On Tuesday, 19 February public talks in Wellington (lunchtime) and Auckland (evening) have been scheduled to discuss legislative, divestment, and other measures taken to halt the manufacture of cluster munitions.

 

Lunchtime Talk in Wellington
“Taking Action Against Cluster Bomb Manufacturers”
Ilott Theatre, Wellington Town Hall
Tues. 19 February: 1.00pm-2.30pm

Co-Leader of the Green Party of New Zealand, Mr. Russel Norman, will facilitate this talk which features three speakers: Mr. Mark Hiznay, Human Rights Watch; Ms. Gro Nystuen, Norwegian Government Pension Fund; and Ms. Miriam Struyk, Policy Advisor, IKV Pax Christi The Netherlands. No RSVP required
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Evening Talk in Auckland
“Making Cluster Munitions History”
Aotea Chapel, 370 Queen Street, Auckland
Tues. 19 February: 6.00pm–8.00pm

This talk will be facilitated by Ms. Marion Hancock of the Peace Foundation and features two international guest speakers: Ms. Miriam Struyk, Policy Advisor, IKV Pax Christi (The Netherlands) and Mr. Stan Brabant, Policy Director, Handicap International (Belgium). No RSVP required, but contact WILPF for more info: (09) 360-8001.
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Biographies of the speakers follow.  No RSVP is required for these public talks.

Mr. Russel Norman, Co-Leader, Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand
Mr. Russel Norman was elected co-leader of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand in July 2006, following the death of Rod Donald. Norman helped author a major Green Party report issued in February 2006 that showed how the government’s New Zealand Super Fund is investing in manufacturers of nuclear weapons and cluster munitions.  The government subsequently announced that KiwiSaver providers should disclose their approach to ethical investing. Born in Brisbane, Australia, Norman came to New Zealand in 1997 to write his political science PhD thesis on the Alliance Party.

Mr. Mark Hiznay, Human Rights Watch
Mark Hiznay has worked as a senior researcher for the Arms Division of Human Rights Watch (HRW) since January 2000. Human Rights Watch is a founding member of both the ICBL and the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC). Hiznay researchs and edits the ICBL’s annual Landmine Monitor report, drawing on his unparalleled knowledge base on all aspects of the landmines and cluster munitions. Hiznay previously served in the U.S. Army.

Dr. Gro Nystuen, Norwegian Government Pension Fund
Dr. Gro Nystuen chairs the Council on Ethics for the Norwegian Government Pension Fund. This governmental pension fund has amassed a fortune of more than $300 billion over the last decade from oil revenue (Norway is the world’s third largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia and Russia). Dr. Nysteun chairs the fund’s Council on Ethics, established in 2004 to advance an ambitious ethical code. She has helped establish ethical guidelines and disinvestment policies that are used to screen Fund investments. The criteria for exclusion of companies (corruption, environment, human rights, and manufacturing of certain weapons) has seen the Fund divest from manufacturers of antipersonnel mines, cluster bombs and nuclear weapons or related components (including General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, Boeing and Lockheed Martin). Dr. Gro Nystuen is an Associate Professor at the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights at the University of Oslo. She has been in the Norwegian foreign service since 1991 and played a key role in helping Norway to secure the 1997 treaty prohibiting antipersonnel mines.

Ms. Miriam Struyk, IKV Pax Christi The Netherlands
Miriam Struyk is a policy advisor on human security and disarmament for IKV Pax Christi, a Dutch peace organization working in partnership with local NGOs in more than 25 conflict-affected countries including DR Congo, Iraq, and Sudan. Struyk has worked for IKV Pax Christi since 1996. She helped produce a Dutch documentary ‘The Clusterbomb Feeling’ that revealed how Dutch pension funds were being invested in the production of antipersonnel mines and cluster munitions. Following a public outcry, the biggest pension funds changed their policies to divest from cluster munitions and landmine manufactuers. Pax Christi was instrumental in helping to launch the the global Cluster Munitions Coalition in November 2003 and serves on the campaign’s leadership steering committee, in addition to coordinating the domestic campaign against cluster munitions. Struyk previously worked in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and the south Caucasus.

Mr. Stan Brabant, Policy Director, Handicap International (Belgium)
Stan Brabant heads the policy unit at Handicap International (HI) Belgium, where he has worked since 1994 including on mine clearance and mine risk education programs in countries including Afghanistan and Cambodia. Handicap International is a founding member of both the ICBL and the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) and Brabant serves on the leadership bodies of both CMC and ICBL including its Landmine Monitor Editorial Board. Brabant was instrumental in securing Belgium’s domestic cluster munition ban through Belgium’s House of Representatives in February 2006, the first legislation of its kind in the world. Brabant has overseen the publication of several important HI reports on the human impact of cluster munitions including “Fatal Footprint” (Nov. 2006) and “Circle of Impact” (May 2007).

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