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December 2024 E-News

At the end of another year marked by war, genocide, skyrocketing arms sales, nuclear weapon modernisation, use of banned weapons, and more, the prospects for disarmament and demilitarisation might seem dim. But, while the challenges might be overwhelming, our determination is as strong as ever. Amidst the global violence and investment in militarism, activists and organisers around the world are working hard for peace and justice. From the student encampments for Palestine to antiwar divestment efforts, from the rising alarm bells about autonomous and AI weapons to new efforts to show the world the reality about nuclear weapons, our work to end the dominance of the military-industrial complex and militarised security solutions continues relentlessly.

This E-News rounds-up our top five achievements for disarmament and demilitarisation this year, and highlights the many publications, statements, and other materials we’ve produced. We hope this provides some inspiration and hope as we move into 2025. We’ll be honest: due to budget cuts from all quarters, we are struggling to maintain our current levels of engagement across international forums on issues that matter. Please consider helping to sustain our work ahead. Any amount is significant to us. There are many ways you can give: you can sign up for a one-time donation or a monthly pledge through PayPal, or you can send money orders, cheques, or wire transfers—just email us for details! Thank you for considering us in your holiday giving this year. Happy holidays and best wishes for the year ahead!

In this edition:

TOP FIVE HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2024
1. Mobilising against arms transfers to Israel
2. Building connections between the antinuclear, environmental, and police abolition movements
3. Advocating for an end to the nuclear age
4. Supporting work to ban autonomous weapon systems
5. Amplifying analysis of the impact of gender norms on weapons

MEETINGS WE COVERED

STATEMENTS WE DRAFTED

PUBLICATIONS WE PRODUCED

SUBMISSIONS WE MADE

ADVOCACY AND RESEARCH WE ENGAGED IN

TOP FIVE FROM 2024

1. Mobilising against arms transfers to Israel 

After Hamas’ attacks against Israel on October 2023, Israel’s escalated its genocide of Palestinians, committing countless war crimes, violations of international humanitarian law, and human rights abuses. RCW has been actively working at the United Nations and in city streets to call for an end to arms transfers to Israel, demand a two-way arms embargo, and support the work of the Boycott, Sanctions, and Divestment movement in calling on all governments, companies, universities, and financial institutions to cease any and all material support for Israel’s genocide, apartheid, and occupation of Palestine and its attacks against Lebanon and other countries in the Middle East. (Photo credit: Ray Acheson)

As part of these efforts in 2024, RCW worked through the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) meetings process to inform states of their obligations to end arms transfers to Israel. We prepared a briefing paper for ATT delegations; reported on the virtual informal consultation held by the State of Palestine, Lebanon, and Mauritania ahead of the ATT Working Group meetings; wrote WILPF’s statement to the ATT Working Group on Effective Treaty Implementation on the agenda item of arms transfers to Israel; drafted a joint statement with Al Haq and the International Service for Human Rights to the ATT Tenth Conference of States Parties (CSP10) on the arms trade with Israel; and monitored and reported on CSP10, including in relation to interventions related to arms transfers to Israel.

RCW also worked with WILPF’s Human Rights programme to call for an arms embargo on Israel through various human rights mechanisms. We reviewed the Human Rights Programme’s report on the Human Rights Council’s 55th session in relation to the interactive dialogue on ending arms transfers to Israel; contributed to the submission to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on the impact of arms transfers on human rights, which resulted in a report from the OHCHR that focuses on the role of access to information in preventing, mitigating, and responding to the human rights impact of arms; helped draft a statement about this OHCHR report; and contributed to WILPF’s submission to the 140th Session of the UN Human Rights Committee, which was made jointly with Al-Haq, the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR), and Saferworld, about the UK’s legal obligations to end arms transfers to Israel.

Ahead of the Protection Forum and in the Oslo Conference focusing on the implementation and universalisation of the Political Declaration on Strengthening the Protection of Civilians Arising from the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas (EWIPA), RCW published a briefing paper outlining the catastrophic harm caused by Israel's use of explosive weapons in Gaza and the ways in which it violates international humanitarian law and human rights law. RCW also reported on this conference, and  reported on the UN Security Council open debate on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, which, among other things, included discussion about Israel’s attacks on Gaza.

