An international conference on divestment and other actions by cities, universities, parliaments and religious institutions to reverse the nuclear arms race and protect the climate
Basel, Switzerland. April 12-13, 2019
Hosted by Basel-Stadt Kanton.
Organised by Basel Peace Office, in cooperation with Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament (PNND), IPPNW Switzerland, Mayors for Peace (Europe) and World Future Council.
Speakers
Confirmed speakers include:
- Elizabeth Ackermann, President/Mayor of Basel-Stadt and member of Mayors for Peace;
- General (ret) Bernard Norlain, Former Air Defense Commander (France), Vice-President of Initiatives pour le désarmement nucléaire;
- Fabian Hamilton MP, UK Shadow Minister for Peace and Disarmament;
- Serge Stroobants, Director of European Operations for the Institute for Economics and Peace and the Global Peace Index;
- Robert Smith, Founder, Conscious Capital;
- Rudolf Rechsteiner, President Ethos Foundation., Swiss Pension Fund Manager;
- Nishant Malapatti, Financial adviser for Blackrock USA;
- Margret Kiener Nellen MP, Head of Swiss delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly;
- Bärbel Höhn MP, Chair of the Global Renewables Congress;
- Maaike Beenes, Program officer at PAX Netherlands and researcher for Don’t Bank on the Bomb.
- Marc Finaud, Senior Fellow, Geneva Centre for Security Policy;
- Laurent Goeschel, Executive Director of Swisspeace;
- Andreas Nidecker, Board Member of Swiss Physicians for Social Responsibility;
- Keith Suter, Member Club of Rome. Foreign Affairs Editor, TV Channel 7 “The Morning Show” (Australia)
- Ute Finckh-Kraemer, former Vice-Chair, Bundestag Subcommittee on Disarmament and Arms Control;
- Daniel Rietiker, Lecturer in International Law at the University of Lausanne, President of the Association of Swiss Lawyers for Nuclear Disarmament.
Concept:
Nuclear weapons and climate change create existential threats to humanity and the environment. Federal governments have committed to eliminating both threats – nuclear weapons through the disarmament obligation in the Non-Proliferation Treaty and climate change through the Paris Agreement. However, implementation of these obligations is being prevented by institutional inertia and vested financial interests in the status quo, especially from the fossil fuel and nuclear weapons industries. Corporations involved in the nuclear weapons industry, for example, actively lobby their parliaments and governments to allocate even more funds to nuclear weapons. And they support think tanks and other public relations initiatives to promote the ‘need’ for nuclear weapons to be maintained, modernized and deployed.
Basel Peace Office has joined with other partners in launching Move the Nuclear Weapons Money, a global initiative to cut nuclear weapons budgets and investments, and reinvest these in climate protection, peace and key areas of a sustainable economy, such as education, renewable energy, health, job creation and sustainable development.
One of the most effective tools for non-nuclear governments, cities, universities and civil society is nuclear weapons divestment. Such action puts economic and political pressure on corporations to abandon their involvement in the nuclear weapons industry or convert such production to civilian purposes. Similar divestment from the fossil fuel industry can assist in cutting carbon use and supporting renewable energy.
Already several governments, cities, religious institutions and universities in Europe, USA and globally have adopted nuclear weapons and or fossil fuel divestment policies. These include the Swiss War Materials Act of 2012, Berlin city policy on non-investment in armed warfare, Göttingen university policy of non-investment in fossil fuels or nuclear weapons, Cambridge MA city policy of divesting from nuclear weapons, and the UK Quaker meetings divestment from fossil fuels. Additional impetus for nuclear weapons divestment comes from the 1996 International Court of Justice opinion on nuclear weapons, United Nations adoption of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in 2017 and the UN Human Rights Committee affirmation in October 2018 that nuclear weapons violate the Right to Life as codified in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
This conference will bring together legislators (mayors, city councilors and parliamentarians), financial managers, and experts in disarmament and climate change to examine successful divestment policies and support their expansion and replication. The conference will also address impact investment and build cooperation to advance related nuclear disarmament policies.
The conference will build upon previous Basel events including a European Regional Meeting of Mayors for Peace and PNND held in January 2019, the 2019 Basel Peace Forum which focused on impact investment, and an international conference in Basel in September 2017 on Human Rights, Future Generations and Crimes in the Nuclear Age.
Participants:
Mayors, city officials, parliamentarians, financial managers, policy analysts, experts in nuclear disarmament and climate change, university students and nuclear disarmament campaigners from Europe and North America, with a focus on Switzerland, Germany and France.
Conference languages:
Conference materials will be in English, German and French.
Day 1 will be include simultaneous translation in English, German and French.
