Winter 2020 Newsletter
Leveraging Law for Radical Peace
Seasons Greetings!

As 2020 comes to a close—a year in which so much of what we expected and hoped for was turned on its head—we have also embraced new directions and opportunities. Amidst all the change and uncertainty, your support has made possible our work this year. Looking forward, in 2021 LCNP will celebrate 40 years of education, advocacy, and dedication to leveraging the law for peace—the radical peace we can only truly cultivate in a nuclear weapons-free world.

Please consider LCNP in your year-end generosity. Your gift today will help usher LCNP into a new year with strength and vigor, ready to meet challenges and claim opportunities arising under the new Biden-Harris administration and in upcoming forums for international advocacy, like the NPT Review Conference and the first meeting of states parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

If you have not already, please take a moment to complete this short survey so we can get to know you better and tailor our resources to your interests. Wishing you and yours a healthy and happy holiday season!

Peace and justice,
Ariana Smith
A few recent highlights:

Nuclear Weapons & International Law Conference 

LCNP co-sponsored and co-organized this virtual, all-day conference on November 12, 2020. An exceptional group of experts in law, policy, diplomacy, and advocacy joined high-level officials from the United Nations and the United States to examine the application of international law to nuclear weapons and to engage with policy and advocacy strategies to promote disarmament and protect humanity.

Read our written report of the day here
(and find links to each panel).

Thank you to those who joined and engaged live! 
Human Rights & Nuclear Weapons 
December 10 marked International Human Rights Day.

LCNP commemorated the day by highlighting the inextricable connections between the full realization of human rights and nuclear weapons in this statement.
Welcoming Abolition 2000’s Youth Fusion
Youth Fusion's website launch brought together dynamic young leaders, many of whom highlighted the connections between nuclear weapons and human rights, climate change, and racism. LCNP Executive Director Ariana Smith offered remarks.
Recommended reading:
  • LCNP examined the legal "building blocks" for the Nuclear Ban Treaty—set to enter into force in January—and highlighted the treaty's connections to human rights law.

  • Abolition, written by Ray Acheson and published by WILPF, collects a series of essays with an intersectional feminist perspective on abolishing structures of violence in the US and beyond, including "Decommissioning nuclear weapons."

  • Matthew Gault explores the "unthinkable idea" of mass proliferation as the logical next step to the US's deterrence theory. "More nuclear weapons in the hands of more countries means...more chances for accidents and more nukes in unstable parts of the world."

  • On deterrence: "If your threatened retaliation is terrible enough, and convincing enough, it usually works. But not always."
Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy