THE NON-USE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS

                         Austria

ACTION 3:      AFFIRM A NUCLEAR WAR MUST NEVER BE FOUGHT


                         No champions

ACTION 4:    BRING THE COMPREHENSIVE NUCLEAR-TEST-BAN TREATY INTO FORCE


                         Germany and Japan


ACTION 36:   FULL AND EQUAL PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN IN
                        DECISION- MAKING PROCESSES


Wait for it - NO Canadian champion or supporter here!

So I did go through the 40 actions. Canada could not be found.  Yet  we have such positive potential and according to Izumi we should be bridging gaps. It  is important for Canada to reach out to the Nuclear Weapon states  and tone down the differences.

Regarding ICANS - if you don't make a problem, it doesn't have to be a problem. The model of the ICAN campaign is an excellent model for civil society engagement.

On Korea - the very long process must go beyond denuclearization - The political situation  has to be separated from the humanitarian situation.


"The Secretary-General therefore appeals to all States that possess nuclear weapons to affirm, as Mr. Reagan and Mr. Gorbachev did three decades ago, that “a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.”

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. We gave her two white peace poppies for her daughters. She is doing the work that needs to be done for all the daughters of the planet.