1961
1950’s
1932 - 1934
World Disarmament Conference
WILPF Women taking a
stand for world disarmament in London
This photo from the
London School of Economics’ archives features
Margaret Bondfield, Britain’s first female cabinet minister and member
of the Women’s International League for Peace and
Freedom. Bondfield is
giving a speech to mark
peace declaration forms
containing 2.2 million
signatures collected by
WILPF being sent to the
world disarmament conference in Geneva in 1932
1915
WILPF Foundation
Adopted by WILPF in 1915
during the first Congress held
in the Hague (Netherlands), the
12th resolution illustrates
WILPF's early interest in disarmament as a mean of struggle
for peace.
1929
Frankfurt Demonstration
1932
As early as 1929 WILPF convened a
special meeting (in Frankfurt am-Main,
Germany) to demonstrate that there is
no way to protect civilian populations
from the ravages of scientific warfare
7th Congress
Campaigning for total disarmament, the
Women's International League for Peace
and Freedom adopts a resolution during
this Congress: "That there be no effective Protective way towards the destruction methods that science has made
in the War Services"..
“WILPF believes that organized world
co-operation must be the first step towards a new era and whatever dangers may
menace humankind, in the future, none
can be compared with the evils of war,
which through the discoveries of science
would be a war of extermination.”
1st phase - Feb-July 1932
The first phase of the World Disarmament Conference opened on 2nd February
with delegates from 60 countries. Olga Miser of the Austrian section of WILPF
commented, ”I feel the delegates there treat us contemptuously.” WILPF had lobbied heavily for a female delegate to be present at the conference; Mary Emma
Woolley was chosen to represent and remain in direct contact with WILPF throughout.
WILPF’s efforts were once again hampered by women’s inequality and lack of political influence in many nations.
2nd Phase - 1933-1934
In the late summer of 1933, national branches of WILPF were told to press
their respective governments and to support a six-point resolution advocating
no rearmament, qualitative disarmament, budgetary limitation, strict supervision and a permanent supervisory organisation. A further demonstration was also
scheduled for 15th October in Geneva with meetings and messages of support
being sent to WILPF and other pacifist groups.
Despite the pacifist movement’s best efforts, on 14th October 1933 negotiations
collapsed. The German foreign minister announced that he felt ‘compelled to
leave.’ The World Disarmament Conference limped on until June the following
year, but WILPF recognised all hopes for a peaceful political settlement in
Europe were thwarted. Without German participation, the conference was meaningless.
1932
Disarmament Petition
In preparation for the conference
that was to pose a great threat to
its existence, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
(WILPF) gathered the signatures of
six million anti-war individuals.
WILPF 7th Congress Manifesto,
Grenoble, France 1932.
Nuclear Disarmament
Throughout the ages
WILPF and Women Strike for Peace
"Tooth Fairies Needed! Proud
WILPF mothers, grandmothers, aunts,
teachers and others are needed to
help collect baby teeth for the
“Tooth Fairy Project”
In 1962, Coretta King served as a delegate for Women Strike for Peace at a disarmament conference in Geneva that was part of a worldwide effort to push for a
nuclear test ban treaty between the U.S. and Soviet Union. Upon her return, King
spoke at AME church in Chicago saying: "We are on the brink of destroying ourselves through nuclear warfare...the Civil Rights Movement and the Peace Movement
must work together ultimately because peace and civil rights are part of the same
problem."
In the 1950s the Baby Tooth Survey
was initiated by the Greater St.
Louis Citizens' Committee to determine the effects of nuclear fallout
in the human anatomy by examining
the levels of radioactive material
absorbed into the deciduous teeth of
children.
WILPF encouraged its members and
placed advertisements to collect
baby teeth in order to study the
levels of radioactive Strontium-90
(Sr-90) in baby teeth resulting from
atmospheric nuclear testing. WILPF
and its St. Louis branch were heavily involved in the 1950s study,
which was a crucial part of the successful campaign to end above-ground
nuclear testing. Branch activist
(and later U.S. section president).
In 1961, at the height of the Cold War, about 50,000 women
brought together by Women Strike
for Peace marched in 60 cities
in the United States to demonstrate against nuclear weapons.
