Nuclear Weapons violate human dignity: “We must see the human face of these issues,” Kim Won-soo, the Under-Secretary General and Acting High Representative for Disarmament Affairs for the UN said in an Oct. 7 panel on nuclear disarmament that focused on the Holy Father’s call at the UN for the international community to rid the world of nuclear weapons. The panel took place at the UN New York headquarters and was sponsored by the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations.
In his September 25 address to the General Assembly Pope Francis urged the United Nations to ‘work for a world free of nuclear weapons,’
In the wake of the Pope’s words, the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations hosted an October 7 panel to ponder more deeply Pope Francis’ words to the international community regarding justice, peace and the elimination of nuclear weapons….
In the final talk of the panel, Jonathan Granoff, the President of Global Security Institute, said nuclear weapons are not only a security issue, but also the greatest threat to the environment.
“The likely consequences of nuclear war make other threats to the environment pale in insignificance,” he said, citing the World Commission on Environment and Development. “One thermonuclear bomb can have an explosive power greater than all the explosives used in wars since the existence of gunpowder.”
Granoff cited the Holy See’s December 2014 statement entitled Nuclear Disarmament: Time for Abolition and praised its analysis on the weak foundation of the principle of nuclear deterrence, which justifies the possession of nuclear weapons because fear of mutual destruction will deter opposing countries from using such weapons against each other.
Address Of His Holiness Pope Francis To The General Assembly Of The United Nations
Jonathan Granoff is the President of the Global Security Institute, a representative to United Nations of the World Summits of Nobel Peace Laureates, a former Adjunct Professor of International Law at Widener University School of Law, and Senior Advisor to the Committee on National Security American Bar Association International Law Section.
