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General E-News Advisories
2003
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Subscribe to the Reaching Critical Will General
E-News Advisories:
send an email to the Project
Associate, subject line "subscribe e-news"
February 6, 2003:
1) Columbia
Shuttle Disaster and Implications for Disarmament
2)
US Secretary of State Powell Briefs UN Security Council
February 10, 2003
NPT
PrepCom 2003 Invitation to NGOs
February 18, 2003
1)
Blix and ElBaradei Report to Security Council
2)
DPRK and US Nuclear Policy Proposals
3)
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan Gives Vocal Support to NGOs
March 10, 2003
1)
Iraq Update
2)
SORT Signed
3)
RCW Website News
April 22, 2003
1)
DDA Launches Gender Action Mainstreaming Plan
2)
Disarmament Commission 2003 Session Draws to a Close
3)
NPT Update
May 1, 2003
NPT
Update from Geneva
May 27, 2003
NPT
PrepCom: One Week Later
July 25, 2003 (1)
1)
Proliferation Security Initiative: Securing Proliferation?
2)
CTBT Entry-Into-Force Conference Information
3)
Hiroshima and Nagasaki Days
July 25, 2003 (2)
1)
Israeli official reportedly threatens to pre-emptively attack Iran's
nuclear facilities
2)
Iranian officials threaten to withdraw from NPT if attacked
September 2, 2003
1) CTBT EIF Conference
Begins: Sign-on to NGO statement
2) Email news
3) Countries on
the IAEA Agenda
September 15, 2003
1) WILPF Report on CTBT Conference
2) First Committee Update
September 22, 2003
1) A New Look: The New Reaching Critical
Will Website
2) Secretary-General's Report on the Organization
October 1, 2003
1) Disarmament Index: References to Security
in GA statements
2) NGO Briefings for the First Committee
3) Information for the Latin American Nuclear
Weapon Free Zone Conference, Havana, Cuba
4) Nuclear Abolition Events at the World
Social Forum, Mumbai, India, January 2004
October 8, 2003
1) RCW First Committee Update, including
Press Release on opening day
December 2, 2003
1) First Committee Update
2) Conference of the States Parties to the
Biological Weapons Convention
December 16, 2003
1) The General Assembly votes on First Committee
resolutions
2) Reaching Critical Will at the World Social
Forum
3) NGO Committee on Disarmament (Geneva)
hosts a panel discussion on the NPT
4) NPT 2004: Preparations for the PrepCom
are underway
***********
December 16, 2003
Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors,
The holiday season is just about here. So, just before you turn
off your computers to celebrate the New Year with your friends and
family, Reaching Critical Will provides you with all of the information
you need to wrap up 2003 and look forward to the incoming year.
Remember that all news advisories from 2003 are archived on our
site at: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/action/Advisories.html.
This will be the last advisory for the 2003 archive.
In this advisory:
I. The General Assembly votes on First Committee resolutions
II. Reaching Critical Will at the World Social Forum
III. NGO Committee on Disarmament (Geneva) hosts
a panel discussion on the NPT
IV. NPT 2004: Preparations for the PrepCom are underway:
How to get involved
1. NGOs and the NPT Review Process
2. NGO Presentations and Strategy
3. Calendar of Events
4. NGO Daily Reports: A Call for Submissions
5. NPT Background Information
Normally, we try to send out briefer, more frequent news advisories.
But we figure we'll start your new year off with a good heap of
information.
As always, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns about
any of the items featured below, never hesitate to contact us.
In peace,
Rhianna Tyson
Project Associate
I. The General Assembly votes on First
Committee resolutions
Last week, the General Assembly took a vote on the draft resolutions
adopted by the First Committee on Disarmament, Peace and Security.
A vote on draft resolution L.1, "The illicit trade in small
arms and light weapons in all its aspects", submitted by Japan,
Colombia and South Africa has been delayed. The draft resolution
was passed by the First Committee with 162 votes in favor, no votes
in abstention, and just one, solitary vote cast by the United States,
in opposition. The delay is attributed to a delay in the work of
the Fifth Committee, which must factor in the costs of a conference
on tracing the illicit trade in SALW, as called for in the draft
resolution.
To read more about draft resolution L.1 and others, see the Final
Edition of the First Committee Monitor in HTML http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/1com03/FCM/finalreport.html
or in PDF: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/1com03/FCM/finalreport.pdf.
Read the texts and voting results of all resolutions at: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/1com03/res/resindex.htm.
If you want to receive the NGO reports in the First Committee Monitor
next year, send an email to: 1comsubscribe@reachingcriticalwill.org.
For more NGO analysis on the First Committee, see Rebecca Johnson's
report at: http://www.acronym.org.uk/un/index.htm.
II. Reaching Critical Will at the World
Social Forum
WILPF's RCW project, in collaboration with Abolition 2000 and the
World Peace Council, is organizing an anti-nuclear panel discussion
to be held at the World Social Forum on January 16-21, in Mumbai,
India. The purpose of the event is to raise awareness of international
disarmament efforts among civil society groups across the globe,
and to engage activists, academics, and community leaders in disarmament
and nonproliferation fora and to promote a world free from the nuclear
threat.
The event, which pulls together anti-nuclear activists from around
the world, is structured in three segments. The first segment features
nuclear experts from Europe, the US, and Southeast Asia, who will
discuss nuclear policy and practice in their regions of the world,
and relate it to the global framework on disarmament, peace and
security. The second segment will look at what the anti-nuclear
movement is doing on a global scale to combat these genocidal, ecocidal,
and suicidal weapons. The last segment will discuss what peoples
are doing on a local level to disarm their own communities, including
citizens weapons inspections, youth-lead initiatives, street demonstrations
and more.
To get involved in this event and others at the WSF, contact Rhianna
Tyson or Al
Marder.
To learn more about the World Social Forum, visit: www.wsfindia.org.
For all other RCW-related inquiries during the month of January,
contact the WILPF UNO Director, Susi
Snyder, as Rhianna will be in South Asia, preparing for this
event.
III. NGO Committee on Disarmament (Geneva)
hosts a panel discussion on the NPT
The Geneva-based NGO Committee on Disarmament hosted a two-day panel
discussion last week entitled, "Full-Spectrum Compliance Under
the NPT." Well-attended by many in the diplomatic and NGO communities,
the event looked at various ways of ensuring compliance, including
an in-depth presentation by the IAEA's Tariq Rauf, an examination
of the NPT-CD relationship, analysis of US nuclear policy, and a
strategy session looking towards the 2004 PrepCom and the 2005 Review
Conference.
Reaching Critical Will's Rhianna Tyson delivered a presentation
entitled, "Addressing Compliance within the United Nations
System: Present and future prospects." The following is an
excerpt from that speech:
"If our question today is compliance, two aspects cannot
be emphasized enough: that any discussion on compliance must give
equal weight to all articles of the Treaty- the nonproliferation
requirements AND the disarmament requirements. For vertical proliferators
to accuse non-nuclear weapon states (NNWS) of non-compliance, and
then use their questionable evidence and patchy national intelligence
to declare the NPT a failure is illogical and unjust. We must- as
disarmament experts and diplomats- utilize the United Nations and
all of the tools at its disposal to work to discredit nuclear weapons
as a primary source of security.
"The second aspect that must be stressed is the value of civil
society in these efforts. Civil society can help build the internal
pressure on governments necessary for them to act in good faith
on their agreements "
To read the full-text of the presentation, see: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/npt/genevaspch.html.
IV. NPT 2004: Preparations for the PrepCom
are underway
It's that time again- time for disarmament NGOs to begin their
preparations for the 2004 Preparatory Committee conference of States
Parties to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, held in New York,
April 26- May 7. Reaching Critical Will has just re-organized its
NPT webpage to make it
more navigable, and to make it easier for you and your organization
to participate in this important conference.
