New research from the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) published this week has revealed that global spending on nuclear weapons increased by as much as $1.4 billion in 2020 from the previous year, despite a global public health emergency.
The research shows that the nine nuclear armed countries spent $72.6 billion on nuclear weapons, despite the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and the pandemic. That’s around $137,666 every minute.
The report exposes the cycle that exists between lobbyists, private companies, and government, with a number of new and modified contracts concentrating wealth among a small number of companies and contractors. The complex also spent around $10 million funding major think tanks to research and write about nuclear weapons.
It’s not right that in the middle of a global public health emergency, which has highlighted inequality, poverty, and other issues in our society, governments are increasing spending on weapons of mass destruction rather than increasing spending on healthcare or reducing inequality.
There’s a huge amount of money invested in nuclear weapons – including the money that you might hold in bank accounts and pension funds. Don’t want to be a part of it? Why not write to your bank or pension provider to demand that they stop funding these weapons and start funding human need instead?
Investing In Change 