The purpose of the actions, whether they’re large or small, is to demonstrate in a visible way that there’s overwhelming popular support for a Nuclear Weapons Convention.
June 5 is strategically the best time for us to act. It is the Saturday one week after the end of the important Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference. It will be our opportunity to respond to the conference outcome all around the world.
If the conference fails, as it did in 2005, then the events will be an urgent plea for countries to begin working for a Nuclear Weapons Convention. If it succeeds, it will be an opportunity to build on the enthusiasm for abolition generated at the conference and encourage prompt action.
Either way, the events will be well timed to effect change. June 5 is also the annual World Environment Day. Nuclear weapons, like climate change, threaten the very future of the planet.
There are currently nine countries with nuclear weapons: the United States, Russia, France, the United Kingdom, China, Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea. Of the 23,300 nuclear weapons in the world today, more than 2000 are kept on hair-trigger alert, capable of being used within minutes of a command. Abolition is the only way to ensure that they are never used again.