Click here to learn more
about the NPT and the Review Process.
1. NGOs and the NPT Review Process
NGOs have provided invaluable insight and expertise to the NPT
conferences in the past, and our influence is growing. It is imperative
that committed NGOs attend or have input into this critical PrepCom,
out of which will emerge a consensus draft of recommendations for
the 2005 Review Conference. NGOs are vital players that explain
the issues, draw attention to some important problems, and put pressure
on the States Parties to achieve a successful outcome.
In the upcoming weeks, the Secretariat of the conference- the WMD
branch of the Department for Disarmament Affairs- will issue an
aide memoire to NGOs wishing to participate in the PrepCom. The
aide memoire will include a registration form and other information
needed for accreditation. The DDA has not yet begun accepting applications,
but you must be aware of the necessity of the application procedure.
Future RCW alerts will inform you of developments. If you are not
subscribed now, please do so by sending an email to:
subscribe@reachingcriticalwill.org.
Engage your representatives on NPT matters now! Write to your Minister
of Foreign Affairs (or equivalent), CC it to your ambassadors in
New York and Geneva, and encourage them to attend the conference
to publicly urge the Nuclear Weapon States to uphold their Article
VI promise! Consult our Governmental
Database for their contact information.
2. NGO Presentations and Strategy
NGOs are designated one, three-hour session to deliver presentations
to the delegates during the morning of April 28. These statements
are collectively drafted and edited by the community of NGOs. If
you want to participate in the drafting process, you must send an
email to: NGOpresentations-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
For the month of January, we will be focusing on brainstorming topics
and issues for discussion at the PrepCom. At the end of January,
we will be deciding on the topics, and convenors for each of the
topics will be chosen to draft the statements.
To read last year's NGO presentations at the PrepCom, see: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/npt/NGOpres2003index.htm.
In addition, NGOs have created another listserve by which we are
discussing a new strategy for the 2004 PrepCom and the upcoming
Review Conference in 2005. What are we hoping for in 2005? What
recommendations will we give to the States Parties in 2004? How
can we ensure that their disarmament obligation will finally be
realized? Join this important discussion by sending an email to:
npt-outreach-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
If you have any trouble subscribing to these listserves, contact
the RCW Project Associate.
This year, NGOs based in New York are organizing a massive street
presence in the city the first week of the PrepCom, to demonstrate
that the world is watching and we are holding our governments accountable
to the NPT promise. Visit the site: www.1may04.org
and see how you can get involved!
3. Calendar of Events
If you or your organization wishes to organize a panel, workshop,
reception, or other meeting, be sure to book your time slot now!
Consult the Calendar of Events at: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/npt/events.html
and schedule your event by sending an email to: rhianna@reachingcriticalwill.org.
The calendar has been open for just two days, and already the slots
are filling up quickly. Room number will be confirmed at a later
date.
4. NGO Daily Reports: A Call for Submissions
Reaching Critical Will publishes a daily newsletter, The News In
Review, throughout the entire two weeks of the PrepCom. The NIRs
offer a range of NGO perspectives on the NPT, including daily reports
of the conference proceedings, feature analyses of disarmament issues,
interviews with diplomats and NGO representatives, anti-nuclear
cartoons, daily calendars of events and other notices, and much
more! See archived News in Reviews at: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/npt/nirindex.html.
Submit a feature article today! We are looking for articles no longer
than 1,000 words, on any topic related to the international disarmament
regime. We are also collecting cartoons, drawings, pictures, graphics,
and other artistic expressions of the world's desire for nuclear
disarmament. Please include your name, organization/affiliation,
and contact information.
Send all submissions to: NIR@reachingcriticalwill.org.
5. NPT Background Information
Be sure to check out RCW's newly revamped NPT
webpage, which features background information on the Treaty,
the text of the NPT, information on PrepCom participation, NGO links,
inter-governmental links, summaries of the 1995 and 2000 Review
Conferences, texts of the Final Documents including the historical
13 Steps, talking points and more.
If you have any questions regarding the PrepCom, or if you would
like to know more about how your organization can more effectively
participate at the conference, never hesitate to contact us.
***********
December 2, 2003
Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors,
With winter rolling in and two major disarmament fora concluding
their year’s work, we at Reaching Critical Will are busy wrapping
up events from the autumn and preparing for 2004. While the GA First
Committee and the Biological Weapons Conference are adjourning,
the UN Disarmament Commission will begin setting an agenda in the
upcoming weeks, and NGOs are already busy with preparations for
the NPT in the spring.
In this News Advisory:
1. First Committee Update
2. Conference of the States Party to the Biological Weapons Convention
Also, I would like to send out a personal apology for a botched
“auto-reply” function on my email account, which sent
dozens of blank emails to nearly all RCW subscribers and friends
last week. The problem was quickly corrected, but not after it clogged
up inboxes around the world. Please accept my most humble apologies.
In peace,
Rhianna Tyson
Project Associate
Reaching Critical Will
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
1. First Committee Update
Throughout the five weeks of the General Assembly First Committee
on Disarmament and International Peace, Reaching Critical Will,
in collaboration with other NY-based NGOs, published a weekly newsletter,
The First Committee Monitor. A Compendium of all five editions of
The Monitor is now available on-line at http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/1com03/FCM/FCMindex.htm.
We urge all readers of The Monitor- diplomats, activists, and academics-
to fill out a quick and easy Evaluative Questionnaire, available
at: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/1com03/FCM/questionnaire.htm.
Let us know how you used the Monitor in your work. Tell us how you
perceived the portrayal of your government in the publication. Most
importantly, let us know how we can improve this reporting service
next year.
On Monday, December 8, the General Assembly will vote on the resolutions
adopted by the First Committee last month. The results of the votes
will be immediately posted on-line at: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/1com03/res/resindex.htm.
You can also find the texts of the resolutions, the voting results
in the First Committee, and all available explanations of votes
on this site as well.
2. Conference of the States Party to the Biological Weapons Convention
The 151 States Parties to the BTWC met in Geneva, November 10-14,
2003. Ambassador Tibor Tóth of Hungary chaired the meeting.
The Reaching Critical Will website now features all documents produced
at the conference, including the provisional agenda, working papers,
a list of participants, and more. See our biological weapons page
at: www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/bw/biolindex.html.
Has your country ratified the BTWC? See the list of States Parties
at: www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/bio/sps.htm.
For more information on the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention,
see Reaching Critical Will’s comprehensive list of resources
at: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/bw/biolindex.html#sources.
October 8, 2003
The United Nations General Assembly First Committee on Disarmament
began this Monday, October 6. WILPF's Reaching Critical Will project
has teamed up with the likes of the Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear
Policy, the NGO Committee on Disarmament, Amnesty International,
Global Action to Prevent War, Quakers UN Office, Pax Christie, Abolition
2000, and Franciscans International to provide you with the most
comprehensive and in-depth reporting on the First Committee around.
To receive the weekly reports prepared by this powerhouse coalition,
be sure to send an email to: 1comsubscribe@reachingcriticalwill.org,
and indicate if you would prefer to receive the reports in PDF,
HTML, or Plain Text.
This News Advisory includes a summary of what RCW is doing throughout
the First Committee, and we invite you all to take full advantage
of our resources.
All information relating to the First Committee are available at:
http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/1comindex1.html.
1) We're Here for You Even When You Can't Be
First and foremost, Reaching Critical Will is a service provider
to other disarmament NGOs around the world who can't be in New York
during these events. If you have any reports, flyers, or other materials
that you would like distributed at the First Committee, please contact
us and we will be the NGO-In-Your-Stead. We can also focus in on
the UN media or particular missions that you want to have your materials.
Contact us through email, fax, or phone- all contact information
is at the bottom of this email.
2) We Are Your First Committee Repository
All statements, press releases, draft resolutions, and other UN
documents are made available on our website by the end of the day.
