Dear Friend --

It’s hard to believe a year has passed since I started as Executive Director of ICAN. In a time when the threat of nuclear weapons is alarmingly real, our work has never been more crucial—or more impactful. As part of this movement, I’ve seen firsthand how we’re holding back nuclear threats every day, and your help is essential in enabling us to do that.

An action-packed trip to Japan in January saw me make my first visit to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I met many Hibakusha (Japanese and Korean) and youth who are tireless in their advocacy for nuclear disarmament and peace. Together we celebrated the 3rd anniversary of the coming into force of the TPNW.

Our work this year has focused on showing how nuclear weapons threaten more than just security—they endanger our environment and humanity’s future. We marked the International Day for Biodiversity (22 May) and World Environment Day (5 June) by explaining the damaging impact on the environment of nuclear weapons, not only in terms of the potential for nuclear winter, but also in terms of long-term contamination and massive biodiversity loss. Just one nuclear explosion could have a devastating impact on our biodiversity, a risk we cannot afford, especially at a time when the world has already lost 70% of species in the last 50 years.

ICAN is hoping to be able to attend both the Conference on Biological Diversity in October and the COP29 in November to highlight the connections between nuclear weapons and the environment.We need your support to keep this work going, will you consider a contribution today?

I’ve had the good fortune to meet many who want to explore new partnerships to broaden the network of allies for nuclear disarmament, for example, Dr. Tedros of the WHO reinforced the link between nuclear weapons and global health. His support of our message—“nuclear risks are health risks”—is a powerful endorsement that we must prevent what we cannot cure. At a meeting of Nobel Peace Laureates at the Vatican in May, I met and thanked the Pope for expanding papal doctrine on nuclear weapons to say that not only the use, but also the possession, of nuclear weapons is immoral.

As we approach this September’s UN General Assembly, I’m thrilled that more states will join the TPNW. Our campaign partners across the globe are gearing up for a Week of Action before the UN’s Summit for the Future to confront the misguided priorities that allowed $91 billion to be spent on nuclear arsenals last year alone.

Looking ahead to 2025, with the Third Meeting of States Parties to the TPNW and the 80th anniversaries of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, our work will continue to be driven by the urgent need to eliminate nuclear weapons.

I am grateful to work with a committed, low-ego, high-impact team, and to have your support as we face these challenges together. Together, we WILL eliminate nuclear weapons!

Thank you,

Melissa Parke
Executive Director

ICAN