Scottish WILPF member Janet Fenton gave evidence at the latest UN Open Ended Working Group: Taking Forward Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament Negotiations in Geneva on 9 May 2016.
She said, “Acceleration of climate change and the ongoing environmental degradation constitute profound challenges for our times. Both would be exacerbated by nuclear detonation, or by accidents and leakages of waste and the effect of climate change or environmental degradation could provide a trigger for deliberate or accidental detonation(s). Gendered perspectives which equate strength and effectiveness with military spending and dominance exclude women from authoritative social and political roles in addressing these threats reduce the effectiveness of women in infrastructures and negotiation.
“Women have been active in protesting against nuclear weapons since their inception, but they aren’t heard and the actions are forgotten.”
About WILPF’s role in the campaign for nuclear disarmament, she said, “The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom has opposed war as a means of conflict resolution and upheld women’s human right to equal representation since its inception a hundred years ago. It called for the elimination of nuclear weapons even before the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament was founded, advocated the establishment of the League of Nations and then United Nations and the UN first resolution commitment to nuclear disarmament.”
Read her full statement.