Poster, 'Make Nuclear Weapons the Target'

This poster promotes the New Zealand Red Cross campaign 'Make Nuclear Weapons the Target' launched in August 2012.

Background

In November 2011, the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement (comprising 187 national societies including New Zealand and Pacific countries) adopted the resolution 'towards the elimination of nuclear weapons' because the use of nuclear weapons contravenes international humanitarian law. The resolution urges national societies like the New Zealand Red Cross to raise awareness and call on their governments to eliminate nuclear weapons. The Red Cross hopes the New Zealand government will provide strong global leadership, particularly in light of New Zealand's anti-nuclear history.

'Social explosion'

The campaign is particularly aimed at young people, encouraging them to sign up to the website and spread the message among friends, leading to a 'social explosion'. It is not a petition or fundraising campaign. 'The aim is to get as many New Zealanders as possible to learn about the unacceptable suffering and death that nuclear weapons cause and to ultimately have an international treaty to ban nuclear weapons' (New Zealand Red Cross, 2012).