The Global Zero Summit February 2-4 in Paris convened 200 eminent international political, military, business, civic, faith, and student leaders. Sir Malcolm Rifkind, quoting Victor Hugo, captured the prevailing theme of the event: “Greater than the tread of mighty armies is an idea whose time has come.”
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| Global Zero Summit plenary session. | |
Presidents Obama and Medvedev sent forceful statements of support to the Summit, President Obama’s closing with this: “As Global Zero works to build grassroots and public support, you will always have a partner in me and my administration. Together, we can make progress that leaves ours and future generations safer and more secure. Together, we can pursue the goal of a world without nuclear weapons.”
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| Sen. Mikhail Margelov delivered President Medvedev’s statement of support. | Amb. Charles Rivkin delivered President Obama’s statement of support. |
Keynote speaker Secretary George Shultz delivered a powerful address, declaring that the growing political support for our shared goal means that we are “entitled to hope and believe that this is an idea whose time has come.”
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Former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz speaking on February 2. |
We were honored to receive a video message of support from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as well as a generous letter of support from Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
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| Please click the picture to watch UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s video address to the Summit. |
Senior government officials addressed the Summit, including Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, French Secretary-General Pierre Sellal, and U.S. Under Secretary of State Ellen Tauscher.
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| U.S. Under Secretary of State Ellen Tauscher. | Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt. |
The Global Zero Action Plan was released, outlining a step-by-step strategy to eliminate nuclear weapons. The plan, developed over the past year by the international Global Zero Commission of 23 political and military leaders, calls in its first phase for the U.S and Russia to cut their arsenals to 1,000 total warheads each and for all other countries with nuclear weapons to commit to freeze their arsenals. As outlined in the plan, these two steps would be followed by the first multilateral nuclear arms reductions negotiations in history. The Summit discussions contributed to Global Zero’s cutting edge work in addressing associated issues on the road to a world without nuclear weapons, such as missile defense, conventional imbalances, and extended deterrence.
Media coverage of the Summit was worldwide and positive, including mainstream television coverage and more than 1,200 articles in top print and online outlets in more than 67 countries.
Thirty-one Global Zero student leaders from Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Israel, Japan, Pakistan, Russia, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States presented plans to launch grassroots campaigns in their countries, following an intensive two-day strategy retreat in Normandy just prior to the Summit.
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| Brittany Bjurtstrom, Stephan de la Pena, and Nikita Paderin working at the strategy retreat in Normandy. |
American student Alexandra Francis of Davidson College explained to the Summit how her campus chapter had enlisted over 25% of the Davidson student body in Global Zero. British student Matthew Harries of King's College said, “Secretary Shultz said yesterday that this is an idea whose time has come. Well, we are the generation that can – and must – make that idea real. We are the first generation for whom nuclear weapons represent the past, not the future. This is an opportunity, it is a privilege, but most of all it's a responsibility – one that we are determined to live up to.”
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| Click the picture to watch Student Leaders discussing their involvement at the Summit. | Click the picture to watch Student Leaders interviewing Global Zero Signatories at the Summit. |
The students are already establishing Global Zero chapters back in their countries, bringing the total number of campus chapters worldwide to 50. Global Zero will use its proven organizing model and trainings to grow the movement exponentially in the months ahead.
Her Majesty Queen Noor and President Mary Robinson announced that they will be launching and Co-Chairing a Global Zero Women’s Leadership Group.
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| Her Majesty Queen Noor and President Mary Robinson at the Summit. |
The Summit and the work leading up to it fostered trust between key groups of leaders. Indian Air Chief Marshal Shashi Tyagi, a Global Zero member who formerly commanded India’s nuclear forces, noted that one of the outcomes of the Summit was “the great friendship that developed between our Pakistani delegates and their families and their Indian counterparts.” The growing Global Zero community of top-level international leaders – a united corps that crosses borders and conflict zones – is the bedrock of the movement.
Two days after the Summit, the Munich Security Conference chaired by Global Zero Commissioner Ambassador Wolfgang Ischinger held a panel on the elimination of nuclear weapons, which included Global Zero’s Ambassador Rick Burt, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov and U.S. Senator John Kerry, among others, and took place before an audience of 300 current and former senior officials. After Amb. Burt opened with a compelling point-by-point argument for how to proceed to zero, all the panelists declared their support for eliminating nuclear weapons and their belief that it can be achieved. This represents a tidal shift from just a year ago and an indication of the consensus for global zero that has emerged.
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| Ambassador Rick Burt and Ambassador Wu Jianmin |
The Global Zero Summit was a tremendous success and set us on the course to growing the Global Zero movement to scale.
