April 29 Webinar No-First-Use for the US and Globally
Basel Peace Office
On Thursday 15 April 2021, US Representative Adam Smith (Chairman of the US House Armed Services Committee) and Senator Elizabeth Warren (Member of the US Senate Armed Services Committee), introduced the No First Use Act to establish in United States policy and law that the US would not use nuclear weapons as a means of warfare first.
This is one of a number of initiatives to advance No-First-Use (NFU) policies in the US, other nuclear-armed states and in US allies (NATO countries, Japan, South Korea and Australia). The adoption of such policies could help to lower the risk of nuclear war and pave the way for nuclear disarmament.
April 29 Webinar on No-First Use
We invite you to join a webinar on Thursday April 29, Nuclear risk-reduction and disarmament: Is it time for no-first-use policies in the USA and globally? The webinar brings together experts from the USA, other nuclear-armed states and key allied countries to discuss the proposals and possibilities for the adoption of NFU policies. See below for details.
USA and No-First-Use
“Threatening to use nuclear weapons first makes America less safe because it increases the chances of a miscalculation or an accident. There are no winners in a nuclear war, and the US should never start one — I am glad to reintroduce this bill with Chairman Smith to commit the US to not using nuclear weapons first.”
Senator Warren Sponsors No-First-Use Act in US Senate
The NFU Act introduced by Senator Warren (S. 1219) and Representative Smith (H.R. 2603) is very timely, coming as the Biden Administration is about to start a Nuclear Posture Review with NFU as an option that will likely be considered. See Mission Possible: Revisting the No-First-Use of the nuclear weapon.
It also comes and as states parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) are preparing for the 5-yearly review of the Treaty, and non-nuclear States are demanding progress from the nuclear-armed States to reduce the role of nuclear weapons and take concrete disarmament steps.
Take Action:
• USA citizens are invited to sign the petition to support the US No-First-Use Bill.
• Everyone is invited to sign the Global Appeal for a Nuclear Weapon Free World which calls for all nuclear armed and allied countries to adopt NFU policies and commit to the elmination of nuclear weapons;
• For background on NFU please see: No-First-Use Policy explained May 2020 by Union of Concerned Scientists.
Game Over: The Nuclear Football
NFU Webinar April 29
Session 1: Asia/Pacific.
Thursday April 29: 7:30am CET, Islamabad 10:30am, Delhi 11am, Beijing 1:30pm, Seoul/Tokyo 2:30pm, Sydney 3:30pm, Wellington 5:30pm, Hawaii 7:30 pm on April 28, San Francisco 10:30pm on April 28.
Register now.
Speakers:
• Hon Gareth Evans (Australia), Chair of the Asia-Pacific Leadership Network for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament; Former Australian Foreign Minister
• Professor Manpreet Sethi (India) who is Distinguished Fellow and head of the Nuclear Security Project at the Centre for Air Power Studies
• Professor Pervez Hoodbhoy (Pakistan). Former Chair and professor, Department of physics at Quaid e Azam University. Member of the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters
• Dr Tong Zhao (China). Senior fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace located at the Carnegie–Tsinghua Center for Global Policy in Beijing
• Vanda Proskova (Czech Republic), Vice-Chair of PragueVision institute for Sustainable Security.
Session 2: Americas/Europe/Africa
Washington DC (EDT) 11:15am, London 4:15pm, Paris/Berlin: 5:15pm, Moscow 6:15pm.
Register now.
Speakers:
• Mr Thomas Countryman (USA), Chair of the Arms Control Association Board of Directors, Former United States Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Non-proliferation
• Mr Andrey Baklitskiy (Russia), Senior Research Fellow, Center for Advanced American Studies, Institute of International Studies, MGIMO University of the Russian Foreign Ministry
• General Bernard Norlain (France), Former Air Defence Commander and Air Combat Commander of the French Air Force. Vice-President of Initiatives pour le Désarmement Nucléaire
• Lord Hannay of Chiswick (UK), Chair, All Party Group on Global Security and Non-proliferation
• Commander Robert Forsyth (UK), Former Nuclear Submarine Commanding Officer, Royal Navy
• Ms Uta Zapf (Germany/NATO/OSCE), Former Chair of the Bundestag Subcommittee on Disarmament and Arms Control
• Ms Yasmeen Silva (USA), Partnerships Manager, Beyond the Bomb.
Event Sponsors
The webinar is hosted by the Geneva Centre for Security Policy and cosponsored by Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament, Peace Depot Japan, People for Nuclear Disarmament, PragueVision Institute for Sustainable Security and the World Future Council.
Basel Peace Office, Seminar fur Soziologie, Petersgraben 27, Basel 4051 Switzerland.
Online Conference on a US No-First Use policy
You might also be interested in a May 15 conference on Prohibiting the First Use of Nuclear Weapons, which will focus on moving the USA to adopt a NFU policy. The conference is being organised by Massachusetts Peace Action.
