[E-rundbrief] Info 1690 - Nobel Peace Prize ceremony - boycotts

Matthias Reichl info at begegnungszentrum.at
Mo Dez 4 12:52:19 CET 2017


E-Rundbrief - Info 1690 - Tony Robinson (Pressenza): Nuclear weapons 
states to boycott Nobel Peace Prize ceremony (with the exception of 
Russia and Israel) m.r.

Bad Ischl, 4.12.2017

Begegnungszentrum für aktive Gewaltlosigkeit

www.begegnungszentrum.at

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Nuclear weapons states to boycott Nobel Peace Prize ceremony
(with the exception of Russia and Israel) m.r.

01.12.2017 - Oslo, Norway - Tony Robinson

AFP have reported that ambassadors of nuclear weapons states, with the 
exception of Russia and Israel, will boycott the Nobel Peace Prize 
ceremony, due to take place in Oslo, Norway, on the 10th of December 
in which ICAN (the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons) 
will formally receive the Prize from the Nobel Institute.

Beatrice Fihn, as executive director for ICAN, and Setsuko Thurlow, as 
a survivor of the bomb on Hiroshima, will receive the award together 
for efforts to ban the bomb which in reality go back as long as 
nuclear weapons have existed.

The impulse for this year’s award was the recently signed Treaty on 
the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons which ICAN did so much to achieve 
and which nuclear weapons states did so much to try to prevent.  Their 
failure has now turned into sour grapes as their ambassadors are to 
stay away from the ceremony which normally gathers together the 
highest level diplomats in Oslo.

According to the piece in the AFP, “They clearly received instructions 
to express their reservations towards ICAN and the global treaty” to 
ban weapons of mass destruction, said the head of the Nobel Institute, 
Olav Njolstad.

This is not a surprise given that the US, UK and France issued a 
statement at the time of the approval of the treaty text which began: 
“France, the United Kingdom and the United States have not taken part 
in the negotiation of the treaty on the prohibition of nuclear 
weapons. We do not intend to sign, ratify or ever become party to it. 
Therefore, there will be no change in the legal obligations on our 
countries with respect to nuclear weapons.”

According to the Nobel Institute, the ambassadors of India and 
Pakistan will be travelling at the time of the ceremony, while China 
has not attended the prize-giving since 2010, when a Chinese dissident 
was awarded the honour.  North Korea does not have an embassy in Oslo.
The award ceremony comes at another moment of heightened nuclear 
tension, with North Korea testing various components of a nuclear bomb 
and sounding increasingly confident of being able to hit any target in 
the US it chooses.

About The Author

Tony Robinson, Humanist Movement activist, member of DiEM25, 
coordinating committee member of Abolition 2000, co-director of 
Pressenza and author of the book "Coffee with Silo and the quest for 
meaning in life".

https://www.pressenza.com/2017/12/nuclear-weapons-states-boycott-nobel-peace-prize-ceremony/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+pressenza%2FQrjW+%28News+from+Pressenza+IPA+in+English%29


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Matthias Reichl, Pressesprecher/ press speaker,
Begegnungszentrum fuer aktive Gewaltlosigkeit
Center for Encounter and active Non-Violence
Wolfgangerstr. 26, A-4820 Bad Ischl, Austria,
fon: +43 6132 24590, Informationen/ informations,
Impressum in: http://www.begegnungszentrum.at
Spenden-Konto Nr. 0600-970305 (Blz. 20314) Sparkasse Salzkammergut,
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IBAN: AT922031400600970305 BIC: SKBIAT21XXX

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Ausgezeichnet mit dem (österr.) "Journalismus-Preis von unten 2010"

Honoured by the (Austrian) "Journalism-Award from below 2010"





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