Anti-nuke protesters take to streets outside UN

UNITED NATIONS, New York — Advocates of a nuclear weapons-free world took their campaign to social media and the street Friday as part of the United Nations’ first ever International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.

Despite its unwieldy title, it’s an important observance, said Z. Malik, one of the 100 or so demonstrators who stood in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza across the street from the UN’s East River headquarters.

“We need disarmament because when Pakistan and India continue to arm themselves they don’t focus on the people,” said Malik, who was born in Pakistan but now lives in New York City. “The real strength is in the people, not the arms. And that’s the same all over the world.”

Global nuclear disarmament was the subject of the General Assembly’s first resolution in 1946. Today more than half of the world’s population lives in countries that either have such weapons or are members of nuclear alliances, according to the UN.

The decision to designate September 26 as a UN day dedicated to the eradication of nuclear weapons came in last October when the General Assembly passed a resolution “to convene, no later than 2018, a United Nations high-level international conference on nuclear disarmament to review the progress made in this regard.”

“This day is an opportunity to increase public awareness and education about the threat posed to our common humanity by nuclear weapons. It is also an opportunity to mobilize further international efforts towards achieving the common goal of a nuclear-weapon-free world,” Sam Kahamba Kutesa, president of the 69th Session of the UN General Assembly, said.

The 120 members of the Non-Aligned Movement, NAM, of which Iran is currently the president, initiated the resolution.

“Any use of nuclear weapons is a violation of the UN Charter and a crime against humanity… The only absolute guarantee against the use of nuclear weapons is their total elimination,” said Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, speaking on behalf of NAM, on Friday.

Because of the involvement of Iran, feared by Israel and others in the international community to be seeking nuclear weaponry, some diplomats consider the day’s observance a cynical attempt to promote the concept of nuclear disarmament rather than pursue nuclear non-proliferation.

Indeed this first-ever observance came after 18 Arab countries, including Syria, circulated a resolution at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna earlier this week singling out Israel for special attention over its alleged nuclear arsenal. The resolution, which called on Israel to join the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, was rejected. Some diplomats considered this resolution yet another attempt by NAM to pursue an anti-Israel agenda and harm the IAEA’s professional integrity.

The observance also came as Iran continues its talks with the US, the UK, France, Russia, China and Germany on the future of its nuclear program.

Nevertheless, organizations around the world continue to push the message of global disarmament.

One such group is the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, ICAN. Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the organization has chapters in more than a dozen countries, including the United States and Israel. On Friday ICAN asked people to tweet photos and messages calling for global nuclear disarmament using the hashtag #goodbyenukes and #thecourageto.

Haroon Idres, who moved to New York from Pakistan more than 30 years ago, agreed with ICAN’s message.

“Building nuclear weapons is wrong. We need to give aid around the world, not arms,” said Haroun Idres standing outside the UN.

Gavrilla Rubin, a New York University student, said it was important to call attention to nuclear weapons. However, she said she doubted much would come of the effort.