*Statements are available in PDF here: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/1com03/statementindex03.htm.
*Press Releases are here: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/1com03/press.htm
*UN Documents are available here: http://www.un.org/ga/58/first/doc1.html
*and keep checking for resolutions here: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/1comindex1.html.
3) We Got What You Need
Any other requests that you might have pertaining to First Committee,
please never hesitate to contact us. We will gladly fax or email
you any other documents that might be floating around the United
Nations that is important to your work. We are here to help you.
4) We Know Where The Party's At
Our Calendar of Events during the First Committee is growing exponentially.
Please have a look to see where the next reception, book launch,
panel or workshop will be held at: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/1com03/03cal.htm.
In addition, if you or your organization is holding an event during
the month of October, please let us know and we will gladly post
it on our calendar.
I'll conclude this news advisory with a brief press release from
the UN News Service, which quotes Mr. Nobuyasu Abe, the Under-Secretary-General
for Disarmament Affairs, from his opening statement to the Committee.
In peace,
Rhianna Tyson
Project Associate
Reaching Critical Will
COUNTRIES NEED TO BOOST GLOBAL SECURITY, UN OFFICIAL TELLS
DISARMAMENT
PANEL
New York, Oct 6 2003 6:00PM
United Nations Member States need to explore practical methods of
strengthening world security with particular urgency at a time when
recent events had shown that people outside of government could
produce
and use weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), a senior UN official
said
today.
Addressing the General Assembly's Disarmament and International
Security
Committee, Under Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs Nobuyasu
Abe
said, "We may not be able to fully resolve all the disarmament,
non-proliferation, arms control and counter-terrorism issues that
will
arise about these weapons," but he hoped that progress could
be made in
agreeing on concrete and practical measure to strengthen global
norms.
While the WMDs posed a great danger, conventional weapons, such
as small
arms and landmines, caused untold numbers of casualties each year
and
the UN continued to be the focus of efforts to increase transparency
and
build confidence, he said.
Disarmament instruments and institutions needed to be seen as legitimate
and norms needed to be enforced, Mr. Abe said. If not, the world
would
continue to find it difficult to promote multilateral cooperation
and
discourage the resort to unilateral action.
********************************
October 1, 2003
In this Advisory:
1) Disarmament Index: References to security in General Assembly
statements
2) NGO Briefings for the First Committee
3) Information for the Latin American Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Conference,
Havana, Cuba, 5-6 November, 2003
4) Nuclear Abolition Events at the World Social Forum, Mumbai, India,
January 2004
As always, if you have any questions, concerns, or comments, never
hesitate to contact us.
In peace,
Rhianna
Project Associate
Reaching Critical Will
**********************************
1) Disarmament Index on the Reaching Critical Will Website
During the first two weeks of the General Assembly, each Member
State delivers a statement to the entire body. While often of a
general nature, these statements provide insight into the issues,
priorities, problems and potential solutions that will be presented
by the Member States in the different Committees of the GA and throughout
the next year.
Reaching Critical Will has compiled an Index of these statements
that make reference to disarmament, non-proliferation, and international
security. This resource is available at: www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/1com03/disarmindex03.htm.
On October 6, it will also be available in PDF.
PeaceWomen, another project
of the WILPF UN Office, is compiling a Gender Index of all GA statements
that reference gender, women, and Security
Council Resolution 1325.
NGOs from around the world share the concerns of many governments
about the dangers posed by weapons of mass destruction, increased
military expenditures and the trade in armaments. The ongoing conflicts
in over 35 countries, as well as global concerns about terrorism,
have made the work of the First Committee even more urgently relevant.
NGOs will continue to offer analysis and constructive input while
providing public education on the work of the United Nations General
Assembly. We look forward to working closely with official governmental
delegations, United Nations staff and the broad NGO community in
this 58th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.
2) NGOs Brief the World
Some NGOs have prepared briefing books and other useful resources
just in time for the First Committee.
The Center for Non-proliferation Studies at Monterrey Institute
for International Studies has prepared an Inventory of International
Non-proliferation Organizations and Regimes, which is available
in PDF or in a CD-ROM: http://cns.miis.edu/pubs/inven/index.htm.
In their words, "The Inventory of International Nonproliferation
Organizations and Regimes uses a broad definition of international
organizations, treaties, and agreements relevant to weapons of mass
destruction disarmament and nonproliferation activities. It includes
formal organizations, non-charter regimes, multilateral groupings
of states, international treaties, and regional and bilateral arrangements.
The updated version for the first time also includes international
treaties related to terrorism as well as treaties and agreements
designed to prevent the spread of conventional weapons. It also
includes specific references to the verification and compliance
provisions of relevant organizations and treaties, and detail on
organization and treaty memberships of selected States.
"The Inventory is designed to cover all actual and potential
international organizations and other nonproliferation regimes,
and their existing institutional ties, inter-relationships, and
overlapping areas of responsibility. It provides descriptions of
each organization, treaty, and agreement as well as summaries of
recent activities and contact information. Treaty texts are also
provided and other appendices show the membership and status of
key treaties and agreements. The Inventory provides policymakers,
diplomats, government officials, analysts, researchers, journalists,
and students with a useful general reference source and a current
synopsis of developments in international nonproliferation organizations
and regimes."
For more information, contact Jean
DuPreez, Director of International Organizations and Nonproliferation
Program at CNS.
The Parliamentarian Network for Nuclear
Disarmament, a project of the Global
Security Institute, has put together a comprehensive briefing
on nuclear issues and will soon be available on their website. You
can also receive a copy by contacting Alyn
Ware, Global Coordinator for PNND.
The briefing, designed to provide up-to-date information on nuclear
disarmament issues and on the ways that parliamentarians can become
engaged in the disarmament process includes:
*basic information on nuclear weapons and their effects;
*technical, political, and legal issues relating to nuclear disarmament;
*outlines of current nuclear weapons agreements;
*descriptions of national and international arenas in which parliamentarians
can exert influence or become engaged; and
*explores some disarmament proposals and plans.
Divided into one or two page chapters, each section can be copied
and used as a stand-alone fact sheet to circulate to other parliamentarians
as background to support parliamentary actions on the specific topic.
For more information on the PNND, visit their website at www.pnnd.org.
Is your parliamentarian hooked up to the network?
3) Information for the Latin American Nuclear Weapon Free
Zone Conference
The Agency for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America
and the Caribbean will be holding a General Conference 5-6 November,
2003, in La Habana, Cuba.
NGOs wishing to participate as Observer must contact Edumondo
Vargas, Secretary-General of OPANAL.
The
Provisional Agenda is available here
The
Registration Form is available here
Read
the text of the Tlatelolco Treaty at the Arms Control Association
4) Nuclear Abolition Events at the World Social Forum
Abolition 2000 and its member organizations have been planning to
hold anti-nuclear events at the World Social Forum in Mumbai, India,
January 2004. We have already submitted a sketch proposal that has
been accepted.
The outline for the event, as presently structured, merely represents
the ideas that have been discussed between a very few number of
us, and we would very much like to have input and ideas from the
rest of you around the world. Co-sponsorship of this event is highly
welcome.
For more information, see: www.reachingcriticalwill.org/social/WSF.pdf.
If you or your organization would like to participate in this grassroots
event, please refer to the contact information listed in the link
above.
Another world- free from the threat of nuclear weapons- is possible.
********************************
September 22, 2003
In this News Advisory for September 22, 2003,
1) A New Look: Announcement of a new Reaching Critical Will website
2) Secretary-General Kofi Annan releases 2003 Report
Reaching Critical Will works to provide you with all of the information
regarding international disarmament news in the best way possible.
If you would prefer to receive these emails in plain text (without
the
bullet points and rich text), please notify me and I can send you
a simpler version.
Also, if you received this email as a forward and would like to
subscribe
to one or all of Reaching Critical Will’s email lists, please
visit:
http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/action/listindex.html
for a complete
description and instructions on how to subscribe.