It was the largest national women's peace protest of the 20th
century
“Women must rise above nations
in this vital matter.”- Ruth Gage-Colby, WILPF board member and
Women Strike for Peace spokesperson
CNI newsletter, ca. 1960, which includes an update on the Baby Tooth Survey
Yvonne Logan directed the survey for several years and helped collect thousands
of teeth for the study. Information on how much radioactivity enters our bones
is crucial for determining whether nuclear power plants and weapons facilities
affect our health.
Ava Helen Pauling speaking at a “No More Hiroshimas”
march, sponsored by Women Strike for Peace. August 1961.
1963 - Limitied Test Ban Treaty
The Limited Test Ban Treaty (LTBT) is a treaty prohibiting all test detonations
of nuclear weapons except underground. It was developed both to slow the arms race
(nuclear testing was, at the time, necessary for continued developments in nuclear
weapons), and to stop the excessive release of nuclear fallout into the planet's atmosphere. The Treaty was signed and ratified by the governments of the Soviet Union,
the United Kingdom, and the United States during the autumn of 1963.
1957
1970’s - WILPF and the NPT
WILPF against Nuclear Testing
"We reaffirm the necessity for a total
The NPT, is an international treaty
permanent cessation of all nuclear wewhose objective is to prevent the
apons testing, manufacturing and stockspread of nuclear weapons and weapons
piling, as well as of refraining from
technology, to promote cooperation in
the use of nuclear energy for peaceful
the peaceful uses of nuclear energy,
purposes. To prevent the death of the
and to further the goal of achieving
earth and the incalculable suffering of
nuclear disarmament and general and
all living things we demand the eliminacomplete disarmament.
tion of existing nuclear arsenals, and
WILPF continues to engage in the NPT
furthermore We demand an immediate morameetings, and the WILPF Disarmament
torium on licensing, siteing, building,
programme, Reaching Critical Will was
selling and operating nuclear plants
founded with the objective of making
anywhere in the world."
these (and other international disarma19th Triennial Congress, Birmingham
ment discussions) more transparent and
7‐20 July 1974
accessible to a concerned public.
In 1957, U.S. WILPF delivered 10,000 signatures to
the White House opposing nuclear testing. WILPF was unique in linking
its demand for the abolition of nuclear weapons and weapons-testing to
the need for total and universal disarmament, as the only realistic
means for ‘security’ in the nuclear age. Partially due to the pressure
from WILPF’s representative, Gertrude Baer, the World Health Organization’s assembly adopted a resolution to “study public health problems related to somatic and genetic action of radiation.”
British WILPF members arriving in Zurich with the Disarmament petition, 1932.
1915
WILPF and the Baby teeth survey
“Recent developments in this field of nuclear, bacteriological, and
chemical warfare confirm the conviction held by the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom ever since its inception in 1915 that
only total and universal disarmament can free the world from war.”
WILPF International Congress, Stockholm 1959.
1978
WILPF and UN Disarmament bodies
Since the founding of the United Nations WILPF has actively engaged at all opportunities to further the peace and disarmament agenda. WILPF has always made the
links between what happens during international discussion with what happens locally. In 1978 WILPF engaged actively in the UN Special Session Devoted to Disarmament, as it proved a fruitful source for lobbying on the local and national levels, promoting peace education in school, and providing the opportunity to meet
with others on an international level who wanted to promote disarmament. WILPF continues to engage enthusiastically through its Reaching Critical Will programme.
2000’s - Anti Nuclear Protests
On 8 March 1982, International Women’s
Day, the STAR-Campaign was launched by the
US-Section in the UN Headquarter in New
York. Supported by WILPF international,
WILPF sections and peace activists and organizations from across the globe, signatures
were collected to Stop the Arms Race, notably as a protest against NATO decisions on
developing new kinds of weapons systems and
deploying new nuclear missiles in Western
Europe.
May 1, 2005, 40,000 anti-nuclear/anti-war protesters march past the UN in
New York, 60 years after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This
was the largest anti-nuclear rally in the U.S. for several decades.
In 2005 in Britain, there were many protests about the government's proposal
to replace the aging Trident weapons system with a newer model. The largest
protest had 100,000 participants.
