Lets listen to. Good morning everybody. The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for twenty seventeen to the International Campaign to abolish Nuclear Weapons i can. The organization is receiving the award for its work to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of Nuclear Weapons and for its groundbreaking efforts to achieve a treaty based probation on such weapons. We live in a world where the risk for Nuclear Weapons being used is greater than it has been for a long time. Some states are modernizing their news arsenals and there is a real danger that more countries will try to procure Nuclear Weapons as exemplified by north korea. Nuclear weapons pose a constant threat to humanity and on life on earth through Binding International agreements the International Community has previously adopted prohibitions against landmines cluster munitions biological and chemical weapons. Nuclear weapons are even more destructive but have not yet been made the object of a Similar International legal probation. Through its work i can has helped to fill this legal gap an important argument in the russian for prohibiting Nuclear Weapons is the only acceptable human suffering that Nuclear Weapons will cause i can is a coalition of nongovernmental organizations from around hundred Different Countries around the globe. The coalition has been a driving force. In prevailing upon the worlds nations to pledge to cooperate with all relevant state theres an effort to stigmatise prohibit and eliminate Nuclear Weapons today hundred eight states have made such a commitment known as the humanitarian pledge furthermore i can has been the leading Civil Society actor. In the end to achieve a prohibition of Nuclear Weapons under International Law on seven july twenty seventh teen hundred twenty two of un Member States acceded to the treaty on prohibition of Nuclear Weapons as soon as the treaty has been ratified by fifty states the ban on Nuclear Weapons will enter into force and will be binding under International Law for all the countries that are party to the treaty. Then the regional Nobel Committee is aware. That an International Legal pro who bishan will in itself not eliminate a single a single Nuclear Weapon and that so far neither the states that already have Nuclear Weapons nor their closest allies support the new weapon ban treaty. The committee wishes to emphasize that the next step towards attaining a world free of Nuclear Weapons must involve the new weapons states this years peace prize is therefore also a call upon these states to initiate serious negotiations with a view to the gradual balanced and carefully monitored elimination of the almost fifteen thousand Nuclear Weapons in the world five of the states that. Currently have Nuclear Weapons the United States russia the United Kingdom france and china have already committed to this objective through their accession to the treaty on the non proliferation of Nuclear Weapons of nineteen seventy the nonproliferation treaty will remain the primary International Legal instrument for promoting Nuclear Disarmament and prevail in doing further spread of such weapons. It is now seventy one years since the u. N. General assembly in its very first resolution advocated the importance of Nuclear Disarmament and the Nuclear Free World with this years award the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to pay tribute to eichen for giving new momentum to the efforts efforts to achieve this goal. The decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize for twenty seventeen to the International Campaign to abolish Nuclear Weapons has a solid grounding in Alfred Nobels will that will specifies thirty different criteria for awarding the peace prize the promotion of fraternity between nations the advancement of this armament an arms control on the home doing promotion of peace congresses i can works vigorously to achieve Nuclear Disarmament i can and a majority of un Member States have contributed to fraternity between nations by supporting the humanitarian pledge and through its inspiring and innovative support for the un negotiations on the treaty banning Nuclear Weapons i can has played a major part in bringing about what in our day and age is equivalent to an International Peace congress. It is the Firm Conviction of the Norwegian Nobel Committee that i can more than anyone else has in the past year given the effort to achieve a World WithoutNuclear Weapons a new direction and in new vigor thank you very much. There you have me. What is your message to the International Campaign to abolish Nuclear Weapons has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for twenty seventeen lets listen in a bit more to the chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee price is definitely an encouragement to them and it is an encouragement to continue their obligations under the nonproliferation treaty where they already have committed themselves to the goal of a new live free world and then in the process this armament of Nuclear Weapons we hope that with this years prize. We can support the great efforts that i can has made in giving new momentum a new vigor to the disarmament debate. Madam secretary is the timing the most important reason why youre on the ark this year. In one month yes of course disarmament of Nuclear Weapons never go out of date i have drawn the line back to the first Un Resolution of nineteen forty six but i do think that there is a popular belief among people all over the world that the world has become more dangerous and that there is a tendency. Where where we experience that the threat of Nuclear Conflicts have come closer. To claim that this is symbolic price since none of the Nuclear Powers are behind that i disagree in such a criticism because i do believe in that law matters. Laws International Laws and International Obligations have been our experience had an effect as i mentioned in the statement that ban was definitely a part of the process when it