How can Germany promote nuclear disarmament? What measure need to be taken to reduce the risk of new arms races? What are the opportunities and risks associated with new instruments like the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons?
About 50 participants from politics, academia, peace research and the public discussed these and other current disarmament problems at the public event "Paths towards a world free of nuclear weapons – progress and setbacks" in Berlin. The deputy chair of the Social Democrats in the German Bundestag, Gabriela Heinrich, gave the keynote speech. Three panellists, Rüdiger Bohn, Deputy Commission of the Federal Government for Arms Control and Disarmament, Marion Messmer, deputy head of BASIC, and the Austrian diplomat Alexander Kmentt discussed current nuclear disarmament challenges. IFSH Senior Researcher Oliver Meier moderated the discussion, which took place on the eve of the ministerial meeting of the Stockholm Initiative for Nuclear Disarmament on 25 February in Berlin. Participants also discussed options to make progress towards a world without nuclear weapons at the Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which will take place 27 April – 22 May in New York. The meeting had been organized jointly by IFSH, the Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation und the British American Security Information Council (BASIC).