Green candidate part of anti-nuclear campaign awarded Nobel Peace Prize

The Green Party congratulates the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), a global coalition of NGOs that has been awarded the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize.

The Nobel Committee recognised ICAN for its work to achieve the international treaty to ban nuclear weapons, which opened for signature at the United Nations in September.

The Green Party's general election candidate for Palmerston North, Thomas Nash, co-founded Article 36, a London-based NGO that plays a key role in the leadership of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

Greens candidate Thomas Nash says, “This Nobel Peace Prize is a recognition for the vision, courage and determination of so many campaigners and survivors around the world and I’m proud to have helped take it from a vision to a reality. The real prize is the treaty to ban nuclear weapons signed at the UN last month. It shows what people can do when they work together with a vision, belief and determination for a better world."

The Green Party is staunchly committed to nuclear disarmament and to a world based on principles of peace and non-violence. This Nobel Prize is a testament to the work of campaigners in Aotearoa NZ and the Pacific who have played a major role in the movement against nuclear weapons.

Green Party Spokesperson for Social Development, MP Jan Logie says, "Our Pacific Ocean and its peoples have suffered the terrible effects of nuclear explosions and today we acknowledge the survivors of nuclear weapons use and testing. This Nobel Prize honours them. It will boost the global efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons and we call on all states to sign and ratify the treaty without delay.

“The Green Party aims high and we continue to set the standards, with our people, our policy and our principles. We had the highest calibre of candidates we have ever had and the news that a campaign propelled by one of our candidates has won the Nobel Peace Prize just cements that once and for all," says Ms Logie.

The Green Party congratulates ICAN Aotearoa NZ, the Wellington-based national campaign of the International Camapign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, which worked locally to push the ban treaty process forward.

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