Melissa Parke has been announced as the new Executive Director of the ICAN international office in Geneva.
Melissa Parke is a former MP for Fremantle WA, government minister and human rights lawyer for the UN. She has been an ICAN Ambassador for many years, championing Australia’s signature and ratification of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
Melissa’s experience in government, at the UN and as a long-term passionate advocate will greatly benefit ICAN’s international work to maximise adherence, signatures and ratifications of the nuclear weapon ban.
Melissa said, “I am honoured to be taking up this important role in the global campaign to rid the world of these weapons of mass destruction. The only effective treatment for a nuclear holocaust is prevention.”
“As an Australian, I’m looking forward to the day the Australian Government signs on to the treaty, as Labor has promised to do. While Australia has done important work on other weapons treaties, and taken some meaningful steps on nuclear disarmament, we remain on the wrong side of history until we pick up a pen and join the ban. Nothing less will do.”
Melissa will take up the post in Geneva in September.
But first, she’ll join the ICAN Australia team at the National Labor Conference in Brisbane next week.
First published in ICAN August 10, 2023