On January 28, 2025, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists set the ‘Doomsday Clock’ to 89 Seconds to Midnight, indicating how close humanity is coming to a civilizational catastrophe from climate change, nuclear war or a global war triggered by rising authoritarianism, militarism, digital misinformation, propaganda and political disruption.
Our ‘Reversing the Doomsday Clock’ intergenerational forum on January 23 will bring innovative young activists together with policy makers and civil society leaders to discuss effective initiatives and policies to address these issues. Amongst the initiatives to be presented are:
- An incredibly successful youth-led case in the International Court of Justice on the obligations of States with respect to climate change;
- A Youth Hotline: Negotiating Nuclear Risk initiative launched by Youth Fusion in 2025;
- A legal challenge in Slovakia against Russian militaristic propaganda (which uses concerts, video games and other media to vilify Ukrainians - depicting them as Nazis - to consolidate support for their brutal and illegal invasion of Ukraine);
- A challenge in the UN Human Rights Council against the deployment of nuclear weapons by Russia in Belarus;
- Legal Alternatives to War (LAW not War), a global iniitative to promote the use of legal approaches - including the International Court of Justice - to resolve international disputes peacefully, uphold the rule of law and prevent war.
- Some of the inspiring policies that won the World Future Policy Award on Peace and Future Generations.
The event is held in conjunction with the Basel Peace Forum 2026 and the award ceremony for the 2026 PACEY Youth Award which provides three prizes of €5000 each for youth projects on peacem climate action and nuclear disarmament.
This is the first of a series of events in 2026 which also coincide with the 125th anniversary of Henri Dunant (Switzerland) winning the very first Nobel Peace Prize (shared with Frédéric Passy from France).
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