In peace,
Rhianna Tyson
Project Associate
Reaching Critical Will
1) A New Look for Reaching Critical Will
All summer long, the Reaching Critical Will team, with the invaluable
help of
Ms. Le Chen, WILPF-UNO’s brilliant web intern, has designed
a new look
and layout to the RCW site: www.reachingcriticalwill.org.
Our new design makes this vast resource exceedingly more navigable.
Roll your
mouse over the buttons on the left hand side to find:
The Legal Aspects of Disarmament: advocating
a rule of law
- Background information on major international disarmament treaties
- Resources for NGOs participating in disarmament fora
- Texts of major disarmament treaties
- Statements by countries at international disarmament fora
- and more
The Political Aspects of Disarmament: disarmament
can only be achieved
through diplomatic means
- Background information on the political bodies that make decisions
on disarmament
- Resources for NGOs seeking to influence these political decision
making bodies
- Statements by countries in these bodies
- Archived email advisories reporting on the latest developments
- and more
The Social Aspects of Disarmament: why the
people of the world want nuclear
disarmament- and what they are doing about it
- Gender and Disarmament resources: books, papers, articles, official
documents
- Disarmament Education Kit
- Information on Health and Environmental Consequences of the
Nuclear Age
- Indigenous Perspectives on the Nuclear Industry
- Tools for activists
- and more
The Technical Aspects of Disarmament: Demystifying
Nuclear Science
Fact Sheets on the Nuclear Cycle
- A-Z Nuclear Primer
- The Corporate Aspects of Disarmament: Exposing the corporate
influence on the
perpetuation of the nuclear industry
- The Dirty Dozen Project: The Baker's Dozen of the World's Dirtiest
Arms Manufacturers
- The Mil-Corp Connexion
- The Resources and Action sections contain tools to maximize
your own
disarmament efforts.
In addition to the new design, organization, easy-to-fill out forms
for subscribing,
accreditation for conferences, and donations, it also features a
broad search function.
The Reaching Critical Will site remains one of the most comprehensive
repositories
of disarmament information available. The old resources upon which
you have
come to depend are still there, too, just with different links.
For instance:
We welcome your comments, questions, compliments, or concerns
regarding
the new design. Please fill out our new questionnaire available
at:
http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/about/feedback.html.
We look forward to hearing from you.
2) Secretary-General’s 2003 report
Secretary-General Kofi Annan released his report On the Work of
the
Organization for 2003.
The first chapter, dedicated to Achieving Peace and Security, looks
at
the work of the United Nations on issues ranging from Iraq,
conflict prevention and peacemaking,
peacekeeping and peace-building, electoral assistance, terrorism,
sanctions, and disarmament.
On disarmament, the report states that “the body of multilateral
disarmament
norms has been slowly eroded as a result of weakened international
commitment”.
The report notes with concern at the “standstill” of
negotiations on other disarmament issues.
The Conference on Disarmament, for instance, has adjourned once
again
without progress on substantive work.
The report stresses the heightened concern of nuclear, biological,
or chemical
weapons and the increasing likelihood of their use, either by State
or non-State
actors. Questions of definition and scope of nuclear terrorism "stand
in the way
of adoption of a comprehensive convention" on the issue.
Although Mr. Annan “welcomed” the Strategic Offensive
Reductions Treaty
between the U.S. and Russia (a.k.a. the Moscow Treaty), he urged
“further
steps to make reductions in strategic nuclear weapons irreversible,
transparent,
and verifiable.” He also called for further efforts to ensure
that the Comprehensive
Test Ban Treaty enters into force.
Please contact RCW
if you would like an electronic copy of the Secretary-General's
report.
********************************
September 15, 2003
In this Advisory:
1) WILPF Report on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Entry-Into-Force
Conference, by WILPF UNO Director Susi Snyder
2) General Assembly First Committee on Disarmament and International
Security Update
1. WILPF Report on the CTBT Entry-Into-Force (EIF) Conference,
September 3-5, Vienna
The big question on everyone’s mind seems to be “Was
the U.S. there?” If you looked at their nameplate, no, they
were not there. However, early inside information was that the U.S.
did send a “junior officer” to the third Article XIV
Conference on Facilitating the Entry-Into-Force of the Comprehensive
Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). They made no statement, and were, in fact,
quiet as a church mouse as they listened to State after State remark
on how upset they were at the U.S., both for its Nuclear Posture
Review and for its high-level discussions on new additions to their
nuclear arsenal.
Perhaps it was Malaysia who said it most clearly when they spoke
on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement on 3 September. H.E. Dato’
Hussein Haniff, Permanent Representative of Malaysia to the CTBTO
said, “We express our serious concern about the Nuclear Posture
Review as advocated by the United States which considers, among
others, the development of new types of nuclear weapons through
resumption of nuclear testing. It is our view that the development
of new types of nuclear weapons is in contravention with the assurances
provided by the five nuclear-weapon States at the time of the conclusion
of the negotiations of the CTBT, and within the letter and spirit
of the Treaty.”The majority of the States who spoke at this
conference linked the CTBT to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
(NPT), and to the 13 practical steps for disarmament, unanimously
agreed to at the 2000 NPT Review Conference. While not all States
who were present are party to the NPT (e.g. Israel & Pakistan),
the most are and overwhelmingly repeat their desire for a world
without nuclear weapons.
Much praise was heaped on Austria for hosting the conference as
well as providing political and financial support for states to
help them attend.
NGO Activity
On the opening day of the conference, VERTIC hosted a panel of
NGO representatives speaking on technical and political issues.
The panel was hosted by Trevor Findlay of VERTIC and featured Raymond
Willemann of the International Seismological Centre who spoke about
the consideration of alternate seismic data collection, Robert Gough
of the CTBTO who spoke about the recent field test of an On-Site
Inspection, and Rebecca Johnson of the Acronym Institute who spoke
on Provisional Application of the CTBT.
On the final day of the conference, the NGOs were allotted ten
minutes to present an oral statement to the States Parties. The
statement drafted collectively by a dozen NGOs from around the
world, and signed by nearly 100 other organizations, was delivered
by Dr. Klaus Renholder from International Physicians for the Prevention
of Nuclear War, Vienna.
NGOs also organized a press conference on September 4 at the Vienna
Centre. Click
here for WILPF's statement to the press.
Outcome
Negotiations on the Final
Document (CTBT – Art.XIV/2003/CRP.1/Rev.1) kept the Committee
of the Whole in closed session until late in the evening on Thursday
4, September. Inside sources indicate that Israel was the stick
in the mud who would not, could not, should not agree to the draft
language which had been proposed. On the final day of the conference,
States Parties commended South Africa for its work in helping States
reach an amicable solution and come to consensus. The Final Document,
however, was weaker than many had hoped.
Friday’s statements mirrored the dissatisfaction with the
weakness of the Final Document. South Africa’s statement noted
“these Conferences are convened at the request of the majority
of States that have already deposited their instruments of ratifications
in respect of the Treaty, while States Signatories are invited to
attend as observers. The progress made at these Conferences should
not be subject to – or depend on – those States that
have not ratified the CTBT. In this regard my delegation remains
concerned that the Final Declarations of previous Conferences –
and indeed also of this present Conference – have not adequately
addressed the failure of the CTBT to enter into force.”
Although the recommendations listed in the Final Document were
not exceptionally strong, they did include a number of matters to
be considered, including establishing a trust fund- voluntarily
financed to support a Treaty outreach program- and appointing a
Special Representative to assist in the promotion of the entry into
force of the Treaty. Some of the more concrete recommendations included
the continuation of the Provisional Technical Secretariat to provide
States with legal assistance for ratification, and further cooperation
with NGOs and other elements of civil society to promote the EIF.