Day 2 will be in English (simultaneous translation in German and French to be organized if needed and if funds permit).
Conference format
The conference will consist of sixsessions, two on the afternoon of Friday April 12 and four on Saturday April 13. The Friday sessions will be public and consist of presentations followed by Q&A from the audience. The Saturday sessions will be restricted to conference participants and will be in roundtable workshop format.
Conference program
Day 1: Friday April 12: Rathaus (Town Hall) , Marketplatz
2:00pm: Registration
2:30pm – 4:00pm: Public session1.
Policies to address the threats and impact of nuclear weapons & climate change.
Coffee break
4:30pm – 6:00pm: Public session2.
Socially responsible and impact investment. Building a peace economy.
6:00pm Apero
7:15pm Conference Dinner
Day 2: Saturday April 13:
Lecture hall 120, Kollegienhaus, University of Basel, Petersplatz 1
9am – 10:30am: Session 1: Divestment at federal, regional and city levels
Coffee break
11am – 12:15pm: Session 2: Divestment in universities, religious institutions and other institutions
12:15 – 1:15pm Lunch
1:15pm – 2:45pm. Session 3: Nuclear risk reduction and disarmament – Mayors for Peace and PNND actions
Coffee break
3:15pm - 4:30pm. Session 4. Building the campaign – shifting economics towards peace
4:30pm. Closing: Conclusions and follow-up
Registration and conference fees
Conference fees:
Day 1: Public sessions and apero: Free
Conference Dinner: 70 CHF
Day 2: 50 CHF (includes refreshments and lunch)
Full conference 120 CHF
Registration:
Please fill in the Basel conference registration form. Contact info@baselpeaceoffice.org if you have any questions or difficulties filling in the form.
Presentations
Speeches
- General Bernard Norlain; Original in French.
- General Bernard Norlain: English translation.
- Lukas Ott, Basel-Stadt Kanton President's Department: German
- Daniel Rietiker: English
- Marc Finaud. English
- Keith Suter English
- Andreas Nidecker - English
Power point presentations (PDF versions)
- Audrey Doig - English
- Ute Finckh-Krämer - German
- Serge Stroobants - English
- Rudolf Rechsteiner - English
- Jürgen Grässlin - English
- Maike Breenes - Lessons from the cluster munitions campaign (accompanying notes)
- Maike Breenes - Don't Bank on the Bomb (accompanying notes)
- Chayley Collis - UK Quakers divestment from fossil fuels
Video presentation
Fabian Hamilton MP, UK Shadow Minister for Peace and Disarmament
Campaign flyer
Background papers
Organisers and partners:
Basel Peace Office (BPO): A joint initiative of four swiss and four international organisations established to advance research, training and policy-development programs dedicated to international peace, security and global abolition of nuclear weapons. BPO coordinates a number of international programs including the Climate-Nuclear Nexus, Engaging Legislators (PNND), Framework Forum, Humanitarian consequences and the law, Move the Nuclear Weapons Money and UNFOLD ZERO. BPO is a coordinating member of Abolition 2000, the global civil society network to abolish nuclear weapons.
Basel-Stadt Kanton: Basel-Stadt is a city-kanton which straddles the Rheine River at the corner of Switzerland, France and Germany. Basel is known for its contribution to peace including the Basel Peace Congress of Socialists of 24 November 1912 which launched an international declaration opposing war, the 1499 Treaty of Basel which ended the Swabian War, and the 1795 peace agreement between France, Prussia and Spain which was negotiated in Basel. Since 2005, Basel-Stadt has been a member of Mayors for Peace.
PSR/IPPNW Switzerland: The Swiss affiliate of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), a global network of medical professionals (doctors, medical students, other health workers) who share the common goal of creating a more peaceful and secure world freed from the threat of nuclear annihilation.
Mayors for Peace (Europe): Mayors for Peace is a global network of over 7,700 cities from 163 countries working together to achieve a nuclear-weapon-free world, and to build cooperation between cities on broader peace issues including prevention of war, elimination starvation and poverty, addressing the plight of refugees, human rights abuses, and environmental degradation. Mayors for Peace is led by the Hiroshima Mayor and 26 Lead/Executive cities.
Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (PNND). A global, cross-party network of legislators from nuclear-armed and non-nuclear countries working to reduce nuclear-weapons risks, prevent proliferation and achieve nuclear disarmament. PNND leaders include current and former presidents, prime ministers, foreign ministers, heads of parliamentary committees and leaders of inter-parliamentary organisations including the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.
World Future Council. A network of leaders from governmental bodies, civil society, business, science and the arts, supported by a staff of policy experts, focusing on effective policies to ensure a sustainable world for future generations.