The conference then split the Secretary General’s agenda for disarmament into three sections: nuclear, small arms / light weapons and ‘killer robots’. There were speakers on these sections representing governments such as Canada, Kenya, New Zealand, as well as UN Office for Disarmament Affairs officials and other NGO representatives working at local and international levels. In meeting these experts and the other conference attendees, it was brilliant to see how many young people from around the world care and want their respective states to act on these issues. At SCRAP we can bring all these areas together and provide an opportunity for cross-pollination of ideas. We are advocating for comprehensive global weapons governance that addresses all these areas and provides a space for youth-led policy formulation.

The SCRAP coalition provides a space for these engaged young people to campaign across the board rather than in information silos. I made the argument that at SCRAP we see all these three areas as equally important and this is why we continue to push the case for general and complete disarmament through our treaty. SCRAP students have already played a key role in the development of the draft treaty, design of the website and building links with other NGOs such as Oxfam International. Dan Plesch, the director of SCRAP, has said that these ideas have been taken out of a purely academic context is the enthusiasm and determination of our student body drawn from some fifty countries. If these ideas are to become reality one day, the campaigning work of SCRAP student representatives will be key in making decision-makers listen.