By the ACA Staff
Since 1971, the Arms Control Association has promoted practical solutions to address the dangers posed by the world's most dangerous weapons-nuclear, biological, and chemical, as well as certain types of conventional arms.
Every year since 2007, ACA's staff has nominated several individuals and institutions that best exemplify leadership and action in pursuing effective arms control solutions.
Each, in their own way, has provided leadership to help reduce weapons-related security threats.
We invite you to cast your vote (one per person) for the 2012 Arms Control Person(s) of the Year.
Click here to vote and enter "aca2012" as the password. The vote will be closed at midnight on January 5 and the results announced the week of January 7.
The nominees are:
- The governments of Australia, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, and Poland for pledging at the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul that they would return their stocks of highly enriched uranium to the country of origin, with some of them specifying that they would complete their work by the end of 2013.
- United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for his advocacy and strong voice for his Ban 5-point action plan for nuclear disarmament and tough stance with Iran and North Korea regarding their noncompliance with safeguards obligations and the NPT.
- Honorary ATOM Project ambassador Mr. Karipbek Kuyukov, for raising awareness of the health consequences of nuclear weapons testing and the importance of prompt entry into force of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
- Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari of Iraq for his government's ratification of the additional protocol to its comprehensive safeguards agreement with the IAEA and President Thein Sein of Burma for pledging to sign the additional protocol to his country's IAEA safeguards agreement.
- Gen. James Cartwright, former vice-chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and former commander of U.S. nuclear forces, for calling for reducing U.S. forces to 900 total warheads, doing away with one leg of the U.S. nuclear triad, and reducing the alert status of deployed nuclear weapons.
- The Foreign Ministers of Argentina, Australia, Costa Rica, Finland, Japan, Kenya, and the United Kingdom for successfully advancing a proposal at the UN to hold a final diplomatic conference for a global Arms Trade Treaty in March 2013 and for their strong advocacy for a robust ATT that requires the regulation of international transfers of conventional arms and ammunition.
- The government of Mongolia for declaring that it has fully complied with its commitments as a non-nuclear-weapon state under the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and for securing parallel political declarations from the five original nuclear-weapon states that formally recognize Mongolia's status as a nuclear weapons-free zone.
- Alex Salmond, First Minister of the Scottish National Party, for pledging to outlaw nuclear weapons in Scotland if his party won power in an independent government. Currently, the U.K.'s Trident nuclear-armed sub fleet is based at Faslane Naval base on the Clyde in Scotland. A referendum on Scottish independence will take place before the end of 2014.
- U.S. Congressman Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.), author of the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008, which triggered U.S. sanctions against Chad, and the demobilization of child soldiers from the ranks of its military forces. However, in October, President Obama issued a presidential memorandum waiving penalties under the Child Soldiers Protection Act for Libya, South Sudan, and Yemen, and partially waived sanctions against the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The penalties block U.S. arms sales to countries determined by the State Department to be the worst abusers of child soldiers in their militaries.
- The expert panel of the National Academy of Sciences that released the 2012 report on "Technical Issues Relating to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty," which Senator Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.), chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, called a "critical contribution" to what she hoped would be "thorough review" of the CTBT, which must be approved by the U.S. Senate to secure its entry into force.
Click here to vote and enter "aca2012" as the password.
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You can also "write-in" candidates you consider worthy of consideration in the comments section below.
Past winners of the "Arms Control Person of the Year" are: Reporter and activist Kathi Lynn Austin (2011),Kazakhstan's Deputy Foreign Minister Kairat Umarov and Thomas D'Agostino, U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration Administrator (2010); 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 contribution online right now, or by giving a friend or colleague a gift subscription to Arms Control Today this holiday season.