News: Olson spoke at the 2025 Treaty on The Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons Meetings
March 5, 2025 at UN Headquarters in NYC, the UN Institute on Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) held a side session adding to the fabric of the third Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) . The event was well attended with standing room only.
We were honored to have the President of the TPNW meeting, the Ambassador from Kazakhstan, the Honorable Akan Rakhemetullin present on our panel, and Ambassadors of Austria, the Honorable Alexander Kmentt and Mexico, the Honorable Alicia Buenrostro as discussants, and closing remarks from the Ambassador of Ireland, the Honorable Nuala Ni Mhuircheartaigh.
Joining GRIP Founder, Mary Olson at the UN, was Dr Amanda M Nichols, a research scholar in Environmental Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Dr Nichols is Lead Author, with Mary, on the report that was presented in the session:
Gender and Radiation: Towards a New Research Agenda, Addressing Disproportionate Harm
You can read or download the report on the above link for no charge.
** Special thanks to United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research for support and publication of this report, and to the Union of Concerned Scientists Science for Public Good Fund for support printing hardcopies of the report. **
Dr Nichols is a Research Scholar at University of California Santa Barbara and brings her deep commitment to justice, as well as a keen comprehension and gift for communication of radiation science to the project. Although radiation has not been her background, her PhD research was on women leaders of the US anti-nuclear community. I was honored to be one of her research subjects, and now, to be a colleague, coauthor, and co-presenter at the United Nations.
In these days that are often confusing and anxiety provoking, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons stands as a bright source of HOPE as nearly half of the nations of the UN have signed, and the number that have ratified (74) is growing.
The Treaty itself is only 10 pages long, we recommend that you read it, and learn more. The UN Office of Disarmament Affairs has a page showing the status of TPNW:
https://treaties.unoda.org/t/tpnw/participants?status=parties
Switch to the “TEXT” tab on that link to find the document itself. The English portion is 10 pages.
Another way to learn about the TPNW is to view the film, The Vow from Hiroshima, about the life of a survivor of the US nuclear attack on Japan in August, 1945. Setsuko Thurlow was a school girl when she survived that August day, and then gave her life to her VOW to rid the world of nuclear weapons. Her story is available as a 55 minute film on PBS, directed by Susan Strickler and produced by Mitchie Takeuchi. This documentary is a great introduction to the history of the great work for a nuclear-free world. As long as PBS is on air, the film, The Vow from Hiroshima will be available on the PBS “on demand” streaming platform (through April 2027), as well as possible local listings.
More info HERE And yes, do what you can to support our Public Broadcasting System!