State Secretary of Sweden, Mr. Hans Dahlgren, bluntly summarized
the importance of this conference in his opening statement: “Additional
nuclear arms will not provide any additional security in the twenty-first
century. Nuclear weapons should be demolished and destroyed, wherever
they are. And the multilateral disarmament and non-proliferation
regime should be strengthened, not put at risk. That’s why
it is so vitally important that the Test Ban Treaty enters into
force, and that it does so now.”
-Susi Snyder, WILPF UN Office Director
Susi also delivered a
statement on behalf of WILPF at a press conference on September
4.
Click
here to read the WILPF statement text circulated at the conference.
For more information on the CTBT and the EIF Conferences, see:
http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/ctbt/ctbtindex.html.
2. First Committee News
The General Assembly First Committee on Disarmament and International
Security convenes October 6.
The Provisional Agenda can be downloaded by clicking
here and scrolling down.
Topics on the agenda include:
- Nuclear Weapon Free Zones
- the New Agenda Coalition
- Verification
- Negative Security Assurances
- Nuclear Testing
- Radiological Materials
- Nuclear Reductions
- Reports from various political bodies (including UNIDIR, the
Conference on Disarmament and the Disarmament Commission)
- Missiles
- Conventional Arms
- Biological Weapons
- Chemical Weapons
- Transparency in armaments
- General and Complete disarmament and
Disarmament and Development.
Stay updated on these issues and more by subscribing to Reaching
Critical Will's The First Committee Monitor, a weekly newsletter
published throughout the duration of the First Committee. The Monitor
is a collaborative effort between Reaching Critical Will, the Lawyers’
Committee on Nuclear Policy, Amnesty International, the Quakers
UN Office, and other NGOs. It will be available on the RCW website
in PDF and HTML. We also distribute it through a special email listserve,
in plain text, PDF, or HTML. If you would like to receive The Monitor
each week, send a message to 1comsubscribe@reachingcriticalwill.org,
indicating which format you would like to receive.
Reaching Critical Will now hosts a Calendar of Events throughout
the proceedings of the First Committee, available at: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/03cal.html.
If your organization or mission is hosting an event, please email
us to have your event posted on the calendar. Please include the
title of the event, date, time and location, as well as the contact
information for your organization.
September 2, 2003
There are three items in this September 2
News Advisory:
1) The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Conference on Facilitating
the Entry-Into-Force begins. Sign your organization on to the NGO
statement today!
2) Email list news
3) Countries on the IAEA agenda
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty
Organization will be hosting a Conference on Facilitating the Entry-Into-Force
of the CTBT this week, from September 3-5, in Vienna.
Over the past fifty years, NGOs and wise members of the diplomatic
community have worked tirelessly for the establishment of a nuclear
test ban. In 1996, the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva finally
negotiated a Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). Seven
years later, NGO efforts must concentrate on seeing the Treaty enter-into-force
(EIF).
An international group of NGOs have drafted
a collective statement to be delivered to the States Parties during
the morning session on September 5. We urge all NGOs to sign-on
to this statement available here: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/ctbt/NGOstatement2003.htm.
Please note that due to time constraints, the statement will be
shortened to a reading time of 10 minutes. The text of the statement
will be delivered to the Secretariat and the States Parties in its
entirety.
The EIF of the Treaty relies solely upon the signature and ratification
of the 44 “Annex II” countries with nuclear energy capabilities.
At the time of this EIF Conference, 12 of those 44 countries have
yet to ratify. (See list below). One of them, the United States
of America, is even boycotting the conference, as they did at the
last EIF Conference in 2001- the only signator to do so.
If your country is one of the 12 hold-out states, it is important
that you write to them and urge them to ratify. Make an appointment
to speak with a representative at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
(or equivalent) and encourage the Foreign Minister to attend the
conference and publicly urge the CTBT hold out states to promptly
ratify the Treaty.
To contact your government's mission, see
RCW's Governmental
Database.
Stay updated on what your government does
or does not say on our CTBT
page. In addition, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization
will be posting all official documents on
their site in real time.
If you and your organization would like to sign on to this statement,
please send all relevant information to Professor
Thomas Schoenfeld of the Vienna NGO Committee on Disarmament
and International Security.
For more information on the CTBT, visit:
The Acronym
Institute
The Arms Control
Association
Coalition
to Reduce Nuclear Dangers
International Physicians for the Prevention
of Nuclear War
Physicians
for Social Responsibility
Reaching
Critical Will
Verification,
Research and Training Information Centre
CTBT Annex II States whose ratification is needed for entry-into-force
*indicates non-signator status
China
Colombia
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea*
Democratic Republic of Congo
Egypt
India*
Indonesia
Iran
Israel
Pakistan*
United States
Vietnam
2) Email List News
The Reaching Critical Will website now includes
brief descriptions on various web-based information services provided
by non-governmental organizations around the world. These groups
manage news wires, information archives, e-discussion fora and other
services for those interested in disarmament and non-proliferation,
nuclear weapons, arms trades, missiles, foreign policy, and regional
issues. The descriptions also include instructions on how to subscribe
to these invaluable services. See: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/lists/listindex.html.
As part of our efforts to enhance our own email news services, Reaching
Critical Will has finally finished upgrading our email program,
including a new, more easily manageable email address book. If you
are still receiving multiple News Advisories, please inform us and
the problem will be immediately corrected.
Furthermore, if you or your colleagues would
like to renew or update a subscription to any of the other RCW managed
email lists- including the CD or First Committee lists- send an
email to subscribe@reachingcriticalwill.org,
with the list name in the subject heading and your name and full
email address in the body of the message. Please indicate if you
would prefer HTML or Plain Text messages.
To read brief descriptions of the various
lists managed or used by RCW, visit: www.reachingcriticalwill.org/lists/listindex.html,
which also includes links to archived news advisories as well.
If we can improve our email services in any way, please submit comments
and questions to suggestions@reachingcriticalwill.org.
3) Countries on the IAEA agenda
Iran and Israel are items on the agenda at the next General Committee
meeting of the IAEA, to be held September 15-19 in Vienna.
This is the first time that the international atomic watchdog agency
will be discussing Israel’s nuclear arsenal, estimated by
US Intelligence Agencies to be around 75-150 weapons. Other groups
believe that Israel has close to 400. (For a brief history on the
Israeli nuclear program, see The
Federation of American Scientists fact sheet)
Iran, on the contrary, has been a top priority
at the IAEA since the surprise discovery of two advanced facilities
in Iran last year. Since Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei’s
trip to Iran in June, the IAEA has sent several teams to investigate
claims by the United States that Iran’s nuclear facilities
are a cover-up for a clandestine nuclear weapons program. On Tuesday,
August 26, IAEA inspectors found traces of highly enriched uranium
around the Natanz plant. The United States viewed the finding as
proof of the secret weapons program; Iran insists that the uranium
traces were there at the time of purchase.
Read
the AP article
Iran and Israel aren’t the only countries
the IAEA has been discussing. Last week in a German newspaper, Mr.
ElBaradei accused the United States of using “double standards”
in its nuclear non-proliferation policy. "The U.S. government
demands that other nations not possess nuclear weapons. Meanwhile,
it is arming itself," said Mr. ElBaradei.
Read
the full Reuters article on Mr. ElBaradei’s statements on
the U.S.
Read
the Provisional Agenda for the GC meeting
Best wishes,
Rhianna Tyson
Project Associate
July 25, 2003 (2)
Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors,
Normally, RCW sends out two email advisories per month and you
should have received the second July advisory this morning.
However, two alarming articles just crossed my desk, and I believe
that they merit as much dissemination as possible.
On July 3, Nucleonics Week reported that the Israeli Ministry of
Foreign Affairs threatened to attack the Natanz nuclear facility
if Iran completes its gas centrifuge facilities and begins enriching
uranium there. Just yesterday, a representative of Iran's Supreme
National Security Council announced that if their nuclear facilities
are attacked, Iran will become the second State Party to withdraw
from the nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.
