Kate Dewes

Kate Dewes Ph.D. O.N.Z.M (Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit) has directed the South Island Regional Office of the Aotearoa/New Zealand Peace Foundation from her home in Christchurch for 30 years. She taught Peace Studies from 1986-1997 and from 1999-2006 part time at the University of Canterbury. Between 1988-90, and again from 2000-2007, she served on the Public Advisory Committee on Disarmament and Arms Control. From 1992-96, she was an International Peace Bureau (IPB) Executive member, and was a Vice President from 1997-2003. In 2007 she was appointed to the UN Secretary General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters. A pioneer of the World Court Project (WCP) - an international campaign by a network of citizen organisations which led to a legal challenge to nuclear deterrence in the International Court of Justice - she was on its International Steering Committee from 1992-96. Her doctoral thesis documents the evolution and impact of the WCP. She co-authored Aotearoa/New Zealand at the World Court with her husband Robert Green and they have published several articles and chapters on the WCP. She has been a member of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (Aotearoa) for over 30 years. Kate was the New Zealand government expert on the United Nations Study on Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Education from 2000-2002. She was the main instigator in the successful adoption of the proposal to have Christchurch declared New Zealand's first Peace City in July 2002.