The G20 response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and fears of nuclear annihilation was that ‘today’s era must not be of war.’ As such, we require a new political and technical strategy for arms control and disarmament.

Just as at the bleakest moment of the Second World War, Franklin Roosevelt set an objective of disarmament, so now we can do no less. With Russian president Vladimir Putin and foreign minister Sergey Lavrov having made a number of statements widely seen as threatening the use of nuclear weapons, an accelerating arms race taking place in the East, and global military spending reaching an estimated $2,000,000,000,000, never has there been a more pressing time for general and complete disarmament. Thus, SCRAP Weapons calls upon these states to support the activation of a Special Session on Disarmament at the United Nations General Assembly.

SCRAP Weapons hosted a hybrid conference on Friday 24^th February 2023 at SOAS University of London to build a global constituency to support the convening of the next Special Session on Disarmament and take its agenda to the United Nations General Assembly, in order to uphold the United Nations’ sixteenth Sustainable Development Goal of ‘peace, justice and strong institutions.’

Joined by Henrietta Wilson, Lucy Tiller, Martin Butcher (OXFAM), Robert Harrap (Soka Gakkai) and SCRAP Weapons project assistance Gurpreet Kaur, Indrajeet Ramana Nand, James Luk and Monalisa Hazarika, the conference explored how to make the G20’s call a reality in order to shape a road-map to a new era of peace and disarmament in Ukraine and beyond.