Beatrice Fihn

Beatrice Fihn is Executive Director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.

Fihn has over a decade of experience in disarmament diplomacy and civil society mobilization through her work with ICAN, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and the Geneva Centre for Security Policy.

Beatrice Fihn urges people and governments alike to focus on the humanitarian and catastrophic consequences of the use of nuclear weapons and the imminent threat of nuclear war, exacerbated by heightened tensions and rhetoric between the United States and North Korea. She calls on rationality over fear, making the case for the need of a complete ban on nuclear weapons.

Fihn strives to bring “democracy to disarmament,” and carries the message that every person has both a right and a responsibility to use their unique skills and passion to create change.

Fihn has led ICAN since 2013 and works to mobilize civil society throughout the development of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. This includes developing and executing ICAN’s political strategy and fundraising efforts as well as representing the campaign in relation to media and key stakeholders, such as governments, the United Nations and other international organizations. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Financial Times, The Atlantic, Le Monde and many others.

Beatrice Fihn holds a Master’s in Law from the University of London and a Bachelor’s in International Relations from Stockholm University. She is Executive Producer of the film The Day the World Changed, the first-ever interactive virtual reality memorial experience to pay tribute to those effected directly by nuclear warfare spanning back to 1945. She was listed as one of the 50 innovators who changed the global landscape in 2017 by Bloomberg Media and presented with the Special Lifetime Achievement Award at the ninth annual Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards in 2018.