NGO Blue Banner


Brief introduction

Blue Banner is a public benefit, non-profit and non-governmental organization (NGO) that was established in 2005. Its initial mission was to inform the broad Mongolian public of the country’s nuclear weapon-free status policy and related activities, to generate ideas regarding the country’s policy of ensuring security primarily by political and diplomatic means, and to disseminate information thereon and organize discussions on related issues, especially among young people. In 2017 Blue Banner updated its mission statement to also include generating ideas to promote nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament in Northeast Asia, and broaden the concept of NWFZs to include individual states, so as to exclude any political vacuums and international legal loop holes in the nuclear-weapon-free world that the international community is trying to establish. Based on this mission statement, Blue Banner’s external activity was extended to broaden support and cooperation with like-minded national, regional and international NGOs and think tanks.

In line with this mission, in the past eighteen years Blue Banner has organized numerous national meetings and regional conferences and round-tables on Mongolia’s nuclear-weapon-free status policy, as well as undertaking studies on effective ways to promote its goals.

Main activities:

  • promoting greater understanding of the role of Mongolia’s nuclear-weapon-free status policy as an important political factor in strengthening the country’s security by political and diplomatic means;
  • promoting the goal of establishing a nuclear-weapon-free zone in Northeast Asia (NEA-NWFZ);
  • undertaking on its own or in cooperation with other NGOs or think tanks research to fuller implement the Law of Mongolia on its nuclear-weapon-free status and provide relevant advice and recommendations thereon to relevant Mongolian authorities;
  • undertaking studies on unlocking the potential of NWFZs by broadening the definition of NWFZ to include single-State zones; and
  • organizing educational and training activities on the above and related topics.

International cooperation:

Blue Banner cooperates with governmental and non-governmental organizations from Mongolia, Russia, China, the United States, Japan, and North and South Korea, as well as with the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC) and the International Peace Bureau (IPB) in promoting peace and security, preventing armed conflicts, and advancing the goals of non-proliferation and the total ban of nuclear weapons. Forms of cooperation include exchange of information and experiences, joint studies, conferences, round-table discussions and seminars.

Blue Banner serves as Ulaanbaatar focal point of GPPAC’s Northeast Asia network (GPPAC-NEA). In 2015 Blue Banner, together with GPPAC, launched the Ulaanbaatar Process (UBP)1 that aims to make the most use of the comparative advantages of national and regional civil society organizations that, being more flexible than governments, can provide added value through space for dialogue and generating useful and practical ideas and proposals. The UBP holds annual meetings in which representatives of both Koreas discuss issues regarding the Korean peninsula and the idea of the need for a NEA-NWFZ, together with participants from other parts of NEA and beyond. The UBP in 2017, 2019 and 2022 issued joint publications of its participants entitled “Reflections on Peace and Security in Northeast Asia: perspectives from the Ulaanbaatar process” in which Blue Banner took active part.

Blue Banner is also the Mongolian partner organization in hosting the annual Mongolia Forum, an international forum that addresses such issues as promoting the goals of a united Korea, Northeast Asian cooperation in denuclearizing the Korean peninsula and the region’s economic integration.

Blue Banner works closely with international NGOs and networks in promoting the goals of nuclear non-proliferation, disarmament and averting armed conflicts. This includes: GPPAC, IPB, International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons (Abolition 2000), Asia-Pacific Leadership Network for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament (APLN), Research Center for Nuclear Weapons Abolition (RECNA) of Nagasaki University, Panel on Peace and Security of Northeast Asia (PSNA) and the Asia-Europe People’s Forum (AEPF).

Organization:

Blue Banner’s governing body is its Governing Council (GC) consisting of 7 members. The President of the GC is H.E. Mr. OCHRBAT Punsalmaagiin, the former President of Mongolia. Its Chairman currently is Dr. ENKHSAIKHAN Jargalsaikhan, former Permanent Representative of Mongolia to the United Nations. The GC includes doctors of science, professors and a journalist; 3 of them are women.

The business and financial activities of Blue Banner are carried out in accordance with the relevant laws of Mongolia and the Blue Banner Statutes. It does not received financial support from the Mongolian state budget. Finances and property are formed from contributions made by its founders, donations by members, citizens, business organisations entities, as well as national and international organizations.
Since 2021, the “Ulaanbaatar Process: A Civil Society Approach to Building Peace in Northeast Asia” is being co-funded by the European Union’s Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace (IcSP).

2022 Activities:

Some highlights of Blue Banner activities in 2022 included participation in the following:

  • 7 national meetings and activities in connection with the 30th anniversary of Mongolia’s nuclear-weapon-free status policy,
  • National informal meeting reviewing the national security concept bearing in mind the changes in geopolitics and the international environment
  • Organization of an on-line meeting of the working group on a NEA-NWFZ established by the Mongolia Forum in 2021, to exchange views on the positions of states of Northeast Asia and the US regarding the issue of establishing such a zone in the region.
  • Hosting an international conference on NWFZs in preparation to the NPT Revcon, which adopted a statement on NWFZs.
  • ICAN’s Nuclear Ban Forum organized in Vienna (online), sharing Blue Banner’s views on nuclear weapon related issue, including on the importance of signing and ratifying the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW);
  • Peace & Planet International Conference in preparation for the 10th NPT Revcon
  • NPT Revcon as an NGO observer, including in a side event on denuclearization and peace on the Korean peninsula
  • 2022 annual meeting of Abolition 2000 (online) to share views on the issue of strengthening further NWFZs.
  • Co-organization of the UBP-8 meeting in Ulaanbaatar
  • Co-organization of the “Mongolia Forum 2022”;
  • Consultative meeting with Finland’s Posiva company regarding issues related to underground nuclear waste repositories;
  • Global Town Hall 2022 as institutional partner organization and as a discussant of the session on the State of the World.