Talking Protocols

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TALKING PROTOCOLS REPORT

Talking Protocols: a report and an evaluation on the findings of consultations with affected communities and individuals on the Nuclear Truth Project Protocols (July 2023)

This report from the Nuclear Truth Project (NTP) shares the process of the development of Protocols for working with affected communities.

The NTP began in 2021 working with a small group of affected community members and organisational leaders from a diverse range of international groups, to discuss challenges when working within, alongside or for communities and individuals impacted by nuclear harms. With an increase in recognition of the centrality of affected communities, advocates for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and members of nuclear impacted communities were noting significant increases in demands on lived experience expertise. The  NTP identified a need to establish Protocols  to ensure any consultations and asks of affected communities were being practiced in good faith and with a ‘do no harm’ approach to engagement.

Over a period of eight months involving consensus-based discussions, a working group of frontline affected peoples and allies developed a draft set of  Protocols. These were launched in June 2022 at the First Meeting of States Parties, and then underwent a year-long process of community review by the Nuclear Truth Project.

A number of different methods were used to engage people in this review: 

  • an online survey (open for one year) with 11 questions
  • NTP coordinators and facilitators sought one-on-one interviews
  • regional facilitators conducted community consultations or conversations involving people from affected communities and allied activists in three regions – the USA, Australia and the Pacific.

The regional facilitators were all from affected communities themselves, many of whom were seeking these conversations with Elders and others intergenerationally. This took significant courage and skill, and the NTP is grateful for the efforts of all the facilitators who worked to make this possible.  We are especially grateful for the generosity of affected community members who offered feedback, advice and lived experience expertise to develop and shape these Protocols. Additionally, the Protocols continue to be shared globally with allied activists, anti-nuclear groups, media, and concerned individuals to gauge their usability.

The results of the feedback in these regional conversations is now offered to our communities, allies and partners in this report, with story and statistics, heart and analysis.

VIEW the updated Protocols here!

 

Please contact the Nuclear Truth Project if you would like further information on our Protocols or the report.

DNA Repair. 2017. 16 x 20 in. Acrylic on Watercolor Paper. Mallery Quetawki (Zuni Pueblo). artist site | instagram

​DNA has the ability to repair itself through complex mechanisms and pathways when damage occurs. Its intricacy of repair can be compared to the creation of beaded items in Native Culture. Designs are thought out ahead and require skill and patience to be able to bead such intricate pieces. When a beaded necklace comes undone, the stones/beads are restrung by using what is already there. The design used is from the Crow Nation. The use of the flower design symbolizes the idea of regrowth.

We would like to acknowledge the use of Ms. Quetawki’s images from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, the University of New Mexico NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center and the University of New Mexico College of Pharmacy.

We are grateful to Zuni Pueblo artist Mallery Quetawki for designing the beautiful Nuclear Truth Project logo. Combining many symbols familiar within the nuclear free movement, this stunning design evokes both the strength and the long story of the movement we are a living part of. As the artist explains;

“The olive branch is the offering for peace, the arrows are signifying the work towards a common cause and the peace symbol represents the outcome. The handprint represents unity and the sunflower represents remediation. The DNA strand represents the positive outcome for all living things.”