Evans, Jill

Evans, Jill

Jill Evans

11 December 2020News

Welsh peace institute launched

On International Peace Day, 21 September, Wales joined the world in having its own research and information body dedicated to peace. Academi Heddwch Cymru was officially established after 10 years of campaigning.

The idea was first proposed following UK government plans to privatise and merge all military training at a massive military academy in Sain Tathan in the Vale of Glamorgan.

This would have been the focus of all UK war preparations, but also available to other…

1 April 2019News

Aberystwyth holds packed meeting US campaigner

US campaigner Linda Pentz Gunter (white scarf) and Welsh peace activists in Aberystwyth, 16 February. Photo: Robat Idris

‘Truth versus Power’ was the theme of a public meeting in Aberystwyth organised by CND Cymru on 16 February.

A packed room was inspired by Linda Pentz Gunter talking about the work of Beyond Nuclear, a US peace group she founded, particularly on a Green New Deal.

She explained how not even the smallest of nuclear reactors is safe or efficient and…

1 December 2016News

Landmark resolution could trigger new treaty

27 October was a truly historic day. We voted in the European parliament calling on all UN member states to support the UN general assembly resolution on nuclear security and non-proliferation. This landmark resolution, which would trigger a new treaty banning all nuclear weapons, was adopted with a large majority by the UN general assembly that same day.

International negotiations are set to start in March 2017 with a conference to discuss a ‘legally binding instrument to…

24 January 2012News

Jill Evans MEP questions the EU's support for nuclear power

Satisfied with the European Commission's response to Fukushima, the European parliament petitions committee closed four petitions which raised concerns about the safety of nuclear power stations. However, Plaid Cymru's group in the parliament (Greens/EFA) has raised serious doubts about the Commission’s “stress tests”. An independent study highlighted their failure to assess the risks of accidents. For example, they do not evaluate the risks of fire, human failure or an aeroplane crash.…

13 August 2011Feature

On the 15th anniversary of the tragic death of Petra Kelly in October 1992, Jill Evans (Chair of CND Cymru, and deputy leader of and an MEP for the Welsh national party, Plaid Cymru) explains how she was inspired by this founding member of the German Greens.

KM: How do themes of peace, justice and environment come to be at the centre of your political life?

JE: I went to Aberystwyth University where I joined Plaid Cymru and became involved in anti-nuclear meetings and the movement against the dumping of waste in Wales.

I went back to the Rhonda in 1980 and we set up Rhonda CND. It was huge - we had more members than the Labour party! It was the same across the country; CND branches set up everywhere. I've been…

1 March 2010News

In February 2009, I went to Gaza as one of a European Parliament group to see the destruction caused by Israeli attacks. A year on, together with 60 members of parliament from 12 different countries, I returned.

As I expected, depressingly little had changed since Operation Cast Lead. Houses, factories, farms and schools are still in ruins. Water, sewage and electricity systems are wrecked.

In any other country, rebuilding would be well under way. But Gaza is…

1 April 2009News

Part of a delegation from the European Parliament sent to report on the humanitarian situation in Gaza following 22 days of Israeli bombing, I prepared myself for the worst but the reality still shocked me. In parts of Gaza City whole streets had been reduced to rubble and survivors lived in tents on the sites of their former homes.

In the Al Hajaj house in Zeitoun, a young man told how his father and baby sister had been killed before his eyes when a bomb came through the roof. He…

1 March 2008News

On 5 February, I was one of ten Members of the European Parliament who broke through the Israeli siege and travelled to Gaza to see the situation for ourselves.

The anger I feel following the visit could drive me to write several books. Here, I have focussed on what the occupation means for the children.

In the Al-Shifa Hospital I visited the ward where thirty premature babies lay in incubators. These tiny children are completely dependent on the electricity supply.