Beatrice Fihn

Beatrice Fihn (born 17 November 1982[1]) is a Swedish lawyer. She was the Executive Director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) from 2014 to 1 February 2023.[2]

Beatrice Fihn
Fihn in 2016
Born
Beatrice Fihn

(1982-11-17) 17 November 1982
Gothenburg, Sweden
SpouseWill Fihn Ramsay
Parent(s)Carina Fihn, Göran Bylin

On 6 October 2017, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize honor was given to International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) "for its efforts to raise awareness of the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons use and for pioneering efforts to achieve a treaty-based ban on nuclear weapons."[3][4]

During the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony at Oslo City Hall held on 10 December 2017, Fihn jointly received medals and diplomas on behalf of ICAN alongside Setsuko Thurlow, who survived Hiroshima in 1945.

Biography

Fihn was born on 17 November 1982 in Gothenburg, Sweden. She studied at the University of Stockholm, earning a bachelor's degree in international relations in 2008. In 2009, she participated in an internship at the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), and was involved in the work of the Conference on Disarmament and the United Nations Human Rights Council. She then worked at a bank in Geneva and earned a one-year Master of Laws degree in international law at the University College London.[5]

Career

Fihn has given presentations at United Nations meetings, in parliaments around the world, at universities like Harvard and Notre Dame, and at global conferences such as the World Economic Forum, Munich Security Conference, and the Royal Institute of International Affairs' Chatham House.

Fihn returned to the WILPF in 2010, working with its 'Reaching Critical Will' disarmament programme,[6] until becoming the Executive Director of ICAN in 2014. In 2018, Fihn produced the film The Day the World Changed,[7] the first-ever virtual reality memorial experience dedicated to those directly affected by nuclear warfare dating back to 1945.[8]

In 2018, Fihn criticized U.S. President Donald Trump on his nuclear policies.[9] In 2018, Fihn visited Nagasaki for the first time and visited Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. During the visit, Fihn laid a wreath at the cenotaph for atomic bomb victims. While in Japan, Fihn signed a petition placed in the museum calling for the early conclusion of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (adopted in July 2017).[10][11]

Under Fihn's leadership, ICAN has been the main civil society actor working alongside governments to achieve a strong and effective nuclear weapons ban treaty.[12] In 2017, the Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty was signed at the United Nations.[13] The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) is the first legally binding international agreement that comprehensively prohibits nuclear weapons with the ultimate objective of eliminating them completely.

Beatrice Fihn, Nobel Peace Center, Oslo, 2018

In 2017, Bloomberg Media listed her as one of 50 innovators who "changed the global landscape".[14]

In 2018, Fihn delivered the 24th annual Hesburgh Lecture in Ethics and Public Policy at the University of Notre Dame.[15][16] The Tribeca Film Festival honored Fihn with the Special Lifetime Achievement Award at the ninth annual Disruptive Innovation ceremony in April 2018.[17]

Fihn delivered remarks at the Museum of Mathematics in New York honoring Stanislav Petrov, the winner of the Future of Life Award for 2018.

In September 2018, Fihn delivered remarks at the Museum of Mathematics in New York honoring Stanislav Petrov, the winner of the Future of Life Award for 2018.

In 2019, Fihn delivered the Kenneth N Waltz Annual Lecture at Aberystwyth University. The title of Fihn's lecture was "International Politics is alive and well (despite reports to the contrary)".[18]

In 2021, Fihn was a featured speaker at the Second IPB World Peace Congress held in Barcelona, Spain.[19]

As she commented on Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine and Vladimir Putin's nuclear alert, Fihn said, "We have not seen a public announcement regarding heightened nuclear alert status since the 1960s...Not only is this meant to instill fear in the whole world; it's also meant to scare anyone from helping in Ukraine."[20]

In March 2022, Fihn participated in a United Nations event intended to draw attention to gender and nuclear disarmament. The event titled, "Nuclear Disarmament and Disaster Risk Reduction: Women and Girls in the Lead", was held as a civil society briefing in conjunction with the 66th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women in collaboration with Pathways to Peace.[21]

In February 2023, Fihn stepped down as Executive Director of ICAN and left Daniel Högsta as Interim Executive Director until a new director is found.[22]

References
  1. https://www.womeninpeace.org/f-names/2019/11/10/beatrice-fihn
  2. "Beatrice Fihn's Fight for a Future Free of Nuclear Weapons". Time. 4 January 2023. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  3. "The Nobel Peace Prize 2017". NobelPrize.org. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
  4. Gladstone, Rick (6 October 2017). "Nobel Peace Prize Goes to Group Opposing Nuclear Weapons". The New York Times. p. 1. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
  5. Beatrice Fihn European Leadership Network Archived 2017-10-07 at the Wayback Machine
  6. "Home - Reaching Critical Will". www.reachingcriticalwill.org. Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
  7. Tiexiera, Jennifer (26 April 2018), The Day the World Changed Trailer- Tribeca 2018, retrieved 29 March 2022
  8. "The Day the World Changed | 2018 Tribeca Festival". Tribeca. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
  9. "Trump plan calls for new nuclear weapons". Politico. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
  10. ICAN leader Beatrice Fihn makes first visit to Nagasaki
  11. "Executive Director of ICAN's Visit to Hiroshima (January 2018)│ Mayors for Peace". www.mayorsforpeace.org. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  12. Bolton, Matthew; Minor, Elizabeth (2016). "The Discursive Turn Arrives in Turtle Bay: The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons' Operationalization of Critical IR Theories". Global Policy. 7 (3): 385–395. doi:10.1111/1758-5899.12343.
  13. "Treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons – UNODA". Retrieved 29 March 2022.
  14. Tirone, Jonathan (30 November 2017). "The Bloomberg 50". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  15. Dame, Marketing Communications: Web // University of Notre. "Beatrice Fihn, director of 2017 Nobel Prize winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, to deliver 24th annual Hesburgh Lecture // Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies // University of Notre Dame". Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  16. 24th Annual Hesburgh Lecture in Ethics & Public Policy: Beatrice Fihn, retrieved 30 March 2022
  17. "THE TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL, DISRUPTOR FOUNDATION AND PROFESSOR CLAYTON CHRISTENSEN ANNOUNCE THE NINTH ANNUAL TRIBECA DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION AWARDS TO TAKE PLACE ON APRIL 24". Tribeca. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  18. "Nobel Peace Prize recipient to deliver Kenneth N Waltz Annual Lecture - Aberystwyth University". www.aber.ac.uk. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  19. "Portada". IPB World Peace Congress Barcelona | October 15–17, 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  20. "Putin nuclear threats 'extremely dangerous,' ICAN chief says". The Japan Times. 9 March 2022. p. 1. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  21. Nations, United. "Civil Society Briefing "Nuclear Disarmament and Disaster Risk Reduction: Women and Girls in the Lead"". United Nations. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  22. "Beatrice Fihn to step down as ICAN Executive Director". ICAN. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
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