April 18th
Letter to ban treaty delegations calling for a prohibition on nuclear weapons financing
On the occasion of the first day of the Global Days of Action on Military Spending 2017 (GDAMS), three organisations (Basel Peace Office, Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament, and UNFOLD ZERO) sent a letter to the UN representatives of governments participating in the United Nations Conference to Negotiate a Legally Binding Instrument to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons (ban treaty), calling on them to support the proposal that the ban treaty include a prohibition on financing nuclear weapons. This would include a ban on investing in corporations that manufacture nuclear weapons and their delivery systems. The letter notes that ‘Most of the global nuclear weapons budget of $100 billion goes to about a dozen powerful corporations, all of which spend lavish amounts of money lobbying to keep the nuclear arms race going. If the nuclear prohibition treaty includes a ban on investing in these corporations, it could put a big dent in their lobbying power, and give support to legislators and civil society in nuclear-armed States who are trying to cut nuclear weapons budgets.’