Nuclear Weapons are NOW Illegal Jan. 22, 2021 Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet
Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty
Now International Law
Nuclear Weapons Are Illegal
On January 22, 2021 the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) will enter into force. The Treaty specifically prohibits State Parties from developing, testing, producing, manufacturing, acquiring, possessing, deploying, using or threatening to use nuclear weapons, and from assisting or encouraging such acts. And it will reinforce existing international law obligating all states not to test, use or threaten to use nuclear arms.
The “Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty” as it is also known, was approved by122 nations in the UN General Assembly in July 2017, a clear expression of the will of the world’s people. However, to enter into force of international law, the Treaty had to be ratified by 50 countries. That has now been done and the Treaty enters into force Jan. 22, 2021, four days after the US national holiday honoring the birth of civil rights and peace leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
In his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in December 1964, King said, “Somehow we must transform the dynamics of the world power struggle from the negative nuclear arms race which no one can win, to a positive contest to harness creative genius for the purpose of making peace and prosperity a reality for all of the nations of the world. In short, we must shift the arms race into a “peace race.” It’s now up to all of us to help this shift take place. Nowhere is this more important than in the United States, which holds a large portion of the world’s nuclear weapons and maintains a dominant military presence throughout much of the world. The use of nuclear weapons could result in a global “nuclear winter” and the destruction of the planet. The urgent need is to redirect spending on weapons of war toward meeting human needs and protecting the environment, especially in this time of a global pandemic.
The US and other countries who continue to possess nuclear weapons are now
OFFICIAL OUTLAW STATES
1. Mourn all victims of violence. 2. Reject violence & war as solutions. 3. Defend civil liberties.
4. Oppose all discrimination, anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, anti-Hawaiian, etc.
5. Seek peace through peaceful means and work for justice in Hawai`i and around the world.
Malu ‘Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box 489 Ola’a (Kurtistown), Hawaii 96760
Phone (808) 966-7622 Email ja@malu-aina.org to receive our posts. For more information www.malu-aina.org
Jan. 22, 2021 Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet – week 1008 – Fridays 3:30-5PM downtown Post Office
