Ten Nobel Laureates, including the six women Peace Laureates of the Nobel Women's Initiative, are raising their voices to call for justice for Mordechai Vanunu, an Israeli man who has been confined within Israel since 1986 for following his conscience and telling the world that Israel had a nuclear weapons program. Israeli security insists Vanunu is a risk to national security, so for more than 22 years the Israeli courts and government have refused to let him leave the country or speak to foreign media. On 8 July Mordechai will return to court to appeal a new 6 months prison sentence for speaking to foreign media.

Below Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire writes about Vanunu’s case and urges the Israeli government to uphold it obligations under United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and allow Vanunu to leave Israel. The Nobel Laureates of the Nobel Women's Initiative join Maguire in calling for justice and freedom for Mordechai Vanunu.

After ten days of intense negotiations at the Dublin Diplomatic Conference On Cluster Munitions, more than 100 nations have provisionally agreed to a strong treaty to ban clusters. The comprehensive treaty will be formally adopted on Friday, 30 May in Dublin and will be opened for signature in Oslo in December 2008.  Read the update below from Nobel Laureate Jody Williams, who is participating in the negotiations in Dublin on behalf of the Nobel Women's initiative.

On 26 May, Nobel Laureate Jody Williams released an open letter to all delegates attending the Dublin Diplomatic Conference on Cluster Munitions. The open letter commended delegates on the strong draft treaty text and encouraged negotiators to resist any pressure to weaken the agreement.

The open letter was cosigned by all the women Nobel Laureates of the Nobel Women's Initiative, including Shirin Ebadi, Wangari Maathai, Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan Maguire.

The core of the Japanese Peace Constitution articulated in the Preamble and Article 9, which renounces war, bans the maintenance of military forces, and denies the right of belligerency of the state, continues to inspire many people, noted Maguire. "For 60 years it has set the spirit of disarmament, helped keep peace and given hope to the World.

On Friday, 22 February, the Wellington Conference ended with 82 countries endorsing the Wellington Declaration. The Declaration affirms their intent to conclude a legally binding international instrument to prohibit cluster munitions in 2008, and outlines essential elements of the instrument, including: 

In December 1997, 122 governments convened in Ottawa, Canada, to sign the historic Mine Ban Treaty, officially titled the 1997 Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer or Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction. For their work to ban landmines, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and its founding coordinator, Jody Williams, were awarded the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize.

Ten years later, 156 states have signed on to the treaty, but there remains significant work to be done. The Mine Ban Treaty is one of the greatest examples of multilateralism at work...But more work is yet to be done. We won't declare a complete success until every mine has been destroyed and mine survivors have the resources they need to carry out their lives with dignity.  (Jody Williams)

From 30 November through 5 December, Nobel Laureate Jody Williams and Nobel Women's Initiative Director Liz Bernstein, ambassadors to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), will gather with others in Ottawa once again to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Mine Ban Treaty, "A Success in Progress".

The Nobel Women's Initiative condemns the outcome of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).  The CCW concluded with a weak mandate that failed to address the dangers posed by cluster munitions.  The Nobel Women's Initiative calls upon states to abandon the empty rhetoric of the CCW and invest in the Oslo Process.

We are disappointed in the Convention's failure to support Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's call for urgent action to ban cluster munitions. On 13 November, following a week-long session, the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) concluded with an ambiguous agreement to negotiate a proposal.  This decision directly omits a ban against cluster munitions, a timeline, or a legally binding instrument.

From 18 to 22 November, Nobel Laureate Jody Williams will participate in the Eighth Meeting of the States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in Dead Sea, Jordan.  The annual meeting is particularly significant this year, as 2007 is the 10th anniversary of the Mine Ban Treaty and this is the first time the meeting will be held in the Middle East. These factors present considerable opportunities for the 8MSP, including the opportunity to increase interest in the Middle East, where adherence has traditionally been low.