came to cluster mines landmines. Biological and chemical weapons. The process will not be completed with a ban entirely. I can focuses on three steps to stigmatise that is the understanding of how devastating and dangerous these questions are and to probe hibbett and to eliminate and to prohibit and eliminate our related processes but different processes the Nobel Peace Prize has been given to numerous organizations fighting against the Nuclear ForcesNuclear Weapons but it doesnt seem to have any effect. I dont agree in that statement either because when you. Take a historical look it seems like there have been moments where its been more engagement among Nuclear States to. Disarmament initiatives i do not believe we are in such a moment today and we do hope that it will have an impact and what definitely will not have an impact is being passive and just accepting the state of the world. The Nuclear Issue has had many candidates thats been mentioned before and i wonder did you consider giving sharing the prize between different. Activist groups or organizations or persons why did you land on this specific campaign. You are correct in this field there are Many Organizations and individuals who are active and this years prize is a tribute to everyone everybody working for disarmament we have focused on the i can because we feel the way to Nobel Committee that they have taken a leading role in really vitalizing this process and they have managed in. Admirable managed to combine. A popular engagement almost becoming a Grassroots Movement and engaging people of the world who are actually scared of the fact that they are supposed to be protected by atomic weapons they have also managed to enter the legal Playing Field the political Playing Field and this work that they have achieved in bringing a new vitality into the debate they are outstanding and therefore have been awarded this years peace prize. Reuters. Are you sending with the words this prize are you sending a message to any particular political leaders in the world and also has the risk of Iranian Nuclear deal unraveling been a factor in deciding the price thank you three. Has yes has the risk that Iranian Nuclear deal could unravel been a factor in your considerations thank you. Thank you very much we are sending messages in fact to all states but also in particular to the Nuclear Weapon states. Because it is a pact that states are in a different situation the majority of the states of the world who have. The ban treaty can do so without an immediate consequence on. Their armies and there they dont have to disarm where of course Nuclear States are in a different position and we do realize that it has to be a slower process for them but the message we are sending is to remind them of the commitment that they have already made that they also are obliged to work for Nuclear Free World and by not entering the ban treaty that will have to be a preliminary position because we share the final goal. So in spite of all of that there has been an american diplomatic pressure on countries like sweden. To prevent them from signing their. Treatment so is this price in the way the kick in the leg thats one of your predecessors said. To the american president on the truck of the tall. I will on the line again that this price is an encouragement to all players in the field that and i cannot see that it is a controversial price because it is a share. It will have to be. A political. Process and it has to be up to each individual state when they choose to enter the treaty if they will because the situation is such that it is only a preliminary position. To to not end the treaty were not kicking anybodys leg with this process we are giving great encouragement and we also want to help i can one focus on the extremely serious problem that the world is facing people of the world do not want to be defended by Nuclear Weapons. The panels opinion that the carefully monitored elimination of weapons by the five regional states would prevent proliferation among states like north korea i have problems hearing your question can you please be carefully monitored emanation of you clear weapons by the five original states with that help to prevent proliferation among states like north korea. I wish i could answer give a clear answer to that question. First on the general note i would i would say that. When if we have developments where the stigma really is strengthened as of today i think it will affect all the states in their behavior both when it comes to disarmament but also from refraining actually to use Nuclear Weapons. If im not mistaken the e. U. Vice president also plays a role in it. Will there be a possibility that she actually comes to the prize here in oslo. I can i was an organization has been awarded. The prize. I can itself has to decide who will represent the organization at. Peace award ceremony. I can has been informed today by its executive secretary Beatrice Finn that they have received the Nobel Peace Prize of this year and she was delighted. Thank you have it anderson chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee speaking to reporters after announcing that the twenty seven thousand Nobel Peace Prize had been awarded to the International Campaign to abolish Nuclear Weapons i can this is a Global OrganizationCivil Society coalition which works to ban a Nuclear Weapons the Norwegian Nobel Committee saying it on a day did neither based group for its work to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of Nuclear Weapons and for its groundbreaking efforts to achieve a treaty based a prohibition of such weapons thats bring in our diplomatic editor james bass who is in washington for is james and award that comes at a very interesting time at a time of rising tensions when it comes to the Nuclear Issue are you surprised at all about by this award being given to i can. Well its always a surprise who gets the Nobel Peace Prize its not new that its gone to an organization rather than an individual