For 40 years, the Arms Control Association has promoted practical solutions to address the dangers posed by the world’s most dangerous weapons. Every year since 2007, ACA's staff nominate a number of people and institutions that best exemplify leadership and action in pursuing effective arms control solutions. Each, in their own way, has taken a stand against naysayers and pushed to see that the hard work is done to control and eliminate the world's most dangerous weapons.
In an exceedingly busy year that may produce still more positive developments, the Arms Control Association invites you to cast your vote for the 2010 Arms Control Person(s) of the Year.
The vote closed December 28. Click for results.
The nominees are:
Sumiteru Taniguchi and other hibakusha—the survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki—for their powerful presence and call to action for world free of nuclear weapons at the 2010 nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference at UN headquarters in New York. More info.
Senator Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) for his courageous and unflinching leadership for prompt Senate approval of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty despite months of partisan division in the Senate on the treaty. More info here and here.
The leaders of Angola, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, and São Tomé and Príncipe for signing the Kinshasha convention to control the flow of small arms and light weapons in central Africa. More info.
The Utah State Legislature for its unanimous approval of a resolution sponsored byDemocratic Representative Jennifer Seelig, Republican Representative Ryan Wilcox, Democrat Trisha Beck, and Republican Rebecca Edwards calling for the U.S. Senate to provide its advice and consent for ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. More info.
U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev for their leadership efforts to negotiate and sign the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which would reduce each side’s strategic deployed nuclear arsenals by 30% below current limits and reestablish on-site monitoring of the world’s two largest nuclear arsenals. More info.
Eleven-year-old Daniel Yuval for turning his landmine injury into a catalyst for change in Israel and becoming an international ambassador for a mine-free world, which requires ratification of the Mine Ban Treaty by key hold-out states, including Israel, the United States, China, India, Russia, and others. More info here and here.
The Nigerian State Security Service for helping to enforce the UN arms embargo on Iran and prevent illicit small arms trafficking by seizing 13 containers aboard an Iranian vessel carrying rockets, mortars, anti-aircraft ammunition, and other munitions and light weaponry. The containers, labeled as "building materials" are believed to have been headed to
Writer-Director Lucy Walker and her collaborators on the feature film documentary Countdown to Zero, which raised public awareness and understanding of the dangers posed by nuclear weapons in the 21st century and helped mobilize support for practical steps to reduce those dangers. More info.
British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and other members of the coalition government for the October 2010 decision to retire 45 nuclear weapons, thereby reducing the British nuclear arsenal by 25 percent, and to postpone a decision to build a new ballistic missile submarine until 2016. More info.
----
Past winners of the “Arms Control Person of the Year” are: Senator Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) (2009), Norway’s Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and his ministry’s Director-General for Security Policy and the High North Steffen Kongstad (2008), and U.S. Congressmen Peter Visclosky (D-Ind.) and David Hobson (R-Ohio) (2007).
If you find the Arms Control Association’s resources and work of value, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution right now. Our continued efforts depend on the support of individuals like you.
Thanks.