physics

Humanitarian Initiative

Humanitarian Initiative is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Humanitarian Initiative rather than just read about it. In short: The Humanitarian Initiative is a group of states that evolved within the framework of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and nuclear weapons diplomacy more widely. 159 states subscribed to the last iteration of the initiative's Joint Statement in 2015. Since 2013, it led to a series of conferences exploring the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons, culminating in the Humanitarian Pledge, issued by the Aust…

Key takeaways

Humanitarian Initiative belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Humanitarian Initiative to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Humanitarian Initiative from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Humanitarian Initiative is a group of states that evolved within the framework of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and nuclear weapons diplomacy more widely. 159 states subscribed to the last iteration of the initiative's Joint Statement in 2015. Since 2013, it led to a series of conferences exploring the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons, culminating in the Humanitarian Pledge, issued by the Austrian Government, to "fill the legal gap for the prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons". The Pledge has been endorsed by 108 governments as of 1 June 2015. The Humanitarian Initiative is seen as a direct answer to the lack of progress in nuclear disarmament.

Origins The 2010 NPT Review Conference was formally successful, and concluded with 188 state parties adopting a consensus document, including language on the catastrophic humanitarian consequences any use of nuclear weapons would have:

The Conference expresses its deep concern at the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and reaffirms the need for all States at all times to comply with applicable international law, including international humanitarian law. This language was interpreted as a mandate to take forward the humanitarian perspective on nuclear weapons. At the next NPT conference, which was held in Vienna in 2012, Switzerland therefore delivered the "Joint Statement on the humanitarian dimension of nuclear disarmament" to the first session of the preparatory committee to the 2015 NPT Review Conference. The statement, delivered on 2 May 2012, was joined by 16 states. On 22 October of the same year, Benno Laggner, the Head of the Task Force on Nuclear Disarmament and Non-Proliferation of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, delivered a very similar version of the statement to the First Committee of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. This time, 35 nations had joined the Statement. When South Africa on 24 April 2013 read the "Joint Statement on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons" to the second session of the preparatory committee to the 2015 NPT Review Conference, held in Geneva, the statement membership had swelled to 80 states, making it the largest mono-thematic statement in the history of the NPT. The meeting's Chair, Ambassador Cornel Feruta of Romania, dubbed the established group the "Humanitarian Initiative". Later in 2013, 125 states joined New Zealand's iteration of the same statement in the UN General Assembly, and 155 states at the UNGA First Committee on 20 October 2014. On 28 April 2015, 159 states formed part of the initiative, over 80 percent of the United Nations membership. The statements of the Humanitarian Initiative are still drafted by the 16 original states and coordinated by the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs. At the same time, a group of 16 other states - all of which rely on extended nuclear deterrence under the U.S. "nuclear umbrella" - read a competing statement on the humanitarian consequences. This statement was notable by the absence of the phrase, "It is in the interest of the very survival of humanity that nuclear weapons are never used again, under any circumstances." Especially this last phrase had been objected to by NATO states and other U.S. allies generally susceptible to arguments of international humanitarian law. The states explained that in order to keep nuclear deterrence, they needed to stand by a credible threat to use nuclear weapons under specific circumstances, and could therefore not endorse the statement of the original humanitarian initiative. However, 26 of these states joined a variant of the humanitarian statement, traditionally delivered by Australia, called the "Humanitarian Consequences Group".

Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons conferences

Oslo conference

On 4 and 5 March 2013, the first-ever Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons was hosted by NATO-member Norway, attended by 127 states. At the conference, scientists presented new findings on the impact of nuclear weapons on humans, cities, the environment and global climate. Humanitarian organisations including UNDP, OCHA and the ICRC explained that in the event of a nuclear detonation, no organisation in the world would be able to provide adequate help, nor was it likely that an adequate capacity could be built. The conference greatly contributed to the momentum around the discussion on the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons, with Mexico announcing a follow-up conference.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Humanitarian Initiative

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Humanitarian Initiative claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Humanitarian Initiative before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Humanitarian Initiative ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Humanitarian Initiative

In research: Humanitarian Initiative appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Humanitarian Initiative in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Humanitarian Initiative is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 21st-century diplomatic conferences, Anti–nuclear weapons movement, Organizations established in 2012, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Humanitarian Initiative outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Humanitarian Initiative in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Humanitarian Initiative means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Humanitarian Initiative out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Humanitarian Initiative in simple terms?

Why does Humanitarian Initiative matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Humanitarian Initiative?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Humanitarian Initiative.