thats happened quite a number of times i think i can that now goes from something that was known about by activists and arms control experts to something thats going to be known about by the wider public the fact that this organization has won this award and clearly its not just about the award to why you can as you heard her say its about the whole campaign to try and ban Nuclear Weapons estimated to be some fifteen thousand Nuclear Weapons around the world and the efforts that have been going on at the United Nations for a Nuclear Weapon ban a treaty to ban all Nuclear Weapons something that a number of countries many countries in fact have voiced support for and the u. N. Itself as voiced support for but of course is opposed by the most important in terms of the role of the u. N. Countries of the world and thats the five permanent members of the u. N. Security council who still believe that they should for now have Nuclear Weapons they need it they say for their own security for deterrence purposes it was interesting that in her speech there the chairwoman of the Nobel Committee didnt mention any of the current particular flashpoints around the world but they clearly came up there in the questions references to north korea and a reference to the Iran Nuclear Deal we never know whos nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize that all goes on in secret behind closed doors but it was suggested that one of the possibilities had been that the architects of the Iran Nuclear Deal might have been being considered for the Nobel Peace Prize theyve clearly decided not to give the prize to the Iranian Foreign minister and to the e. U. Hiero cresent city of who are involved in that deal but they certainly still put the spotlight on Nuclear Weapons around the world indeed james do we have more information do you know for instance who is part of this organization who are the signatories is it a controversial award at all. Well its an organization thats relatively new it was set up in two thousand and seven in melbourne was where they first were formed its consists of four hundred sixty eight part not organizations operating in one hundred and one countries it is an organization that certainly those in the Nuclear Field know a lot about and those who are involved in campaigns against Nuclear Weapons know a lot about what the broader public perhaps dont so i think theyll be a fair bit more examination and journalists today than there has been any time in the last ten years that theyve been existence ok james thank you very much for the moment james spays our diplomatic editor live for us there in washington on this years Nobel Peace Prize being awarded to icann the antinuclear Group Campaign to abolish Nuclear Weapons thank you for the moment changes. Lets now turn our attention to other news in the Associated Press is reporting that the u. S. Is holding some joint military exercises with gulf allies because of the ongoing diplomatic crisis targeting qatar u. S. Central command says its encouraging all partners to Work Together for the security and stability of the region saudi arabia the United Arab Emirates egypt and bahrain broke ties with qatar in june they accuse qatar of backing armed groups and accusation doha strongly denies joining me now in the studio for more on this is marwan campbell an associate analyst at the. Arab center for research and policy studies marwan good to have you with us now i understand that you have been in conversations with the u. S. Officials about this what were you expecting this is and by the u. S. Why why is this happening now but i think this is a sign of frustration by the time. Ministration over the lack of progress in resolving this crisis i think president himself ive been told is upset by the lack of. It when hes upset with. These because the lack of flexibility on the on their part to actually. Resolve the crisis he things that. Time to focus on iran and describe. Actually the focus on iran and also his war on on. So i think this is one way actually to put pressure on this all with. In order. To ease their position actually. Respond to his efforts in order to end this crisis so what theyve announced reduction in the number of joint military exercises do we know with. Specific. Resolve which is an exercise that. Is going to its going to actually take place in kuwait next march by actually halting this exercise as i said before they are this is was sending this message that its not actually with with but this is this is in my opinion also part. Of measures that have been taken by the United States actually in order to put pressure on these countries dont forget that last summer the u. S. Congress halted the selling of weapons. Until the actually solve this crisis we have seen this actually. Last week and that was in my being was it was a sign also both for the qataris because the americans they feed the qataris are more like in line with their position do they but thats not that wasnt the initial message. But i think the position of president has shifted over the past few months actually we have seen him recently with the emir of qatar during the you and General Assembly meetings we have seen him also with the emir of kuwait in the press conference calling for the g. C. C. Countries actually to alight and to solve this crisis so there has been this progress in the position of the president over the past few months since the beginning of the crisis progress in the position of the president but still a stalemate when it comes to the crisis itself theres been no movement whatsoever which is all such as this is in my opinion a brazen and is very frustrated because he came to discover the limits of his power perhaps in actually having influence of one of his allies im talking here about the saudis and when he said that when he was describing. He was describing them as a friends and friends are supposed to be like more responsive to the force of of their big ally which is in this case the president from