The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots had a pretty good 2014 but many people view 2014 as a terrible year full of death, war and disease around the world. Fortunately, things are not as bleak as the news makes them look. The humanitarian disarmament world has seen a lot of successes this year and each of these successes is a win for humanity. So let’s recap the good news stories of 2014 in the humanitarian disarmament world.
- The Arms Trade Treaty became international law [entered into force] on Dec. 24.
- After the 3rd Review Conference of the Ottawa Treaty, the U.S. banned landmines everywhere in the world with the exception of the Korean Peninsula.
- Nuclear disarmament started the year with the successful Nayarit Conference on the Humanitarian Consequences of Nuclear Weapons and ended it with the Vienna Conference where the Government of Austria issued the Austrian Pledge to to identify and pursue effective measures to fill the legal gap for the prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons.
- The Toxic Remnants of War Project raised international awareness on the environmental impact of conflict through a new report Pollution Politics and a briefing at the United Nations Convention on Conventional Weapons.
- Waterloo, Canada’s Clearpath Robotics became the first commercial company in the world to support a ban on autonomous weapons (killer robots).
- At least 157 countries condemned the use of cluster munitions in Syria in numerous fora.
- The United Kingdom hosted the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict.
- Iraq called for a treaty banning depleted uranium weapons.
- The International Network on Explosive Weapons saw an increase in states speaking out about the use of explosive weapons in populated areas during the Security Council’s Open Debate on the Protection of Civilians and during the United Nations General Assembly First Committee.
As we get started on 2015, it’s time to pick our favourite humanitarian disarmament success story of 2014. We conducted a poll with over 200 respondents to see what the biggest humanitarian success story of 2014 was. They voted for Clearpath Robotics becoming the first commercial company in the world to support a ban on killer robots! The second highest vote was for the Arms Trade Treaty becoming international law [entering into force] on Dec. 24 and the third highest was The Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons and the Austrian Pledge.