The first article, featured in Nucleonics Week was published on
July 3. The second, a Reuters article, came out just yesterday,
July 24.
Best,
Rhianna Tyson
Project Associate
Reaching Critical Will
Officials Say Israel Will Destroy Natanz Plant if Iran
Operates It
Mark Hibbs, Bonn
Nucleonics Week, July 3, 2003, pg. 12
Senior officials representing Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs
last month privately confided to selected foreign government counterparts
that, if the Islamic Republic of Iran completes gas centrifuge facilities
at Natanz and begins enriching uranium there, Israel will embark
on a military operation to destroy it, according to highly reliable
European government sources.
The government of Israel declined to respond to formal requests
from Nucleonics Week to discuss its response to confirmation by
the IAEA of the Natanz facility and Iran's long-undeclared experimental
uranium processing program.
On June 13, the IAEA reported to the IAEA board of governors that
Iran is constructing two enrichment facilities at Natanz. One is
described by the IAEA as a pilot enrichment plant "nearing
completion of construction," and the second, a "large
commercial-scale fuel enrichment plant also under construction."
The IAEA also confirmed that Iran throughout the 1990s had carried
out a nuclear fuel cycle development program outside of IAEA safeguards.
Before and during the board meeting, IAEA Director General Mohammed
ElBaradei resisted pressure from the US to cite Iran for non-compliance
with Infcirc-214, its safeguards agreement, in connection with its
failure to report to the IAEA the import, movements, and processing
of UF4, UF6, and UO2. Since the board meeting, US and UK officials
have encouraged Iran to abide by Infcirc-214 and sign the Additional
Protocol for safeguards under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty
(NPT), which would provide more transparency about Iran's nuclear
program.
IAEA officials said that since early this year, Iran has been cooperating
with the IAEA in resolving outstanding issues and explaining violations
of its reporting requirements under Infcirc-214. Because of that,
he said, the IAEA would not pursue a confrontational approach to
resolve discrepancies and questions about Iran's program.
At the same time, some Western government officials involved in
preparing the board meeting said in May that speculation had arisen
whether Israel, which is not a member of the NPT and which in 1981
destroyed Iraq's French-supplied Osirak research reactor, would
once again attack a critical nuclear installation in a hostile neighboring
state.
Thus far, Israel has said nothing about its intentions in responding
to confirmation that Iran intends to enrich uranium at Natanz. The
Israel Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), well-placed sources said,
has instructed all personnel to say nothing in public about the
Iranian enrichment plant.
In May, Ephraim Asculai, a former AEC official, said in an article
written for the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies in Tel Aviv
that "nuclear verification is clearly failing in Rian, when
(the IAEA) let Iran proceed with its ambitious program. In any case,
it would be unable to deter or stop its development of nuclear weapons.
The verification mechanisms will fail by not being able to prove
anything, since intentions, particularly when based on legal actions,
are unverifiable."
Last month, Nucleonics Week requested comment on the Natanz plant
from both the Israel Ministry of Defense and the Israel Ministry
of Foreign Affairs. The query to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
was routed to the Office of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The Israeli
government did not respond to either request.
In statements intended to be confidential, high-level Israeli officials
stated unflinchingly that Israel will destroy Iran's uranium enrichment
infrastructure at Natanz if the plants are completed and begin operating.
Israeli officials "made very clear that in that case Israel
will destroy them," one official said.
In 1981, Israeli jet fighters bombed the Osirak reactor, then nearing
completion at Iraq's Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center, north of
Baghdad. That step was taken, according to former Israeli intelligence
officials, after Israeli agents in France assassinated an Iraqi
scientist involved in the project and tried to sabotage delivery
of equipment French industry had manufactured for the reactor. While
Iraq had agreed to declare the reactor under IAEA safeguards, evidence
which surfaced when IAEA began investigating Iraq's secret nuclear
program beginning in 1991 documented that Iraq had intended the
Osirak reactor to produce weapons-grade plutonium.
The Iranian enrichment facilities were declared to the IAEA in
February when ElBaradei and two senior IAEA safeguards officials
saw them for the first time. But they had been secret until disclosed
by an Iranian opposition group in August 2002. During the mid-1990s,
Iranian officials told Nucleonics Week that, on economic grounds,
Iran had no interest in developing an independent nuclear fuel cycle
(NW, 22 Feb.'96, 4). Six years later, the IAEA found advanced supercritical
centrifuges installed at Natanz.
Until revealed by the opposition group, Iran had never informed
the IAEA of its activities related to gas centrifuge uranium enrichment.
As early as 1991, however, the IAEA this spring confirmed, Iran
imported UO2, UF4, and UF6 and processed these without having informed
the IAEA, in violation of Infcirc-214.
The IAEA is continuing to discuss details of Iran's nuclear activities
with the Iranian government and is to report to the board again
on the subject in September. In the meantime, the IAEA has requested
that Iran not introduce any nuclear material into the Natanz centrifuges.
Israel's 1981 decision to destroy the Iraqi reactor was made by
then-prime minister Menachem Begin. Diplomatic sources in the Middle
East said that the country's current leader, Ariel Sharon, would
not hesitate to destroy the Natanz plants if he-- as did Begin in
1981-- concluded that step was necessary to prevent an enemy of
Israel from obtaining nuclear weapons material. Both Begin and Sharon
have led Israel's hard-line Likud bloc.
European officials also said last week that, if Iran intends to
begin enriching uranium in 2004 or 2005, the US administration under
George W. Bush would be inclined to support a unilateral attack
by Israel. Some of these officials also suggested that such a development
might be received by the IAEA Secretariat with mixed feelings including
some relief. They pointed out that Israel is outside the NPT, and
that destruction of the enrichment infrastructure would spare the
IAEA the potential political liability of monitoring fissile material
production in a country which, should it decide its security was
threatened or that doing so was otherwise opportune, might, like
North Korea did earlier this year, leave the NPT. That would leave
Iran, unfettered, with an infrastructure for producing significant
quantities of weapons-grade material.
Alternately, however, some observers, including Western officials
previously involved in IAEA inspections in Iraq, voiced concern
that an Israeli attack on Natanz might not succeed, since the Iranian
plants are in a bunkered facility and partially underground. While
Israel's attack on the Osirak reactor eliminated a large production-type
reactor, Iran's centrifuges are small and both the industrial template
and know-how for building them are likely to be highly protected
against attack. They also warned that, as in the case of Iraq in
1981, an Israeli attack on Natanz now would play into the hands
of Iranian leaders who favor speedy clandestine development of nuclear
weapons.
The Natanz enrichment site is about 1,700 kilometers east of Israeli
territory, within striking range of guided surface-to-surface missiles
or Israeli aircraft. The flight route to the target would cross
the middle of Allied-occupied Iraq.
Officials said that, while in 2002 and 2003 the Bush administration
was preoccupied with Iraq's alleged security threat, Israel pressed
the US instead to address the weapons threats posed by Iran. Were
the US to heed that advice and itself launch an attack against the
Iranian facilities, one Western government official said, US Defense
Secretary Donald "Rumsfeld could probably do it with a handful
of cruise missiles."
European officials last month however discouraged such speculation.
"It's too early to think about this option," one German
diplomat said. URL: http://www.platts.com
Iran will pull out of NPT if attacked- official.
July 24, 2003
TEHRAN, July 24 (Reuters)- A member of Iran's top security body
said Tehran would pull out of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
(NPT) if any of its nuclear facilities came under military attack,
a newspaper reported on Thursday.
"Because we have obtained the essential (nuclear) technology,
if they attack our facilities, we will withdraw from the NPT,"
the afternoon Kayhan daily quoted Ali Larijani, member of Iran's
Supreme National Security Council, as saying.
