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53rd Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs
Advancing Human Security: The Role of Technology and Politics

Halifax and Pugwash, Nova Scotia, Canada
17-21 July 2003

I am honoured, on behalf of the Canadian Pugwash Group, to welcome everyone to the 53rd Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs: "Advancing Human Security: The Role of Technology and Politics."

I give a special welcome to the President of Pugwash, Professor M.S. Swaminathan; the Secretary-General, Professor Paolo Cotta-Ramusino; the Executive Director, Dr. Jeffrey Boutwell; and the Chair of the Pugwash Council, Professor Marie Muller, as well as all my colleagues on the Pugwash Council.

Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Canada greet you warmly and we hope that your stay at this conference will be pleasant and productive. The outstanding work of Adele Buckley and the Halifax Planning Committee have prepared an excellent program for you.

Only once before, in 1981 in Banff, Alberta, has Pugwash held its annual conference in Canada. The 22 years that have elapsed have seen many changes. The Cold War, during which Pugwash first brought Soviet and American scientists together, has ended. Russia has entered the halls of NATO. The Non-Proliferation Treaty has been indefinitely extended.

But the one change that Pugwash stands for, the one change the seeking of which won for Sir Joseph Rotblat and Pugwash the 1995 Nobel Peace Prize, the one change directed by the International Court of Justice, the one change called for by a myriad of United Nations resolutions, the one change yearned for by millions around the world - the abolition of nuclear weapons - has not happened.

At the 1981 Conference in Banff, calls were made for a nuclear freeze and to eliminate tactical nuclear weapons from Europe. Afterwards, the Pugwash Council said clearly: "It is a fallacy to believe that nuclear war can be won." Leaders of the nuclear powers were urged to explicitly deny military doctrines which legitimize limited nuclear warfare. The Council of the day looked outward at the growing human needs for security and declared: "The investment in arms is non-productive and diverts badly needed resources from a nation's capacity to meet human needs and for development."

If the Pugwash words were prescient in 1981, they are compelling today. For, the end of the Cold War notwithstanding, the world is moving to new levels of danger.

A few weeks ago, the Mayor of Hiroshima, Tadatoshi Akiba, warned: "We stand today on the brink of hyper-proliferation and perhaps of repeating the third actual use of nuclear weapons." A few days ago, Amnesty International, in its annual report, said the world has become a more dangerous place: "The war on terror, far from making the world a safer place, has made it more dangerous by curtailing human rights, undermining the rule of international law, and shielding governments from scrutiny."

These are not cheery forecasts for humanity. We in Pugwash do not belong to the "gloom and doom" school, neither do we believe in ignoring warning bells.

September 11, 2001was certainly such a warning bell for humanity. Terrorism is growing. We must not only deal with terrorism but also examine the whole canvas of violence in the world. The division of the world into rich and poor, the hegemony of the powerful over the vulnerable, the retention of nuclear weapons by some while proscribing their acquisition by others - all this is de-stabilizing the world at the very moment society should be concentrating its energies on building a culture of peace.

Pugwash does believe a culture of peace is possible. The gathering forces of civil society may one day bring it about. Pugwash offers the world that hope.

Indeed, the Pugwash Mission Statement affirms that our purpose is to bring scientific insight and reason to bear on threats to human security arising from science and technology in general, and above all from the catastrophic threat posed to humanity by nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction. The Pugwash agenda extends to ways of alleviating the conditions of economic deprivation, environmental deterioration and resource scarcity and exploitation that so readily give rise to resentment, hostility and violence throughout the world. This noble work is inspired by the Russell-Einstein Manifesto of 1955, which called upon leaders of the world to renounce nuclear weapons and "remember their humanity."

Last year, at the La Jolla Conference, the goals for Pugwash's Tenth Quinquennium, 2002-2007, were set down. The very first words of this stirring call to action speak of "the overriding peril" to humanity by the vast destructive power of nuclear weapons, and the increased threat due to proliferation. The listing of the new dangers and the new strain the non-proliferation regime is under are sobering. Thus the Pugwash goal of reducing and eliminating the nuclear peril will be more important than ever in the Tenth Quinquennium.

The Goals Document challenges each one of us: "Pugwash is strongly committed to the goal of abolishing all nuclear weapons. It is imperative that Pugwash constantly remind the international community of the immorality, illegality, and peril inherent in nuclear weapons, and to propose concrete steps toward their elimination."

The Pugwash agenda also pays attention to increasing the effectiveness of the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Biological and Toxic Weapons Convention. Conventional weapons, too, ranging from small arms to antipersonnel mines to new high-technology weapons are of deep concern to Pugwash. From weapons of mass destruction to new developments in biotechnology and other sciences, Pugwash accepts the responsibility to stress the ethical and moral responsibility of scientists to further the beneficial applications of their work and prevent their misuse.

Almost by definition, Pugwash must look into the future to help guide the formulation of the public policy process. That is why it is so important to have young Pugwashites among us. We must enlarge not only the Student Pugwash membership but the ways Pugwash as a whole can reach out to new generations of scientists, academics, analysts, and policy-makers.
Our work at the Halifax Conference is cut out for us. We are here for the most serious of purposes: to contribute to the safety and human security of the world around us.

I think it will be hard to exceed the inspiration that awaits us on our trip Sunday to the Thinkers' Lodge in Pugwash, Nova Scotia. This is "where it all began." The vision of Cyrus Eaton in bringing the first Pugwashites to the Thinkers' Lodge has flowed through to today. Patrick Boyer, Giovanni Brenciaglia and the Pugwash Parks Commission have prepared an outstanding program for you. You have a treat in store.

Welcome again. We are thrilled to have you in our midst. Enjoy the Canadian hospitality.

Let the conference begin.