WFUNA Press Release 24 October 2007

Hans Blix Launches “Students for a Nuclear Weapons-Free World”

GENEVA, NEW YORK CITY, TORONTO – October 24, 2007

“The reality is that any nuclear weapon, wherever located, and in any hands, is a special threat which we must seek to eliminate”. – Dr. Hans Blix.

On the occasion of United Nations Day, 24 October 2007, Dr. Hans Blix, President of the World Federation of United Nations Associations, is launching “Students for a Nuclear Weapons-Free World” to engage young people from diverse academic disciplines in the preparations for the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) 8th Review Conference, 2010 – the most important conference on global disarmament in coming years. “Students, whether in school or on their own, can contribute to the NPT process by undertaking their own independent research and analysis of the case for nuclear disarmament”, says Dr. Blix. “Students for a Nuclear Weapons-Free World” is a program of essay writing, video interviews, and poster design, on the theme of nuclear disarmament. The authors of the best submissions in all three categories will be invited to present their ideas at a conference at the Palais des Nations, Geneva, in the summer of 2008. Full airfare and accommodation costs will be covered. An online forum has been created at www.disarmament-forum.org where students are encouraged to logon and join Dr. Blix and other UN experts in posting their ideas for freeing the world of the threat of nuclear weapons. Information about how to participate will be available on this site. Additional resources can be found on the website (www.wmdcommission.org) for the Commission on the Weapons of Mass Destruction, which was chaired by Dr Blix. This project is in partnership with the World Academy of Art and Science, an international association for exploring major concerns of humanity. Influential in founding this organization were Albert Einstein, Robert Oppenheimer, and Earl Bertrand Russell, who were deeply concerned about how the atom bomb and other scientific advances might be used – or misused. Established in 1946, the World Federation of UN Associations -“A Peoples’ Movement for the UN”- has member UN Associations in over 100 countries around the world. Dr. Hans Blix was elected President at the 38th Plenary Assembly in November 2006, and will preside over the next Plenary Assembly to be hosted by the UNA-Republic of Korea in 2009. Dr Blix commemorated UN Day in Toronto as a guest of honor of UNA-Canada.