RCW also provided reporting and analysis on all interventions made during the UN General Assembly high-level debate and at the UN General Assembly First Committee on Disarmament and International Security that were related to Israel’s genocide of Palestinians, attacks against Lebanon, and calls for an arms embargo or an end to arms transfers to Israel. We extracted these references in our UNGA Disarmament Index from the high-level debate and provided analysis in our report of the debate. We also provided analysis of the interventions at the First Committee in the weekly editorials of our First Committee Monitor.

RCW led the work to draft a WILPF statement calling for a stop to arms transfers to Israel and an accompanying blog post. We also provided updates about direct actions, legal efforts, and government initiatives to stop arming Israel in RCW’s monthly E-News. RCW’s Director published several article through CounterPunch to reach a broader audience with WILPF messages, including ICJ’s Order to Prevent Genocide Applies to the Governments Arming Israel, Too, Cop Cities, Borders, and Bombs, Divest From Death, Matching Words With Deeds at the United Nations and Beyond, and Grappling With Genocide at the United Nations. RCW amplified efforts from other civil society groups, such as World Beyond War Canada, Palestine Action, the Palestinian Youth Movement, and Campaign Against Arms Trade to disrupt and demand divestment from weapons sales to Israel. RCW’s Coordinator spoke on a webinar called Palestine is a Feminist Issue: A Conversation on Women, Peace and Security in Palestine.

2. Building connections between the antinuclear, environmental, and police abolition movements

In 2024, RCW together with WILPF’s Environment and Women, Peace, and Security programmes carried out a study on the connections between the nuclear and fossil fuel industries and the repression of movements against these industries. We conducted desk research about the nuclear-industrial complex, fossil fuels and other extractive industries, and the ways in which private military and security companies (PMSCs), police, and militaries have been deployed to repress resistance to these industries. We also conducted joint interviews and discussions with organisers, activists, and academics working on these issues to help build cross-movement collaboration. The process of group consultations brought together activists across antinuclear, climate, environmental, land defence, and peace movements. These interviews helped create connections and spark discussions about the diverse ways in which these movements can deepen their joint strategising and collaboration towards common goals of peace, ecological regeneration, and justice.  

Throughout our work on this project, we found that powerful industries continue to shape many of the realities of the world we live in today, impacting ecological health, human rights, and the ability of communities to live in peace and security. Both the fossil fuel industry and nuclear industry constitute an existential threat to humanity and all species on our shared planet. Despite this, the burning of fossil fuels and the existence of nuclear weapons and nuclear energy continue to be justified and legitimised by entrenched interests in government and industry. 

The nuclear and fossil fuel industries are connected through colonial pasts and imperial presents, through corporate connections and patriarchal structures, through their capturing of state politics and their use of the state’s repressive forces like the police and military to suppress dissent and protest. The report that emerged from this project, ‘Petrobromance,’ Nuclear Priesthood, and Police Repression: Feminist Confrontations of Violent Industries, and Movements to Abolish Them, highlights and unpack these connections. It also looks at the struggles of building movements against these industries, experiences of police violence, as well as hope for the future and imaginative recommendations for building a better world.  

We hope this work will continue, and that further connections across these areas can be identified in future research. All the thematic areas explored in the report can be the focus of joint activism, organising, and collaboration, as well as further research. We believe it is critical to build networks across regions and geographies, to share knowledge with each other, and to learn from approaches including feminist, Indigenous, and decolonial views. It is also critical to centre critiques of state violence in our movements, given the intense repression that is levied against them. For more thoughts and ideas about this project, you can view the recording of our launch webinar held online in September.

3. Advocating for an end to the nuclear age

At a time when the nuclear-armed states are investing billions into the modernisation of their arsenals and making threats to use nuclear weapons, nuclear disarmament is more urgent than ever. At the same time, nuclear energy is being falsely marketed as a clean and viable “solution” to climate change, yet decades of evidence shows the opposite—that nuclear power harms the planet and people through uranium mining, fuel processing, radioactive waste, and accidents; that nuclear power is too expensive and the timescales are too large to offer a credible alternative to fossil fuels; and that investments in expanding nuclear power will only line the pockets of those in the industry while failing to meet the energy needs of populations anywhere. (Photo credit: ICAN Australia)

Abolishing nuclear weapons and nuclear power is essential, which means RCW’s efforts on both are important contributions to peace, ecological well-being, and justice. In 2024, RCW educated and advocated for nuclear disarmament at multilateral forums such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Preparatory Committee and the UN General Assembly First Committee on Disarmament and International Security. At the NPT, RCW prepared a briefing book for delegations ahead of the meeting and reported on, analysed, and offered advocacy through our NPT News in Review during the meeting. We organised morning off-the-record briefings between government delegations and civil society groups and coordinated civil society presentations to the Preparatory Committee, drafting and delivering a statement on gender on behalf of many other organisations. RCW also engaged in advocacy for the abolition of nuclear weapons and implementation of NPT commitments and obligations, for gender perspectives and diversity, against North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) nuclearism, against the plans for the Australia-United Kingdom-United States (AUKUS) military alliance’s nuclear-powered submarines, and for strengthening the NPT review process, among other things. 

