VIDEO| Ukraine, Parke (Ican): “Let us move away from the nuclear abyss immediately”

The director of the NGO and Nobel Peace Prize winner said: "Enough weapons, diplomacy is needed"

ROME – Taking a step back, “moving away from the abyss”, stopping wasting precious resources on weapons, focusing on diplomacy: four moves that are needed immediately, underlines Melissa Parke, director of International, in an interview with the Dire agency Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (Ican). The organization was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017. What was celebrated was Ican’s commitment as a global coalition of civil society fighting to promote accession and full implementation of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons .

Parke first responds to a question on the conflict in Ukraine and the risks linked to the raids underway in the area of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe. “This is a moment of nuclear threats, very dangerous” underlines the director. “We must move away from the abyss and we must move not towards a military clash but towards de-escalation, diplomacy and dialogue”.
Parke is in Rome hosted by the Fratelli tutti Foundation, promoter today and tomorrow of the second edition of the World Meeting on Human Fraternity, with debates and “working tables” involving 30 Nobel Peace Prize winners. This week, Russia announced that it will soon hold exercises on the border with Ukraine which should concern the possible use of “non-strategic” nuclear weapons. This move was motivated by Moscow with threats of broader military involvement in support of Kiev by France and Great Britain, both NATO member countries.

“It’s nice to be here because Pope Francis has underlined several times that the possession and use of nuclear weapons is immoral” underlines the director. “The consequences that could arise from an atomic conflict would be catastrophic, on an environmental and humanitarian level.” In the foreground of the interview are the calls for rearmament which also involve Italy, also a member country of the Atlantic Alliance. “We need peace, dialogue and diplomacy and certainly not further militarization” denounces Parke. “We see how enormous resources are wasted on armaments, including nuclear weapons: these funds should instead be invested to deal with global challenges such as the environmental crisis or the right to education and health”.