International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons

Abolition 2000 is a a global network of over 2,000 civil society organizations and municipalities. It was formed during the 1995 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review and Extension Conference by representatives of organizations that were disappointed with the manner in which the nuclear weapons states, particularly the United States, had manipulated the outcome of the Conference.

Abolition 2000 began with a Founding Statement, created by civil society representatives at the 1995 NPT Review and Extension Conference, which articulated its principles.

The strong points of Abolition 2000 were that it is broadly international, included many forms of expertise, is activist in its orientation, and is committed to complete nuclear disarmament. This network was largely responsible for bringing the terms "abolition" and "elimination" into the dialogue on nuclear disarmament. It moved the discussion from arms control to abolition.

The initial goal of Abolition 2000 when it was formed in 1995 was to achieve an agreement for the total elimination of nuclear weapons by the year 2000. When this agreement by governments proved impossible to achieve, despite Abolition 2000 having drafted a Model Nuclear Weapons Convention, the network decided to continue its abolition work, maintaining contacts within the global network with the more than 2,000 civil society organizations and municipalities that comprised the network.