Registration is now closed for this Geneva event.

ICAN and PAX invite you to a breakfast roundtable discussion on controversial weapons, emerging disruptive technologies, and the arms trade.

Against the backdrop of rising global tensions, pressures have increased significantly on investors to financially back the defence sector, in some situations despite longstanding policies designed to avoid portfolio exposure to risks associated with indiscriminate weapons and/or the high-risk arms trade. Some financial institutions have loosened such policy restrictions as a result, in particular regarding weapons manufacturers who also build key components of nuclear weapons.

The significant rise in investment in European defense capabilities is also likely to accelerate the development of emerging and disruptive technologies, whose application to warfighting is blurring the lines around traditional sector designations.  

The roundtable will discuss the ways and means in which stakeholders including states, companies and investors can uphold their responsibilities to ensure their activities remain in compliance with  international (human rights) law, including  the Arms Trade Treaty and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

Date: Wednesday 26 November, 2025
Time:  8:30 - 9:30
Venue: Geneva Centre for Security Policy
A light breakfast will be available

Speakers:

Sam Jones is president and co-founder of Heartland Initiative, where he leads the development of methodologies, tools, and guidance to assist investors in the prevention and mitigation of human rights harms across their portfolios. Sam has more than 25 years of experience in conflict-sensitive research, analysis, and programming, international humanitarian and human rights law, and multi-stakeholder engagement in public and private spheres.

Alejandra Muñoz is a Project Officer at Dutch peace organization PAX, where she is currently leading the Don’t Bank on the Bomb research, a joint publication of PAX and ICAN.

Susi Snyder is Director of Programmes at the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. Her responsibilities include facilitating the development and execution of ICAN's key programmes, including the management of ICAN's divestment work and engagement with the financial sector.

Karolina Malisauskaite is a Responsible Investments Analyst at KLP (Norway), specializing in controversial weapons research and corporate governance. She joined KLP in 2022, following her tenure at Institutional Shareholder Services, where she conducted proxy research for the Nordic region. Prior to that, she worked as a consultant within financial services at Accenture.