SCRAP Weapon’s Project Assistant, Ms. Vanessa Canola, participated as a panelist in two side events held at the margins of the NPT PrepCom at the United Nations in Geneva.

The first side event, entitled “Mayors for Peace Youth Forum”, was organized by the Mayors for Peace, an international organization based in Hiroshima, Japan, and aimed to shed light on youth activities to achieve a world without nuclear weapons, building bridges between current disarmament advocates and future leaders. The second side event, entitled “Advancing the Global Agenda of a Nuclear-Weapon-Free World” was co-sponsored by the Government of Austria, the Prefectures of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and UNITAR. It featured high-level speakers and panelists and was meant to stimulate dialogue among various stakeholders, including diplomats, policymakers, practitioners, academia, civil society, and youth representatives to explore the intersections of security, humanity, and sustainability by providing an inclusive space for discussion with future and current change-makers.

Ms. Vanessa Canola, in both interventions, remarked on the pivotal role of youth leaders in achieving a nuclear-free world and on her experience as a Youth Leader Fund for a World Without Nuclear Weapons participant, a holistic learning program organized by UNODA, UNITAR, and the Government of Japan aimed at equipping the leaders of the future with the knowledge, skills, and network to join global efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons. She shared personal insights, lessons learned, and potential steps forward to advance the disarmament discourse during challenging times where divergences seem to prevail.