Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 6. Juli 2007 / Time Line July 6, 2007
Version 3.507/06/2007
Global Nuclear Experts Return to Pugwash, Nova Scotia, Canada, for Historic Meeting
July 6-7, 2007
(Washington DC – New York – Pugwash, Nova Scotia, Canada) Fifty years after nuclear
scientists from East and West held a historic meeting in the village of Pugwash to discuss peace,
a new generation of experts is returning to Nova Scotia to discuss ways to revitalize nuclear
disarmament.
On July 6 and 7, the Nobel Prize–winning Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs
and the influential New York–based Middle Powers Initiative will bring together 25 scientists,
diplomats and former military officers from 15 countries for a “Revitalizing Nuclear
Disarmament” strategy workshop. The meeting will be held near the Thinkers’ Lodge, the site of
the first meeting in 1957.
“Fifty years ago from Pugwash, Nova Scotia, nuclear scientists helped alert the world to the
dangers of nuclear weapons, and especially the newly developed hydrogen bomb,” said Paolo
Cotta-Ramusino, Secretary General, Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs.
“Today, we are working with experts from around the world for global action to revitalize
nuclear disarmament and the final elimination of nuclear weapons.”
“Not since the inaugural meeting at the Thinkers’ Lodge in 1957 has there been such an
important meeting of nuclear disarmament experts in Canada,” said Hon. Douglas Roche, O.C.,
Chairman of the Middle Powers Initiative (MPI). “We will take a page from MPI’s Article VI
Forums and work in a cooperative manner to overcome the cynicism that too often characterizes
other disarmament discussions.”
The locally based Pugwash Peace Exchange is hosting the weekend of events that include
historical lectures and a commemorative dinner with the Premier of Nova Scotia, Hon. Rodney
MacDonald, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Hon. Peter MacKay, and Senator Roméo
Dallaire, Honorary Patron of the Pugwash Peace Exchange.
“It is appalling to observe the increasing potential for many regional nuclear arms races,
shameless plans to modernize nuclear arsenals and bald-faced threats of pre-emptive nuclear
use,” said Senator Dallaire. “Only by revitalizing discussion and implementation of disarmament
leading to abolition can we ensure that these genocidal devices will never again be used.”
In July 1957, at the onset of the Cold War, wealthy industrialist and Pugwash son Cyrus Eaton
invited the world’s greatest minds to come to his family home in Nova Scotia and address the
emerging threat of nuclear war. Inspired by Albert Einstein and Bertrand Russell, 22 scientists
from East and West gathered in a controversial meeting to discuss peace.
In 1995, recognizing its role in ending the Cold War and averting global nuclear disaster,
Pugwash and its founder, the late Manhattan project scientist Joseph Rotblat, were awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize.
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