In May 2010, some 25,000 people, including members of peace organizations and
1945 atomic bomb survivors, marched from downtown New York to the United Nations headquarters, calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons.
One year later, on 8 March 1983, ten
thousands of women from 20 different countries and 4 continents gathered in Brussels
for a mass rally: It became one of the greatest international protests of all time –
presenting one million signatures in Brussels to NATO headquarters. After a three day
Conference in Brussels international delegations were sent to the embassies of countries belonging to NATO, the Warsaw Pact and
every other nuclear power states.
The 2011 Japanese nuclear accidents undermined the nuclear power industry's
proposed renaissance and revived anti-nuclear passions worldwide, putting
governments on the defensive. There were large protests in Germany, India,
Japan, Switzerland, and Taiwan.
Slogan: "one million women can stop the
arms
race. Be one in a million". The purpose
was to collect women's signatures against
nuclear weapons debelopment and testing and in
support of UN disarmament efforts.
1982 - Central Park Demonstration
On June 12, 1982, one million people demonstrated in New York City's Central Park
against nuclear weapons and for an end to the cold war arms race. It was the largest anti-nuclear protest and the largest political demonstration in American history.
Beside the march, many events took place during the same month including demonstrations
and sit-ins in front of the embassies of major nuclear powers, cultural events and lectures.
Towards a nuclear free world
Anti nuclear protest in Madrid, Spain.
May 8, 2011
1954
1986
2011
Trinity - !st Nuclear test
Hiroshima and Nagasaki Bombings
Daigo Fukuryuu Maru, the ”Lucky Dragon” tragedy
Chernobyl Disaster
Fukushima Daiichi Disaster
This year, 2015, marks the 70th anniversary the atomic bombings of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the end of World War II.
In August 1945, during the final stage of the Second World War,
the United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The two bombings, which killed at least
129,000 people, remain the only use of nuclear weapons for warfare
in history.
Last year, 2014 was the 60 year anniversary since Daigo Fukuryuu Maru, the Japanese fishing boat "Lucky Dragon" and Japanese fishermen were killed by the
American Hydrogen Bomb testing at Bikini Atoll of the South Pacific in March,
1954. This incident sparked global outrage against nuclear weapons testing, and
inspired WILPF in the US and Japan to cooperate towards an end to nuclear testing forever. WILPF's efforts to outlaw and eliminate nuclear weapon were the
main focus of the 1956 Congress in Birmingham, UK. Since the 1950s, WILPF consistently recognised that nuclear weapons are the ultimate expression of violence. Although not well received by Japanese officials, WILPF personally delivered
a letter to the Japanese Embassy in Washington, DC in August 1957, WILPF pledged
to work for an end to nuclear testing, regarded as “a first step in a universal,
enforceable, disarmament agreement.”
The Chernobyl disaster was a
catastrophic nuclear accident
that occurred on 26 April
1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear
Power Plant in Ukraine, which
was under the direct jurisdiction of the central authorities of the Soviet Union.
An explosion and fire released large quantities of radioactive particles into the
Equipments used to clean the reactor during the
atmosphere, which spread over
accident in 1986.
much of the western USSR and
Europe.
The Chernobyl disaster was the worst nuclear power plant accident in history
in terms of cost and casualties.It is one of only two classified as a level 7
event (the maximum classification) on the International Nuclear Event Scale,
the other being the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011.The battle to
contain the contamination and avert a greater catastrophe ultimately involved
over 500,000 workers and cost an estimated 18 billion rubles. During the accident itself, 31 people died, and long-term effects such as cancers are still
being investigated.
The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster took
place at the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant
and began on 11 March 2011. It resulted in a
nuclear meltdown of three of the plant's six
nuclear reactors. The failure occurred when
the plant was hit by a tsunami that had been
triggered by the magnitude 9.0 Tōhoku earthquake. The following day, 12 of March, substantial amounts of radioactive material began to be
released, creating the largest nuclear incident since the Chernobyl disaster in April
1986 and the only (after Chernobyl) to measure
Level 7 on the International Nuclear Event
Scale(initially releasing an estimated 10–30%
of the earlier incident's radioactivity).
Cathedral of Nagasaki: after the atom-bombing(black photo) and rebuilt after many years (color photo).
