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Beatrice Fihn, Executive Director, ICAN

Beatrice Fihn is the Executive Director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize-winning campaign coalition that works to prohibit and eliminate nuclear weapons. She accepted the Nobel Peace Prize and delivered the Nobel Lecture in Oslo on behalf of the campaign. Ms. Fihn has over a decade of experience in disarmament diplomacy and civil society mobilization through her work with ICAN, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, and the Geneva Centre for Security Policy. She has written extensively on weapons law, humanitarian law, civil society engagement in diplomacy and multilateral institutions, and gender perspective on disarmament work.

Thomas Hajnoczi, Former Head, Disarmament Department, Foreign Ministry of Austria

Thomas Hajnoczi is the former Director for Disarmament, Arms Control, and Non-proliferation in the Austrian Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs. Previously he served as Permanent Representative of Austria to the United Nations Office at Geneva. Prior to his post in Geneva, Mr. Hajnoczi was Permanent Representative of Austria to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. Over the years, he has been closely involved in several multilateral humanitarian disarmament processes, including in the negotiations of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

John Finnie, Member of the Scottish Parliament

John Finnie is a member of the Scottish Green Party who currently represents the Highlands and Islands region. Among others, he is on the Finance and Constitution Committee as well as the Justice Committee. He has also been an outspoken advocate against nuclear weapons. Additionally, John Finnie has multiple roles within his party—he is the party spokesperson on communities, justice, tourism, and transport.

Vicky Reynaert, Member of the Belgian Federal Parliament

Vicky Reynaert is a member of the Belgian federal parliament and a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee. She is 36 years old and holds a Ph.D. in political science from Ghent University. She has written extensively about the European Union’s role in international development, foreign policy, and aid allocation. Since entering parliament, she has worked around the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. She has not yet signed the ICAN Pledge but will do so on April 24th.

 

Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, now in her fifteenth term as the Congresswoman for the District of Columbia, is the Chair of the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton introduced the Nuclear Weapons Abolition and Economic and Energy Conversion Act of 2019, which calls on the United States to sign and ratify the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, eliminate its nuclear weapons along with those of every other country, and use the money and resources saved to address climate change and other pressing social needs. Norton was also the first member of the US Congress to sign the ICAN Parliamentary Pledge in May of 2018.

Representative Rashida Tlaib

Rep. Rashida Tlaib has served Michigan’s 13th Congressional District in the US House of representatives since 2019. Her district covers parts of Detroit and Wayne County, as well as several other surrounding communities. She is a well-known progressive warrior and, in her own words, “a mother working for justice for all.” In January of 2021, Rep. Tlaib enthusiastically signed the ICAN legislative pledge and took a stand against nuclear weapons. She also called on her fellow congresspeople to sign the ICAN Pledge and commit to supporting and implementing the TPNW in the United States.

 

 

Representative Jamie Raskin

Rep. Jamie Raskin has been representing Maryland’s 8th Congressional District since 2017. He rose to national recognition as the lead impeachment manager for the Senate trial during the second impeachment of former President Trump in January of this year, just days after the tragic death of his son. He has taken a strong stand on many progressive issues, and was a co-sponsor of the McGovern-Blumenauer resolution in the last session of Congress, calling on the US to “embrace” the TPNW and to take other steps to pull the world “back from the brink” of nuclear war.

 

 

State Representative Lindsay Sabadosa

The first woman to ever hold the 1st Hampshire District seat, Lindsay Sabadosa represents the municipalities Northampton, Southampton, Hatfield, Westhampton, and Montgomery in the Massachusetts State House. She sits on the statewide organizing committees for Medicare for All and helped found the Western Massachusetts Safe Communities Act coalition. She is also an avid supporter of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. She has taken steps to make the Commonwealth of Massachusetts a safer place by sponsoring state bills to reduce, and eventually eliminate, the danger of nuclear weapons.

 

 

Mayor Nicole LaChapelle, Mayor of Easthampton, Massachusetts

Nicole LaChapelle was elected as the Mayor of Easthampton, MA in 2017. She previously spent over two decades serving as a senior strategist and administrator for public school students with a wide range of behavioral and physical capabilities. Since taking office, she has been a strong advocate for peace and justice. Mayor LaChappelle recently issued an Executive Policy Order to align Easthampton with the TPNW by divesting the city from the nuclear weapons industry and refusing contracts with companies that make nuclear weapons.

 

Heidi Kassai, ICAN Germany

Heidi Kassai is from Germany and lives near Mainz—not far from where 20 US atomic bombs are stored. Since 2012 she has actively been involved with and supported the German anti-nuclear weapons movement. In 2015 she became an ICAN campaigner and has since been successfully promoting the ICAN cities appeal. In 2019, ICAN successfully gained political support for nuclear abolition. Prior to 2016, Heidi worked as a coordinator of cultural events and exhibitions focusing on human rights, peace, and the environment.

 

 

Tilman Ruff, ICAN Australia

Tilman Ruff is an associate professor at the University of Melbourne. He helped establish ICAN and was its founding chair, and he remains a member of the ICAN Australia Committee and ICAN’s International Steering Group. In 2017 ICAN was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Alongside his involvement with ICAN, he has written extensively on nuclear issues, including the hazards of ionizing radiation, nuclear weapons, nuclear war, and nuclear famine. Tilman has been an active member of the Medical Association for Prevention of War in Australia for over three decades and is a co-president of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW).

 

Erin Hunt, Mines Action Canada

Erin Hunt is the Program Manager at Mines Action Canada. Erin’s areas of expertise include the humanitarian impact of indiscriminate weapons, victim assistance, gender in disarmament, and Canadian disarmament policy. She contributes to the work of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, the Cluster Munition Coalition, International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, and the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots. She was a member of the civil society negotiating team during the 2017 process to negotiate the TPNW with the Nobel Peace Laureate ICAN.

 

Janet Fenton, Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

Janet Fenton is currently Vice-Chair of Scottish CND and on the International Steering Group of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. She has been exploring and promoting peaceful creative sustainable responses and alternatives to climate change, militarism, and patriarchy through words and actions, and has been a fierce campaigner for an independent and nuclear-free Scotland. Janet was instrumental in getting a large majority of Scottish parliamentarians to sign the ICAN Pledge.

 

 

Lisa Clark, International Peace Bureau