"If that case arose, our activities would go underground,"
Larijani, who is also head of Iran's state broadcaster IRIB- a position
which is appointed directly by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei-
said in a speech to university lecturers.
Iran insists its nuclear programme is aimed solely at generating
electricity.
But US officials have said they believe Iran is covertly trying
to develop atomic weapons. Some hardline US think-tanks have said
Washington may have to consider military strikes against some of
Iran's nuclear facilities to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear
power.
US and British officials have repeatedly said military action against
Iran, which lies between Iraq and Afghanistan, is not being contemplated
despite concerns about its nuclear ambitions.
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said earlier
this week Iran had no intention of pulling out of the NPT despite
calls from some hardline conservatives in the Islamic Republic to
do so.
Iran is under mounting pressure to agree to tighter UN inspections
of its nuclear facilities. Iran has said it may agree to the more
intrusive, no-notice checks if it is given access to Western technology
to advance its nuclear energy programme.
July 25, 2003 (1)
News Advisory
Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors,
With those of us in the northern hemisphere sweltering in the summer's
heat, the RCW team at WILPF is sending out this last news advisory
before many of you run off for your summer holiday.
In this Advisory:
I) Proliferation Security Initiative: Securing Proliferation
II) Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Article XIV Conference NGO information
III) Commemorating Hiroshima and Nagasaki, August 2003
In addition, many of you were probably surprised, confused, or
amused when you all received an email from "mrk@clarku.edu,"
which included a dinner invitation addressed to me. That email,
obviously from a personal friend, contained a weird, isolated virus
that somehow forwarded this email to everybody on the Reaching Critical
Will list. I am sure that none of your computers were harmed by
this little email, but just in case, please run your virus scanners
thoroughly as soon as possible. And please accept both my, and "mrk's"
humble apologies.
Best wishes,
Rhianna Tyson
Project Associate
Reaching Critical Will
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
I) Proliferation Security Initiative: Securing Proliferation
Disarmament circles have been abuzz recently with news of the Proliferation
Security Initiative (PSI), a mechanism designed to formalize arrangements
between eleven countries to interdict ships in air, on land, and
on the high seas that are suspected of carrying weapons of mass
destruction, their delivery vehicles, and other weapons materials.
Since May, when Bush first announced the initiative in Krakow, Poland,
the eleven countries have met twice: on June 12 in Madrid, Spain,
and most recently in Brisbane, Australia, on July 9-10. According
to U.S. Under-Secretary of State John Bolton, the project is evolving
³at light speed,² and naval exercises of the initiative
are scheduled for as early as September of this year. To read the
full statement of the Chairman of the meeting, click here: http://www.acronym.org.uk/docs/0307/doc04.htm
The initiative was motivated when, in December of last year, Spain
interdicted a flagless ship on the high seas at the behest of the
United States, and discovered North Korean Scud missiles bound for
Yemen. The ship, however, was quickly released, as the interdicting
parties lacked any authority to seize or detain it.
Under the initiative, the eleven countries- including the U.S.,
the U.K., Spain, Japan, Australia, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal,
France and Germany- intend to detain and search all vessels thought
to be carrying WMD or related materials. There are also plans to
deny overflight rights to "suspicious aircraft" and to
prohibit them from takeoff if they stop to refuel in the territory
of a member country.
There are also efforts to institutionalize the practice of ³escorting
down² aircrafts in question in order to be searched, although
this is regarded by some participants with apprehension.
Despite the reports from the Brisbane meeting that the group is
unified, cracks within the alliance are already appearing. South
Korea and Japan are reportedly nervous that PSI is overwhelmingly
focused on North Korea, an already volatile situation that threatens
their region with a nuclear exchange. Many of the Europeans are
suspected to eventually push PSI toward UN legitimacy, a direction
that the U.S. views most unfavorably. Still others remain dubious
of the project¹s credibility so long as China and Russia remain
outside of it. So far, neither country has demonstrated interest.
Some NGOs have already begun their campaigns to prevent the implementation
of PSI. In early July, the Australian group Just Peace, aware that
their government was about to host the second meeting on the venture,
publicly protested, calling the project ³vigilante attacks,²
warning that, Australia will be participating in an "international
kangaroo court justice."
There are a few laws whose reprinting here seems pertinent. Article
9 of the 1958 Convention on the High Seas states that, ³Ships
owned or operated by a State and used only on government non-commercial
service shall, on the high seas, have complete immunity from the
jurisdiction of any StateŠ² Article 22 explicitly instructs
that any ship ³which encounters a foreign merchant ship on
the high seas is not justified in boarding her unless there is reasonable
ground for suspecting: (a) that the ship is engaged in piracy; or
(b) that the ship is engaged in the slave tradeŠ²
The inter-state trade of missiles is thus legal, no matter how
morally repugnant all weapons of warfare may be. To the United States,
the incident over the North Korean missile deal to Yemen prompts
a response which has manifested as the Proliferation Security Initiative,
a practice that will inevitably promote more hostility among nations,
more suspicion, and decrease the world¹s reliability on the
United Nations, so long as that body continues to ignore this usurpation
of power. A more effective response to the December incident would
be to strengthen truly multilateral controls over the production,
distribution, and deployment of missiles and other delivery systems,
and place them under UN control and oversight. So long as states
are free to produce missiles at whim, efforts at controlling their
proliferation remain futile. Furthermore, militarized efforts at
combating another state¹s militarization will only escalate
any precarious peace between the countries. What happens if a plane,
not recognizing the self-endowed authority of the PSI, does not
so easily submit to being ³escorted down,² as envisioned
in the plan? The Initiative could then be the causus belli that
propels a global war.
Currently, the best legal framework for missiles is the insufficient
Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR); a non-binding, voluntary
group that would, at best, only control the spread of missiles and
missile technology, rather than work to halt production, prohibit
transfer, or criminalize their use and threat of use. For more information
on proposed missile legal regimes, see: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/missiles/missilesindex.html.
The U.S. administration recognized that it would be easier to manipulate
³inventive national law² (see CNS report, link below)
rather than seeking to alter existing international law. It should
not go unnoticed that the eleven participatory states- U.S., U.K.,
Spain, Japan, France, Germany, Australia, Italy, Netherlands, Poland
and Portugal- are eleven of the most wealthiest countries on the
planet. Equitable, global norms are once again underwritten by a
rule of law based on the interests of the powerful and wealthy.
For more information on PSI, see:
1) Weiner, Rebecca, ³Proliferation Security Initiative to
Stem Flow of WMD Matériel,² July 16, 2003: http://cns.miis.edu/pubs/week/030716.htm#fn1
2) The Chairman¹s Statement at the Brisbane meeting, http://www.acronym.org.uk/docs/0307/doc04.htm
3) Agence-France Presse, July 10, 2003
4) Testimony of John R. Bolton to the Committee on International
Relations, U.S. House of Representatives, June 4, 2003: www.house.gov/international_relations/108.
For relevant international law see:
1) Convention on the High Seas, April 28, 1958. http://www.un.org/law/ilc/texts/hseafra.htm
2) Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety
of Maritime Navigation, March 10, 1988. http://www.imo.org/Conventions/contents.asp?topic_id=259&doc_id=686
II) Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Article XIV Conference NGO information
The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) will be
holding a conference on the Treaty¹s Entry-Into-Force in Vienna,
September 3-5, 2003. Any non-governmental organization that wishes
to attend the Conference must fill out the appropriate application
form, which is available at: www.ctbto.org. (Click on Conference
on Facilitating the Entry Into Force, and then click on Information
for NGOs.) You must send this application, along with a letter stating
the names of your NGO representatives in attendance, to Mr. Christian
Evertz at Christian.Evertz@ctbto.org.
On Friday, September 5, the NGOs are allowed to present a collective
statement to the States Parties. There is already a working listserve
through which the NGOs are drafting, circulating, and editing this
statement, in hopes of obtaining as many signatories as possible.
