Beyond Abolition: Nuclear Justice, Peace and Inclusion
When: 27 November 2025, 15:00 – 17:00 Where: Dialogbüro Vienna (Eßlinggasse 9/6, 1010 Wien) Language: English Entry: the event is open to all, entrance is free, registration required via the link
We live in a time of rising nuclear threats, when nuclear-armed states are sabre-rattling, staggering the resilience of international law and arms-control norms, and even raising the prospect of renewed testing. The hard question is: how can we turn disarmament principles into Peaceful and Just reality?
One answer lies in Qazaqstan’s experience. Guided by the Nevada–Semey movement, the country closed the Semey (Semipalatinsk) nuclear test site that poisoned people and land for decades, renounced the world’s fourth-largest nuclear arsenal, and helped catalyse a global civic wave to end nuclear testing globally. Today, Qazaqstan continues to pursue recognition, repair and justice for nuclear-affected communities and the complete abolition of nuclear weapons under the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) at home and in partnership with allies worldwide.
Here in Vienna, a global hub for disarmament policy and research with a vibrant diplomatic and academic community, this collaborative event, co-hosted by Dialogbüro Vienna, Steppe Organization for Peace (STOP) and Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Kazakhstan, brings community leaders, practitioners and researchers together to ask what the TPNW can deliver now, and what the international community must do to make nuclear disarmament and justice for affected communities a reality.
PROGRAM:
Screening of the short documentary "Atomic Secrets" by Zhanana Kurmasheva and The Guardian
Panel 1: International Trust Fund – Humanitarian Challenges and Opportunities How survivor support and environmental clean-up move from treaty words to tangible local outcomes: bridging realities of nuclear frontline communities and international governance.
Speakers include:
Véronique Christory (International Committee of the Red Cross, online).
Gaukhar Mukhatzhanova (Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation).
Alicia Sanders-Zakre (International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons).
Alisher Khassengaliyev (Steppe Organization for Peace, Dialogbüro Fellow 2025)
Moderated by Adiya Akhmer, Steppe Organization for Peace
Panel 2: Shaping the Future – Youth, Justice and Intersectionality in Disarmament Bridging hard security and human security: how youth, feminist, Indigenous and environmental perspectives reshaping disarmament policy and practice.
Speakers include:
Valentina Urtan (Gender and peacebuilding advocate from Ukraine, online).
Adiya Akhmer (Steppe Organization for Peace).
Nazerke Kanatbekova (University of Vienna).
Vanda Proskova (Sustainable Security Consultant).
Moderated by Zhibek Toktash, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) Kazakhstan