October 16, 2024

Dear NAPF Community,

It has been a busy couple of months educating and advocating for nuclear abolition. Even in the face of dire news coming seemingly from all directions, our activities have a way of filling me with hope and thoughts of a better future. At our Women Waging Peace Luncheon in Santa Barbara, we celebrated the way in which women are writing the story of the end of the nuclear age right now. At the UN Summit of the Future in New York, we organized a side event focused on the role of young people and the intersection of nuclear weapons and climate change. In Paris, where I was invited by the Sant’Egidio Community to speak at their Imagine Peace, International Meeting for Peace, I got to hear from and interact with world leaders, including interfaith authorities. When I spoke on the panel dedicated to nuclear disarmament, I devoted a portion of my remarks to imagining a world in which nuclear weapons are used and why we have to ensure that this version of the future will never come to pass. And of course, last week’s announcement of the Nobel Peace Prize to Nihon Hidankyo has been a moment of elation for well-meaning people all around the world.

There is more. Much more. From our Barbara Mandigo Kelley Peace Poetry Contest’s achingly beautiful winning poems, to a deeply meaningful webinar with the Ellsberg Initiative (and four incredible women!), to a Youth Forum in Kazakhstan that brought together young people from disparate communities joined by their nuclear testing legacies, to a standing-room only lecture at Columbia University by Ambassador Alexander Kmentt of Austria, we work to make a difference and spread the message of peace, nuclear abolition, and nuclear justice far and wide. I hope that you will explore the resources we are sharing with you here and join us as we continue to promote a vision of a more just and peaceful world, one free of nuclear weapons.

Most warmly,
Ivana

EVENTS

Women Waging Peace Luncheon

On September 26, the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, we honored three remarkable women: Ambassador Elayne Whyte of Costa Rica and Véronique Christory with the Women Waging Peace Award and Patricia Ellsberg with the Daniel Ellsberg Lifetime Achievement Award. See HERE for event recording and more.

Summit of the Future – Days of Action

At the United Nations 2024 Summit of the Future in New York, NAPF and its youth initiative, Reverse the Trend, held a side event to bring together diplomats, experts, activists, and members of affected communities. See HERE for event recording and more.

Youth Forum in Kazakhstan

On August 29, 2024, the International Day Against Nuclear Tests, we co-hosted a Youth Forum in Astana, Kazakhstan. Read more about the forum HERE.