'Aussichten für eine Welt ohne Atomwaffen und eine umfassende Abrüstung' – Stellungnahme von Pax Christi International zur Konferenz vom 10. – 11. Nov. 2017
Pax Christi International is very pleased that the Vatican is organising a high-level international conference on disarmament in Rome on 10 and 11 of November 2017, which will specifically address the new UN treaty banning nuclear weapons.
This conference, “Prospects for a World Free from Nuclear Weapons and for Integral Disarmament” will be a unique opportunity for civil society, church leaders, Vatican representatives, policy makers and others to discuss the next steps toward freeing the world of nuclear weapons as part of integral human development. Pax Christi International has been invited to the conference and will be present with a delegation.
This conference follows the already strong commitment shown by the Holy See in signing and ratifying the nuclear ban treaty on 20 September 2017, one of the first states to do so. When 50 states have ratified or acceded to it, the treaty will enter into force. Our movement, as a member of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), urges churches around the world to join the Vatican’s efforts by calling upon their governments to sign and ratify the new UN treaty.
“His Holiness Pope Francis has demonstrated again important leadership at the international level by making the abolition of nuclear weapons one of his top diplomatic priorities," said Marie Dennis, Co-President, Pax Christi International. "In December 2014, he called for a world without nuclear weapons in his message to the Vienna conference on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons and has continued to work for nuclear abolition since. We hope that the Vatican conference will result in church leaders taking up the same leading role nationally as Pope Francis has done globally so that many more states join the UN treaty banning nuclear weapons soon."
Pax Christi International is a Catholic peace movement with 120 member organisations worldwide promoting peace, respect for human rights, justice and reconciliation. Promoting the new UN nuclear weapons ban treaty is one of our advocacy priorities.
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Advocacy priority: Nuclear weapons ban treaty