Local residents may be interested to learn Red Cross not only works in communities across Australia, but also internationally, to champion humanitarian values.
The supreme governing body of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement has just passed a resolution agreeing to work towards a legally binding international agreement to ensure nuclear weapons are never used again, and are ultimately eliminated.
That decision was made by the Movement’s Council of Delegates – made up of representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the 187 Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies and the International Federation – who met in Geneva in late November, and was spearheaded by Australian Red Cross.
The decision challenges the legitimacy of nuclear weapons as a weapon of war because of the catastrophic humanitarian consequences, in particular on civilian populations, as well as because of the threat they pose to food production over wide areas of the globe.
Australian Red Cross has worked with Japanese Red Cross and the Norwegian Red Cross to drive a campaign around this issue. We convened a meeting in Oslo, Norway earlier this year to draft the resolution which was ultimately passed.
Within Australia we have already gained huge public support for this initiative through our Facebook page and campaign website, which includes a referendum on the use of nuclear weapons. The ‘Target Nuclear Weapons’ campaign has already received over 23,000 votes with 86 per cent of people voting YES to ban the use of nuclear weapons. Our campaign has reached more than 565,000 people through a social explosion of Facebook posts and tweets and this number is still growing.
We have also received strong support for our initiative from the Opposition, the Australian Greens, and prominent members of the Government side of the Parliament.
As Australians we can be immensely proud of Australian Red Cross’ achievements, at home and around the world.
Robert Tickner
Australian Red Cross CEO