At the First Committee, RCW included a chapter on nuclear weapons in our First Committee Briefing Book and in our weekly First Committee Monitor (FCM) publications, and advocated for the adoption of First Committee resolutions on the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), the humanitarian impacts of nuclear weapons, and other relevant texts. We also worked to support the adoption of a new resolution seeking to establish a UN study on the impacts of nuclear war, through our FCM editorials and advocacy with governments.

The last time the international community collectively examined the impacts of nuclear war was the 1980s. New technologies like climate modelling are now available, and recent case studies such as those on French nuclear testing in the Pacific and the US Trinity Test in New Mexico have shown how much more information is available now than in the past. Ireland and New Zealand, the key sponsors of the resolution, explained that the new study, which will report to the UN General Assembly in 2027, “will deliver a stronger evidence base that will inform the world and contribute to constructive dialogue with a view to convergence in work on nuclear disarmament and arms control,” and that it will strengthen the taboo against nuclear weapons. Most states supported this project, with 144 voting in favour of the resolution. Only three states voted against it—nuclear-armed France, Russia, and the United Kingdom. France and the UK’s reported attempts to get NATO members to vote against the resolution failed, likely because the wilful suppression of scientific information about the use of nuclear weapons was a line that they were not willing to cross. 

Outside of the UN, RCW engaged with activists, organisers, students, and academics to promote the TPNW, nuclear abolition, and an end to the nuclear age. RCW’s Director spoke at a number of universities about nuclear weapons and addressed nuclear weapons and nuclear energy at panels at Haymarket Books’ conference Socialism 2024 as well as at the People’s Forum event Atomic Bamboozle, helping to raise awareness among organisers working across a range of movements in the United States and internationally. They did a podcast with the World Peace Foundation about nuclear weapons and the arms trade. They also did interviews with CounterPunch Radio, the 3CR Community Radio Radioactive Show, and the Nuclear Truth Project about AUKUS, and wrote an article about AUKUS for CounterPunch.

4. Supporting work to ban autonomous weapon systems

Technological developments in artificial intelligence and autonomous systems are moving the world closer to the development and use of autonomous weapon systems (AWS). We are already seeing the deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) in military systems, including Israel’s use of AI systems in its  commission of genocide. It’s all too clear what will transpire as software and sensors are increasingly used to kill. Work continues at the UN in both Geneva and New York to try to adopt rules and regulations, but these efforts are lagging far behind technological developments.

RCW has been a member of the Stop Killer Robots campaign since its founding and continues to contribute substantially to offering intersectional feminist perspectives on AWS and to advocating for a legally binding instrument prohibiting AWS.

In 2024, RCW monitored and reported on the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on AWS, and posted statements and documents on our website. RCW also participated in and reported on an informal consultation that the GGE Chair held with observers to the process, including civil society organisations. We also monitored and reported on the Meeting of High Contracting Parties to the CCW, including in relation to AWS.

At the UN General Assembly First Committee on Disarmament and International Security, RCW Included a chapter on autonomous weapons in our First Committee Briefing Book and in our weekly First Committee Monitor publications, and worked with Stop Killer Robots to advocate for a resolution tabled by Austria that establishes informal consultations on AWS in New York in 2025. These consultations will add value to the GGE’s work by broadening the conversation to additional states and will also widen the scope of discussion beyond armed conflict and international humanitarian law, to address the relevance of ethics, dehumanisation, bias, human rights, security, the global arms race, proliferation, use by non-state actors, use by police or border control, and more.

The overwhelming support for the resolution, indicated by the 161 votes in favour, provides further impetus to the joint call from the UN Secretary-General and the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for the negotiation of new legally binding rules on autonomous weapons by 2026. Unfortunately, the resolution was watered down by a small number of highly militarized states, which demanded changes to the text to narrow its scope, reducing the number of days for consultations to just two, and limiting the consultations to New York rather than both New York and Geneva. This bending to the pressure of the minority demonstrates why it is so critical that autonomous weapon systems are discussed in a forum that is accessible to all states and in which the consensus rules cannot be used as a veto, as has frequently occurred at the GGE.