1946 - Bikini Atoll Nuclear testing
The first series of tests over Bikini Atoll was code named Operation Crossroads. The first device tested was a new
design utilizing a dry fuel thermonuclear hydrogen bomb. It was detonated at dawn on March 1, 1954. The 15 megaton
nuclear explosion was about 1,000 times more powerful than each of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
during World War II.
The military authorities and scientists had promised the Bikini Atoll's native residents that they would be able to
return home after the nuclear tests. A majority of the island'a family heads agreed to leave the island, and most of
the residents were moved to the Rongerik Atoll and later to Kili Island. Both locations proved unsuitable to sustaining life, resulting in starvation and requiring the residents to receive ongoing aid. Despite the promises made by
authorities, nuclear tests rendered Bikini unfit for habitation, contaminating the soil and water, making subsistence
farming and fishing too dangerous.
After 12 years of monitoring the Conference on Disarmament, today the Women’s International League for Peace
and Freedom (WILPF) has decided to boycott the CD. With a statement delivered
by Mia Gandenberger from Reaching Critical Will, a project of WILPF, the
ICAN International Steering Group
Member affirmed its intention not to
follow the proceedings any longer. The
decision of WILPF was based on the lack
of progress of the body which ‘has been
operating in a vacuum’. A body disconnected from the outside world which
hinders the genuine participation of
civil society. For this reason WILPF
has decided that they ‘could no longer
invest effort in such a body’.
Since 2012 WILPF has been a member of the
policy making body of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons and has played
a crucial role in moving the debate on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons forward.
We have produced research and publications that
are widely used and have actively prepared and
participated in the three conferences on the
issue in Oslo in March 2013, in Nayarit in February 2014 and in Vienna in December 2014.
This year, 70 years after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and 45 years after the entry
into force, the international community will
have to decide on how to move forward, for
WILPF the best option is to ban nuclear weapons
and pave the way for their complete elimination.
1945
The nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll program was a series of 23 nuclear devices detonated by the United States between 1946 and 1958 at seven test sites on the reef itself, on the sea, in the air and underwater.
Conference on Disarmament
1982-1983 WILPF and the STAR Campaign
1945, July 16
Trinity was the code name of the
first detonation of a nuclear
weapon, conducted by the United
States Army on July 16, 1945, as
part of the Manhattan Project.
2015
Reaching Critical Will's tools and resources facilitate a broader and deeper knowledge of issues related to militarism and nuclear weapons at the diplomatic and
grassroots levels. The programme engages with government officials, diplomats, and the UN Secretariat, promoting transparency, accountability, and debate on
issues related to nuclear weapons, military spending, the arms trade, and more. RCW provides information and analysis that can help affect perceptions and policies on these issues. RCW also engages with international civil society, contributing critical analysis, advocacy, and organizing to civil society efforts for
nuclear disarmament, the reduction of global military spending, and the demilitarization of politics and economics in order to achieve human security and social,
economic, and environmental justice. RCW actively represents WILPF in several networks related to these issues, such as the International Campaign to Abolish
Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), Abolition 2000, the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA), the International Network on Explosive Weapons, and the Campaign
to Stop Killer Robots
1981
Tsuruga Nuclear plant accident
January 1981 Tsuruga plant in Japan, an incident radiates 278 people. In March
1981, drainage from unit 1 caused a release of radioactivity. The forty-day
cover-up of a spill of 16 tons of radioactive primary cooling water was revealed
only in April.
2015
No fatalities due to short-term radiation exposure
were reported, some 300,000 people evacuated the
area; 15,884 (as of 10 February 2014) people died
due to the earthquake and tsunami; and, as of
August 2013, approximately 1,600 deaths were related to the evacuation or its consequences (such as
living in temporary housing and hospital closures)
A 2013 WHO report predicts that for populations
that would have stayed and lived in the most affected areas, and according to the (disputed) LNT
hypothesis, there would have been a 70% higher
risk of developing thyroid cancer for girls exposed as infants, a 7% higher risk of leukemia in
males exposed as infants, a 6% higher risk of
breast cancer in females exposed as infants and a
4% higher risk, overall, of developing solid cancers for females