Lately I’ve been spending some time exploring and explaining the concept of humanitarian disarmament, including what it means in practice. This was spurred in part by a December 2011 decision by the New Zealand government to disband the longstanding position of Minister for Disarmament and Arms Control and provide the portfolio responsibility to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon. Murray McCully. It also follows concerns over the lack of effective resourcing for disarmament work by New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. But this work has not been restricted to New Zealand – I’m also working to bring together a ’summit’ later in the year for campaigners working internationally in humanitarian disarmament to discuss at our work and future collaboration. Hence this logo and variations on it, which you may be seeing more of…