Lettre à Béatrice Fihn

À Beatrice Fihn
Dirigeante exécutive de la Campagne internationale pour l’abolition des armes nucléaires
ICANW.org

Chère Béatrice,

Désolé de réagir si tardivement à votre triste annonce de quitter votre poste en janvier 2023. Les Artistes pour la Paix vous sont immensément reconnaissants pour votre formidable travail de faire de notre objectif commun d’éliminer les armes nucléaires de plus en plus une réalité, et pas seulement un rêve.

Nous vous sommes particulièrement reconnaissants de votre sagesse, emmenant à vos côtés Setsuko Thurlow pour recevoir le prix Nobel 2017. La célèbre hibakusha canadienne était également présente pour la résolution des Nations Unies en juillet de la même année qui, grâce à l’ambassadrice du Costa Rica Elayne Whyte-Gomez (voir photo ci-dessous), a aujourd’hui convaincu 91 pays de co-signer le Traité sur l’interdiction des armes nucléaires (TPNW) les rendant illégales.

Grâce à des femmes comme vous trois, le monde est plus sûr.

Permettez, enfin, mon fier souvenir que c’est une résolution cosignée par Sergueï Plekhanov et moi-même qui a nommé madame Thurlow membre honoraire de Pugwash Canada, grâce au soutien de mes amis Phyllis Creighton et de feu Murray Thomson, cofondateur du Rassemblement canadien pour une convention sur les armes nucléaires (avec plus d’un millier de signatures de membres de l’Ordre du Canada).

Avec nos vœux chaleureux que votre carrière couronnée de succès se poursuive pour le bien universel commun.

Pierre Jasmin
Secrétaire général des Artistes pour la Paix,
au nom de nos coprésidentes Sylva Balassanian et Louise Marie Beauchamp et de nos coviceprésidents Izabella Marengo et Normand Raymond ainsi que de tous nos membres.

Setsuko Thurlow et Béatrice Fihn lors de la remise des prix Nobel en 2017.

Debbie Grisdale (Réseau canadien pour l’abolition des armes nucléaires), Steven Staples (ceasefire.ca, PeaceQuest), Pierre Jasmin (Artistes pour la Paix et Pugwash) appuient l’ambassadrice du Costa Rica (pays sans armée) Elayne Whyte-Gomez. Ottawa, le 25 septembre 2017. Avaient cosigné Elizabeth May et Thomas Mulcair.

Dear Beatrice,

Sorry for reacting so late to your announcement (underneath). Les Artistes pour la Paix are immensely grateful for your tremendous work making our common goal of eliminating nuclear weapons more and more a reality, and not only a dream.

We are especially grateful for your wisdom, bringing at your side Setsuko Thurlow for receiving the Nobel Prize 2017. The famous Canadian hibakusha was also present for the United Nations’ resolution which, thanks to Costa Rican ambassadress Elayne Whyte-Gomez (see photo underneath) is also responsible for making 91 countries co-signatories of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TIAN, in French) making nuclear weapons illegal.

Thanks to women like you three, the world is safer.

Finally, allow my proud recollection that a resolution co-signed by Sergei Plekhanov and myself named madame Thurlow a honorary member of Pugwash Canada, thanks to the support of my friends Phyllis Creighton and late Murray Thomson, Co-Founder of Canadians for a Nuclear Weapons Convention (with more than a thousand members of the Order of Canada signatures).

With our warm wishes that your successful career will continue for our common universal benefit.

Pierre Jasmin
Secrétaire général des Artistes pour la Paix,
on behalf of our coprésidentes Sylva Balassanian and Louise Marie Beauchamp and our covicepresidents Izabella Marengo and Normand Raymond and all our members.

Dear Pierre —

Today, I want to share some personal news with you: at the end January 2023, after nine years, I will be stepping down as Executive Director of ICAN.

ICAN has never been stronger than it is right now. I have been enormously privileged to spend almost a decade building this powerful campaign. Throughout my time at ICAN, I have seen it grow rapidly in size and influence and achieve milestone after milestone in our efforts to prohibit nuclear weapons under international law.

The moment the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was adopted at the UN in 2017 will always be a highlight for me, as will ICAN’s Nobel Peace Prize. But we did not stop there, and that is one of the things I love about this campaign. ICAN’s incredible campaigners around the world rapidly moved on to get states to ratify the treaty to bring it into force as a new, groundbreaking international law.

Together, we did what many thought was impossible, we made nuclear weapons illegal.

Now, the world has a treaty in force which categorically bans nuclear weapons with ninety one signatory states and sixty eight states parties, and an ambitious action plan. And the movement keeps growing: we have over 650 partner organizations in 110 countries.

Of course, stepping down from a role like this one will be bittersweet, but I will continue to support ICAN and the TPNW in new ways. From 1 February, our Campaign Coordinator, Daniel Högsta, will take up the role of Acting Executive Director until a new Executive Director is recruited.  And with all the talent, commitment and strength in this movement right now, I am really confident to hand over the leadership to someone new, and I know that ICAN will succeed and achieve its goal.

One day after President Putin explicitly threatened to use nuclear weapons, several countries have taken action by joining the nuclear ban treaty.

At the United Nations just moments ago, five more countries signed and two more countries ratified the landmark 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).

This is evidence that there’s growing global consensus that nuclear threats are unacceptable and that the work we do to stigmatize and prohibit this behavior is effective.

It’s thanks to the persistent efforts and support of individuals like you that more and more leaders are seeing the TPNW as our best chance of bringing the era of nuclear weapons to a permanent end. (…)

Beatrice Fihn