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Dear Michele,
The PNND Secretariat extends our best wishes to you, your family and your colleagues during this difficult time of the Corona virus pandemic. We hope you are safe and well.
We thank all of you who are engaged in planning and implementation of national measures to contain the pandemic and address its health and economic impact - and to those of you engaged in support services for people and communities impacted by the pandemic.
PNND continues to operate during the pandemic, but mostly by remote means, including work from home, video conferencing, webinars and other digital communications. Below is a short update on events and programs.
Coronavirus and human security
PNND is also monitoring parliamentary action and policy analysis of the coronavirus pandemic situation and the connections to security policy.
On this issue, you might be interested in the article National security is too crude to protect us from pandemics: It’s time to shift to human security’ by PNND Council Member Jonathan Granoff and published in Newsweek. Also of interest could be To address the corona virus: Shift resources from nukes and the military to public health and the economy published by Move the Nuclear Weapons Money, and the blog PNND and the Coronavirus.
“We are at war with the coronavirus. We need a massive wartime manufacturing mobilization for coronavirus testing kits and personal protective equipment for medical personnel. We need to activate our capable and talented domestic industry and bring the full power of the federal government to bear in responding to this viral enemy.”
PNND Co-President Senator Ed Markey. Letter to President Trump, March 15, 2020. See PNND and the Coronavirus.
PNND Events and Programs
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Parliamentarians and the UN Disarmament Agenda
Originally scheduled for Geneva April 16, 2020 | Changed to a video conference
In May 2018, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres released Securing our Common Future: An Agenda for Disarmament, which discusses the connections between disarmament and sustainable development, and outlines approaches for advancing disarmament of both conventional and non-conventional weapons, including weapons of mass destruction. PNND is leading an initiative to engage parliamentarians in this UN disarmament agenda.
We organised a roundtable event at the United Nations in New York on February 19 to introduce parliamentarians to the agenda. And on April 16, we were planning to hold a second parliamentary roundtable, in conjunction with the 142nd Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). The aim of the event was to discuss examples of parliamentary practice for disarmament that could go into a parliamentary handbook we plan to publish in October.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the IPU Assembly has been post-poned until October, and the parliamentary roundtable PNND is organising is being changed into a video conference that we will hold in May. Details to follow.
NPT Review Conference - PNND side events
Move the Nuclear Weapons Money and Youth voices events are now webinars
States Parties to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) are scheduled to meet at the UN from April 27 - May 22, 2020 for the NPT Review Conference, which occurs once every five years. It is most likely that this will be postponed until 2021.
PNND was planning to co-sponsor side events on the Move the Nuclear Weapons Money project and on Youth Voices for Climate, Peace and Nuclear Disarmament. These have now been changed to webinars. Move the Nuclear Weapons Money webinar is planned for April during the Global Days of Action on Military Spending. Youth Voices for Climate, Peace and Nuclear Disarmament webinar is planned for May. Details to follow.
Move the Nuclear Weapons Money memes
PNND is a cofounder of the Move the Nuclear Weapons Money project which focuses on cutting nuclear weapons budgets, ending investments in nuclear weapons and redirecting theses budgets and investments to health, environment, social and economic need.
One of the project activities is social media promotion through memes. Below are some examples, including some that make connection with public health and the corona virus pandemic. If you would like to contribute a meme, please contact Move the Nuclear Weapons Money.
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Yours sincerely
Alyn Ware
PNND Global Coordinator
On behalf of the PNND Coordinating Team
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