This makes work on this issue outside of the UN so important. To that end, RCW coordinated the participation of a WILPF member from Burkina Faso in the ECOWAS regional conference on AWS hosted by Sierra Leone in April 2024. At the conference, ECOWAS adopted a communiqué calling for "urgent negotiation of a legally binding instrument to regulate autonomous weapons systems, with specific prohibitions and regulations, in accordance with international law, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law, and ethical perspectives. 

RCW also monitored and reported on an international conference hosted by Austria in April 2024, “Humanity at the Crossroads: Autonomous Weapons Systems and the Challenge of Regulation.” For two days, states, civil society, and academia discussed the risks posed by AWS and how to address them. More than 140 states were present in the meeting, and over 1000 participants, including  WILPF members from Cameroon, Germany, Italy, Lebanon, the United Kingdom, and Zimbabwe. RCW participated in the meeting, posted statements and documents from the conference on our website. 

RCW also coordinated WILPF’s submission to the report of the UN Secretary-General requested by UN General Assembly resolution 78/241, which was mandated to collect the views of states, international organisations, and civil society on AWS for a report published in 2024. WILPF’s submission consolidates more in-depth analysis from Reaching Critical Will’s papers on AWS.

5. Amplifying analysis of the impact of gender norms on weapons and war

One of RCW’s core objectives is to generate and amplify feminist analysis of weapons and war, and to encourage great gender, geographic, racial, and other forms of diversity in disarmament. This year, we coordinated two statements on gender and intersectionality at the First Committee and the NPT Preparatory Committee. We also included chapters on gender and intersectionality in our First Committee Briefing Book and NPT Briefing Book and included weekly reports on gender in the First Committee Monitor.

At the Fourth Review Conference of the UN Programme of Action on the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons, RCW advocated for strong language on gender, women, and masculinities in the outcome document. Our Small Arms Monitor and WILPF’s statement to the conference also amplified gender perspectives on smalls arms, and RCW worked with the Gender Equality Network for Small Arms Control (GENSAC) on a paper analysing the gender aspects of this final outcome document. The joint paper provides a good basis for advocacy at upcoming Biennial Meetings of States and the new Open-Ended Technical Working Group, as well as at the national level, in relation to small arms control.

In February, RCW’s Coordinator participated as a speaker in a side event titled “From Silos to Solutions: Leveraging interagency cooperation to prevent arms-related gender-based violence and violence against women and children,” during the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) Working Group Meetings. Organised together with Control Arms, Small Arms Survey, and UPR Info, the event explored what actions taken within other Geneva-based mechanisms could support the implementation of the ATT in its efforts to prevent arms-related gender-based violence and violence against women.

Outside of the UN, RCW worked with WILPF’s Mobilising Men for Feminist Peace programme to organise a workshop on the marketing of guns and militainment, which among other things looked at the role of gender norms and masculinities in the advertising of guns and celebration of gun culture. This meeting brought together organisations and individuals working on this issue from a wide range of perspectives and experiences, including gun violence prevention, disarmament and arms control, social media and marketing, the entertainment industry, and more. RCW’s Director published an article about the workshop with CounterPunch, to bring attention from a wider audience to these issues.

RCW also engaged in other efforts to bring feminist views on weapons and war to a broader audience. RCW’s Director participated in a podcast episode produced by Gender Action for Peace and Security (GAPS) about the realities of Feminist Foreign Policies (FFP) and how they relate to the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda. The conversation focused on the need for systemic change and the risks of FFP for co-opting feminist language in support of militarism and violence. Panelists discussed FFP in the context of Israel’s genocide against Palestinians, arms exports and nuclear weapon policies, and repression of Indigenous Land Defenders and Water Protectors, among other things. Meanwhile, RCW’s Coordinator participated in another GAPS podcast episode, “Palestine is a feminist issue,” which explored the current genocide in Gaza and the international response to it. RCW also spoke to various university classes and student groups throughout the year about the relationship between gender, patriarchy, and nuclear weapons.

MEETINGS WE COVERED

STATEMENTS WE DRAFTED

PUBLICATIONS WE PRODUCED

SUBMISSIONS WE MADE

ADVOCACY AND RESEARCH WE ENGAGED IN