Two academicians from Department of International Relations, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences UGM, Muhadi Sugiono and Yunizar Adiputera, will attend the Nobel Award Ceremony 2017 which will be held in Oslo on December 10, 2017. Those two academicians represent the Institute of International Studies of Faculty of Social and Political Sciences UGM that becomes the partner of International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapon (ICAN). This year, ICAN is awarded the Peace Nobel Prize.
Yunizar Adiputera said the Nobel Prize is awarded towards ICAN as a momentum to make the society more aware of the nuclear weapon abolishment in the midst of nuclear war risk in the peninsula of Korea. “Nobel Prize is not a present for ICAN as an organization, but as a momentum to care for the viability of the population on earth from the threat of nuclear weapons,” said Yunizar on Wednesday (6/12).
Yunizar said the current situation shows several countries are considered to keep nuclear weapons, including North Korea and the United States of America. “We are in the midst of conflict if several countries still have nuclear weapons. There is a risk of nuclear war which harms the world’s population,” he added.
Regarding the Peace Nobel Prize which is awarded towards ICAN which has been campaigning the nuclear weapon abolishment since 2013, according to Yunizar, the award is the achievement of the world’s population in fighting for humanity against the nuclear weapons. “For us, this award is our victory, the result of the hard work from all partner organizations in the world, including Indonesia,” said Yunizar.
The invitation from ICAN to attend the awarding ceremony is a form of appreciation towards the civil community and non-governmental organizations who have been fighting for the nuclear weapons abolishment. “We know that ICAN is a coalition of 100 countries and more than 400 partners around the world,” he added.
In line with Yunizar’s statement, Muhadi Sugiono said the position of Indonesia is not directly concerned with the issue of nuclear weapons abolishment because Indonesia has no nuclear weapon. However, the role of Indonesia as a non-aligned member and a nation which has influence in the Southeast Asian region is considered to have a significant influence on this campaign.
“The voice of Indonesia is deemed to be essential in this campaign. This is our task, lobbying the government at that time, including the government in Southeast Asian region. In addition, in the international forum and the United Nation’s General Assembly, we not only dealt with the representatives from Indonesia but also other nations’ representatives,” said Muhadi.
Muhadi said if we did not stop the ownership of nuclear weapons, it would give significant impacts towards the world’s population because the nuclear particles will affect the climate and environment. “If the nuclear particles reach the Earth’s atmosphere, it can cause degradation of air quality and Earth’s temperature.