Category Archives: Media

“Palestine is disappearing”: Mary Robinson and The Elders

Former Prime Minister of Ireland and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson and her fellow Elders—Graça Machel, Helen Clark and Hina Jilani—returned from a recent fact-finding mission to the West Bank, Israel, Lebanon and Jordan with grave concerns. “I arrived at a clear conclusion,” Mary Robinson writes: “the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu aims… Continue Reading “Palestine is disappearing”: Mary Robinson and The Elders

Nagasaki, Nuclear Prayer Day and Interfaith Action Webinar now live

A part of the 10th Anniversary Interfaith Awareness Week, this webinar, put on by the International Academy for Multicultural Cooperation (IAMC), featured Audrey E. Kitagawa, J.D., Jonathan Granoff, J.D., The RT. Rev. William E. Swing, Monica Willard, Fumi Johns Stewart, Dorothy Maver, Colleen Moore, and Issac S. Thomas. The 32rd annual ringing of the Nagasaki Peace Bell in… Continue Reading Nagasaki, Nuclear Prayer Day and Interfaith Action Webinar now live

Honouring Canada’s Peacekeepers: The world needs more peacekeeping and less warfighting! – Walter Dorn

The Group of 78 joins peace and disarmament organizations across our country to honour the excellence and sacrifice Canadian peacekeepers.  Sunday, August 9, 2026 was National Peacekeepers Day.  As Walter Dorn, Professor at Royal Military College and Canadian Forces College, wrote recently: “It’s a day when we can honour those who served in peace operations, particularly those who… Continue Reading Honouring Canada’s Peacekeepers: The world needs more peacekeeping and less warfighting! – Walter Dorn

“A Perilous Decline in Global Leadership”: Canada Should Step Up to Increase International Funding for Peacemaking

Writing in The Hill Times on August 7, 2026, Jenna Sapiano, John Packer, Marie-Joëlle Zahar and Meredith Preston-McGhie argue that Canada should lead an international effort to reinvest in peacemaking. Military budgets are skyrocketing. “Yet at precisely the moment when the need for peacemaking is greatest,” the authors write, “the number of negotiated peace agreements is falling. Peace… Continue Reading “A Perilous Decline in Global Leadership”: Canada Should Step Up to Increase International Funding for Peacemaking

“Defending the ICC Today is About Defending Canadian Sovereignty”: Mark Kersten on Benyamin Netanyahu’s Breaching of Canadian Airspace

How Canada engages with international organizations demonstrates our sovereignty, wrote Mark Kersten, a criminal justice professor at the University of the Fraser Valley, on August 6, 2026, in The Globe and Mail. But the way Canada is ignoring its duty to the International Criminal Court signals “that our sovereignty is up for negotiation,” he argues. Over the past… Continue Reading “Defending the ICC Today is About Defending Canadian Sovereignty”: Mark Kersten on Benyamin Netanyahu’s Breaching of Canadian Airspace

A nation’s war expenditures: “spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children”—Dwight Eisenhower via Heather Cox-Richardson

In her July 23, 2026, Substack blog, political commentator Heather Cox-Richardson reported on the opaque, unaccountable and mounting war budget of the current US administration. In contrast, she highlighted a 1953 speech by US President Dwight D. Eisenhower, given following the death of Josef Stalin, that forcefully opposed the diversion of tax dollars to military spending. She quotes… Continue Reading A nation’s war expenditures: “spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children”—Dwight Eisenhower via Heather Cox-Richardson

Rome Declaration: Nobel Laureates Call for Disarming Both AI and Nuclear Weapons

“In the midst of a worsening nuclear arms race, we are embarking on an equally dangerous AI race.” In mid-July 2026, a group of Nobel Laureates came together at the Papal Villas just outside Rome to explore the implications of and consider action on the combined threats of artificial intelligence and nuclear weapons. Deeply alarmed, they issued the… Continue Reading Rome Declaration: Nobel Laureates Call for Disarming Both AI and Nuclear Weapons

Venezuela: “The emergency is human before it is political”-113 Economists Call for Lifting Economic Sanctions, Increased Post-Earthquake Aid

The Group of 78 has endorsed an open letter from 113 economists—including Jeffrey Sachis, James Galbraith, and Sakiko Fukuda-Parr—calling on the US and other governments to immediately lift economic sanctions on Venezuela to permit greater flows of humanitarian assistance in the wake of the recent disastrous earthquakes in that country. “The emergency is human before it is political,”… Continue Reading Venezuela: “The emergency is human before it is political”-113 Economists Call for Lifting Economic Sanctions, Increased Post-Earthquake Aid

G78 endorses petition to the International Criminal Court to enforce the right of return of Palestinian refugees

The Group of 78 has endorsed a civil-society-led petition calling on the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, pursuant to Article 15 ot the Rome Statute and United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194, to: “* Recognize the ongoing forced displacement and denial of return as continuing international crimes under the jurisdiction of the Court. * Open a preliminary… Continue Reading G78 endorses petition to the International Criminal Court to enforce the right of return of Palestinian refugees

Douglas Roche: Artificificial intelligence, “the most profound shift in warfare since nuclear weapons,” can and should be used for peace

Writing in the Hill Times on June 15, 2026, former Senator and Disarmament Ambassador and longtime G78 supporter Douglas Roche underscores that “AI is widely considered the most profound shift in warfare since nuclear weapons, fundamentally altering how wars are fought because it can replace human decision-making.” However, he notes, Prime Minister Carney and Defence Minister David McGuinty have,… Continue Reading Douglas Roche: Artificificial intelligence, “the most profound shift in warfare since nuclear weapons,” can and should be used for peace