Hi Friend --

A few hours ago, Russian President Putin ordered Russian nuclear weapons forces to be put on high alert. This is incredibly dangerous and irresponsible, especially during a time of war and high tension when escalations can quickly spin out of control. 

ICAN has put out an immediate statement, urging all nuclear armed states to stand down their nuclear armed forces and refrain from threatening to use weapons of mass destruction. We will be using our network of campaigners, partner organisations, parliamentarians, cities, and other key actors to get this message out to governments. Because any use of nuclear weapons  would cause catastrophic humanitarian suffering and the fallout (radioactive, economic, and political) will harm people for generations. 

What we're seeing first hand is how nuclear weapons and the theory of nuclear deterrence is used to enable the continued invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Putin is threatening nuclear war to stop the rest of the world from helping. It is obvious that nuclear weapons do not keep the peace, they allow for war and violence to be carried out against Ukrainian people right now. 

Today has really highlighted how incredibly dangerous it is to let nuclear weapons to continue to be legitimate weapons to threaten with. 

Speak out on social media » 

It is a scary moment. But we in ICAN have not just warned about these situations for a long time, we also have a plan and a network of committed organisations around the world working to prevent this from happening again.

ICAN is the global movement against nuclear weapons and we are working harder than ever to stigmatize and make nuclear weapons completely unacceptable and illegal. The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and a strong public mobilization campaign for nuclear disarmament is what can help remove the nuclear option off the table .

So today, we need your help to strengthen our movement. You are already onboard with our campaign and supportive of our work. We are so grateful that you have helped us achieve a lot so far.

Now we need your help to further build this movement!

We know there are so many people out there who agree with us that nuclear weapons should be eliminated. But many don’t know what to do about it. We need to get them involved in our campaign now. 

Can you ask your friends and network to join our work here? Or share these social media posts here?   

Thank you,

Beatrice Fihn 
Executive Director
ICAN

Donate to strengthen ICAN’s work