Elected representatives from 14 countries met on the sidelines of the second meeting of the Nuclear Ban Treaty (2MSP) at the UN in New York last week to discuss how to build support for the TPNW in their respective countries. They included parliamentarians from Canada, Japan, Germany, Scotland, Belgium, France, Italy, Australia, and Norway.
These are countries in NATO or in other military alliances with the US. And like the US, the governments of these countries do not support the TPNW, even though a majority of the people, and in some cases even a majority of their elected members of parliament, do support the TPNW.
For the first time at any TPNW meeting, elected officials from the United States were present. US Rep Jim McGovern and MA State Rep Lindsay Sabadosa, both from Massachusetts, took part in the parliamentary conversations and spoke to the press afterwards.
They also had an opportunity to meet with Mr. Kazumi Matsui, the Mayor of Hiroshima, as well as with Frank Cownie, the Mayor of Des Moines, Iowa, who was there on behalf of US Mayors for Peace. Mayors for Peace is a global network of mayors committed to working for the elimination of nuclear weapons. It was started in 1982 by the Mayor of Hiroshima and now includes more than 200 city mayors in the US and over 8,000 worldwide.
In her remarks to the press, Lindsay Sabadosa stressed the importance of working at all levels of government to address the threat of nuclear weapons. “In Massachusetts, we have municipal leaders, state level legislation, and wonderful federal partners who are trying to address this issue on all three levels of government. It is inspiring to be here,” she said. “I’ve learned a lot today, and I feel extremely recommitted to the fight.”
Jim McGovern spoke about building support for the abolition of nuclear weapons in Congress: “We are slowly but surely building support in Congress for the resolution to abolish nuclear weapons. We are on our way. It’s not going to happen overnight, but we have to be persistent. This is the right thing to do.”
In their joint statement presented to the all the countries that are already party to the treaty, the parliamentarians announced that they were “united in our commitment to work for our countries’ ratification of the TPNW, as we consider the abolition of nuclear weapons to be a global public good of the highest order and an essential step to promote the security and well-being of all peoples.”
