Ray Acheson
Director, Reaching Critical Will, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
twitter: @achesonray
email: ray.acheson [at] wilpf [dot] org
phone: (212) 682 1265
Director, Reaching Critical Will, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
twitter: @achesonray
email: ray.acheson [at] wilpf [dot] org
phone: (212) 682 1265
drones | Arms Trade Treaty | killer robots | small arms and light weapons | explosive weapons | gender
Ray Acheson is the Director of Reaching Critical Will, the disarmament programme of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). She provides analysis, research, and advocacy across a range of disarmament and arms control issues, and brings a feminist perspective to this work. Ray leads WILPF’s efforts to stigmatise war and violence, including by campaigning for a nuclear weapon ban treaty, challenging the arms trade and the use of explosive weapons, and working to prevent the development of new technologies of violence such as autonomous weapons. In all of these efforts, Ray highlights gendered norms and perspectives and the impact these have on policies related to weapons and war. She has an Honours BA in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Toronto and an MA in Politics from The New School for Social Research, and previously worked for the Institute for Defense and Disarmament Studies.
Ray Acheson is the Director of Reaching Critical Will, the disarmament programme of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). She provides analysis, research, and advocacy across a range of disarmament and arms control issues, and brings a feminist perspective to this work. Ray leads WILPF’s efforts to stigmatise war and violence, including by campaigning for a nuclear weapon ban treaty, challenging the arms trade and the use of explosive weapons, and working to prevent the development of new technologies of violence such as autonomous weapons. In all of these efforts, Ray highlights gendered norms and perspectives and the impact these have on policies related to weapons and war. She has an Honours BA in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Toronto and an MA in Politics from The New School for Social Research, and previously worked for the Institute for Defense and Disarmament Studies.
Recent Publications:
- “It’s Time to Exercise Human Control Over the CCW,” (No. 2), “Will the ‘Insignificant States’ Please Stand Up,” (No. 3), CCW Report, Reaching Critical Will, Vol. 7, No. 1-5, March 2019.
- "WPS and Arms Trade Treaty", in "Oxford Handbook of Women, Peace and Security," Jan. 10.
- "The gender and disarmament nexus recognized; feminism need apply for 2019 and beyond," Forum on the Arms Trade, 19 December 2018
- "Gender, weapons, and power: the importance of feminism for disarmament," presentation at the Women and Weapons panel discussion, London School of Economics' Centre for Women, Peace and Security, 13 December 2018.
- Ray Acheson is main author for a week of daily updates from the CCW conversation on lethal autonomous weapons in Reaching Critical Will's CCW Report, week of Nov 13, 2018
- First Committee Monitor, volumes I, II, III, IV, V, Final Oct 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, Nov 6, 2018.
- “Disarming the patriarchy,” First Committee Monitor, Reaching Critical Will, Vol. 1, Oct 8, 2018.
- “To Preserve Our Humanity, We Must Ban Killer Robots,” The Nation, Oct 1, 2018.
- "The world deserves better than the lowest common denominator," (with Allison Pytlak) Small Arms Monitor, Reaching Critical Will, Vol. 10 No. 1-6, June 18-July 3, 2018.
- Gender norms and gun violence," presentation at the Third Review Conference of the UN Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons, 26 June 2018
- "News in brief," Reaching Critical Will's ATT Monitor, Vol. 10, No. 6, Sept 18, 2017.
- "Gaslighting and mansplaining at CSP3," Reaching Critical Will's ATT Monitor, Vol. 10, No. 5, Sept 15, 2017.
- "News in Brief," Reaching Critical Will's ATT Monitor, Vol. 10, No. 4, Sept 14, 2017.
- "Bringing the arms fair to the arms treaty," Reaching Critical Will's ATT Monitor, Vol. 10, No. 3, Sept 13, 2017.
- "News in Brief," Reaching Critical Will's ATT Monitor, Vol. 10, No. 2, Sept 12, 2017.
- "Confronting explosive violence with the Arms Trade Treaty," Reaching Critical Will's ATT Monitor, Vol. 10, No. 1, Sept 11, 2017.
- "First Committee briefing book 2017," Reaching Critical Will, Sept 2017.
- "The humanitarian impact of drones" (editor), Reaching Critical Will, Oct 2017
- "Gender and drones," The Humanitarian Impact of Drones (New York: Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Article 36, and the International Disarmament Institute at Pace University, 2017)
- Remote warfare and sexual violence in Djibouti (New York: Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, 2017)
- Trading arms, bombing towns: the lethal connection between the international arms trade and the use of explosive weapons in populated areas (New York: Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, 2016)
- “Political action to end the use of explosive violence in populated areas,” Peace in Progress No. 26, February 2016
- Women, weapons, and war: a gendered critique of multilateral instruments (New York: Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, 2015)
- Sex and drone strikes: gender and identity in targeting and casualty analysis (New York: Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and Article 36, 2014)