you discover that they are not doing that and sense. His frustrated because of that certainly a very Interesting Development in this crisis thank you very much more on. Your thoughts on this. Now both sides in the war any yemen have been strongly criticizing the United Nations annual report on children in conflict the saudi arabia Led Coalition and who the rebels are jointly accused of killing and maiming many children but the u. N. Also says Coalition Forces have taken action to improve Child Protection mike hanna has more from u. N. Headquarters in new york the report focuses on children in conflict across the globe in countries ranging from afghanistan to colombia to syria mali myanmar and war the list did so showing how widespread the problem is of children caught up in all recruited to action. There were three thousand five hundred twelve child casualties in afghanistan alone the highest recorded in one country and in yemen a total of one thousand three hundred and forty child casualties were recorded of which the report says the saudi Led Military Coalition was responsible for six hundred and eighty three in addition the coalition is held accountable for the destruction of a large number of schools and hospitals. The saudi Led Coalition was originally named in the two thousand and thirteen blacklist as well but was controversially removed by the then secretary general ban kimoon pending a review that was never completed u. N. Aides confirmed this happened after the saudi government had threatened to withdraw its funding to the United Nations we are told the current secretary general carefully vetted personally and endorsers this report this year theres a change in the format of the report an x one the black list which contains the names of the perpetrators has been divided into two sections section a contains the names of nations and nonstate actors guilty of acts against children but those that have been subsequently found to have attempted to improve the protection of children during the reporting period have been moved into section b. The saudi Led Military Coalition is in this category along with the Afghan National police and the Somali National army this may not be enough to avert what is likely to be strong protest from the saudi government in coming hours. United nations to spain now in catalonia spawn amental meet on monday in defiance of a Court Injunction by madrid leaders say theyll make a decision on independence the speaker of Parliament Says spain Central Government has put freedom of expression in danger. But this is an act of extreme seriousness because it curtails the freedom of expression of members of Catalonia Parliament this shows the total incapacity of the Spanish Government to result political problems in the political way we repeat what weve always said that we will not allow the parliament to be censored. In another Development Police chief is in court shows up luis a trap arrow is accused of sedition along with another senior policeman and two Pro Independence leaders a Court Hearing in madrid follows unrest in Barcelona NationalSecurity Forces raided Regional Government offices in a crackdown against the session referendum violence erupted last weekend during the course on your vote which was banned by the Central Government in madrid live to go in barcelona for a sunnier bring us up to speed with the latest developments today. This apparent in the two wants to charges of sedition is just one of a number of ways. The seats here in barcelona that the Central Government to madrid is trying to strong arm its own way in the Current Crisis however what seems to be already starting to have an effect judging by what local media is saying it also members of the local. Regional Ruling CoalitionParty Members have been speaking about how perhaps right now is not the time to start making. Declarations of independence not forgetting of course that the region is ruled by a coalition and it is mainly a centrist one but it is supported by a left who are who want a Left Wing Party who want to absolute outright declaration of in. Dependence theyve been putting on the pressure for days however weve seen already there has been a financial backlash with legal headquarters and the legal entities being transferred out of barcelona into all the regions of the grid society condo building is most important banks now weve heard this morning another one of its most Important Companies for nation net company which makes is local regional sparkling wine all over the world that is also threatening to pull itself out of the of the region itself now that seems to be an indication that these companies these very Large Companies are very worried and very threatened by the idea of the amount of destabilization which would occur for them that would mean not just coming out of spain and dealing with that but also coming out right of the e. U. Because the back in brussels forget of course they have said that if catalonia want to secede in such a fashion that it would end up out of the European Union itself which would cause an enormous amount of destabilization not just for spain but for the region itself if ali yeah and the Catalan Leader a few days ago appealed for mediation for outside mediation sonya any any nike heard of that happening. But on one hand the president has been quite vocal of the idea of having mediation and there are reports that perhaps whistle and or diplomatic efforts from switzerland would try and see over these kinds of dialogues but for the Prime Minister mariano of the hoyer in madrid for him its effect are complete he said there was absolutely nothing to discuss if the discussion is to be centered around the possibility of catalonia being independent than that is contrary to the constitution for him he said always that its a legal issue catalans a saying actually its a political issue for them meanwhile they are still sore back channels going on using representatives from the Roman Catholic church there are reports also the