If you would like to participate in drafting this statement, notify
me and I will send you the information on how to subscribe to this
listserve.
The WILPF UN office¹s new Co-Director, Susi Snyder, will be
attending the conference, and will be collecting all statements
circulated to post on our website. All documents from this conference,
as well as the conference in 2001, are available at: www.reachingcriticalwill.org/ctbt/ctbtindex.html.
All NGOs can direct their questions to of the three NGO contact
persons:
Rhianna Tyson, WILPF: rhianna@reachingcriticalwill.org
Aaron Tovish, NGO Committee on Disarmament, Geneva: aaron.tovish@bluewin.ch
Thomas Schoenfeld, NGO Committee on Peace, Vienna: Thomas.Schoenfeld@univie.ac.at
3) Commemorating Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Never Again
On August 6 and August 9, cities all over the world will hold events
to commemorate the 58th anniversaries of the atomic bombings of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The anniversaries are opportunities for
us to mourn, reflect, and to re-dedicate ourselves to the abolition
of nuclear weapons, to ensure that the atrocities befallen on those
fated cities will never again be repeated.
New Yorkers will mourn with their Japanese sisters and brothers
at a vigil in Central Park, organized by the Peace Boat and the
Hague Appeal for Peace.
Oklahomans will protest the Pentagon in Omaha, where the Strategic
Command will meet to discuss the development and uses for the new
Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator and other bunker busters.
Californians will unite in their opposition against nuclear weaponry,
by linking hands around the Livermore Laboratory.
Students will march to Oak Ridge Tennessee to peacefully protest
the Y-12 National Security Complex.
The World Conference Against A&H Bombs will hold its annual
meeting to strategize on the abolition of these weapons.
In Scotland, Trident Ploughshares is hosting a week-long Disarmament
Camp, to train concerned citizens in effective disarmament activism.
Others will bicycle from Czech Republic through Germany and Paris,
flying to North America to bike from Montreal, Ottawa, Washington,
and then to New York, before flying again to Japan to bike from
Tokyo to Hiroshima, in a global demonstration of solidarity and
commitment to nuclear disarmament.
For more information on these events and others see: www.reachingcriticalwill.org/disarmcal03.html.
For events across the United States, see: www.ananuclear.org/HiroshimaDays2003.html.
May 27, 2003
The 2003 NPT PrepCom: One Week Later
Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors,
The 2003 Preparatory Committee nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
has come and gone. The Reaching Critical Will website features all
of the available documents to have emerged from the conference,
including:
- the
Chairman’s Factual Summary
- official
statements
- working
papers
- NGO
presentations
- and the daily NGO newsletter, the News
in Review.
The final edition of the News in Review is attached to this email
as a PDF document.
The front page article, “This is What Reporting Looks Like:
Assessing the Chairman’s Factual Summary,” is featured
below.
All information related to the NPT, including text of the treaty,
the 2000 Review Conference Final Document (the 13 Steps) , and other
documents from previous PrepComs and RevCons can be found at: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/npt/nptindex.html
The 2003 edition of the Shadow Report has also been uploaded to
the RCW site, which includes a new
chapter on Nuclear Weapons States’ compliance with the 13 Steps.
http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/npt/shadowreport/NWScompliance.pdf
Also included below is Under-Secretary for Disarmament Jayantha
Dhanapala’s Farewell Speech, delivered at a reception organized
by the Hague Appeal for Peace, May 13, 2003.
Best wishes,
Rhianna Tyson
Project Associate
Reaching Critical Will
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
1) “This Is What Reporting Looks Like: Assessing the Chairman’s
Factual Summary.”
The 2003 Preparatory Committee for the Nuclear Non-proliferation
Treaty has convened and dispersed, leaving behind a stack of predictable
statements, a dozen or so working papers on proposed courses of
action to strengthen the non-proliferation regime, and, of course,
a “Factual Summary” written by the Hungarian delegation
which chaired the meeting. (As always, all available documents can
be downloaded at www.reachingcriticalwill.org/npt/nptindex.html.)
How factual was the Factual Summary? Well, the majority of States
Parties seem to be satisfied with it at least. In order to avoid
hefty criticism upon delivery of the Summary, Chairman Mólnár
consulted with what has been referred to as “key delegations”
in the preparation of the Summary. The result was a rather weak,
diluted report on the proceedings of the two weeks. The 19 States
Parties that publicly responded to the Summary (China, the United
States, Russia, Greece on behalf of the European Union, France,
the United Kingdom, New Zealand on behalf of the New Agenda Coalition,
Ireland, Syria, Egypt, Germany, Brazil, Malaysia, Japan, Australia,
Iran, Cuba, South Korea, and Uzbekistan) had relatively few qualms
with the 10 page text, preferring stronger wording here or there,
expressing disappointment with insufficient attention to their issue
of choice, or, in the case of Ambassador de la Fortelle, calling
for more Francophonic participation. For a complete summary of the
responses, see Rebecca Johnson’s article at: http://www.acronym.org.uk/npt/index.htm
(Excerpts are also reprinted here on page 2).
A fair, balanced, accurate, and, most importantly, useful Chairman’s
Factual Summary should reflect the diversity of opinion, hopes,
efforts, and politics that were expressed and exercised at the PrepCom.
The Summary should be viewed as a transparency measure for the world,
an unbiased window into the opaque proceedings. It should look not
only at what issues were discussed, but it should also expose the
position taken by each country on the issues. What arguments were
brought up in the defense of a proposal? What arguments were given
against it, and by whom? People have a right to ask: what is my
country doing for non-proliferation and disarmament, and why?
Granted, the task of compiling a summary of deliberations between
nearly 200 states is an extremely daunting task, that only an uber-diplomat
could even dare to tackle. In full agreement with the 19 states
that responded, NGOs recognize what an enormous challenge the Summary
is, and we applaud Ambassador Mólnár for his efforts.
Nonetheless, the NGOs following the PrepCom in Geneva felt that
the text did not accurately reflect the arguments that had been
presented. A balanced and accurate reporting of the States Parties’
dialogue would enlighten readers to the politics behind each State
Party’s position on the issues. Paragraph 21, for instance,
reads that “Many States Parties recalled that regular reports
should be submitted by all States Parties…It was stressed that
such reporting would promote increased confidence in the overall
nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty regime through transparency. It
was also expressed that such transparency provides valuable means
to address and respond to compliance concerns. States parties recognized
the value of reports and used them in substantive deliberation,
in line with their wish for enhanced interaction.” This summary
statement lacks any mention of the adamant position of some States
Parties against standardizing such a vehicle for transparency and
confidence-building.
The lengthy paragraph 29 on Negative Security Assurances (NSAs),
likewise, fails to reflect the position of states like the U.S.
and U.K. against codifying NSAs. The effect again is that a reader
is left ignorant of the obstacles facing such codification. As a
result of the Summary’s failure to incorporate the reservations
expressed against codifying this important confidence-building measure
(CBM), it seems as though agreement was reached, and that Non-Nuclear
Weapon States (NNWS) will have their NSA any day now.
Other paragraphs are misleading in other ways. Paragraph 2, for
instance, portrays a unanimous commitment to non-proliferation via
the 13 Steps that, quite frankly, is just not true. The paragraph
states that “States Parties stressed their commitment to the
effective implementation of the objectives of the Treaty, the decisions
and the resolution of the… Final Document of the 2000 Review
Conference…” The U.S., for one, is not committed to the
2000 Review Conference final document, as it repeatedly asserts.
Prior to the start of the PrepCom, many people were anticipating
the DPRK’s withdrawal to be a major issue discussed in Geneva.
Yet from reading the Summary, one would conclude that it was indeed
a minor, barely mentioned issue. The sole reference to the DRPK
lacks any mention of the U.S. and its reneged obligations (both
Article VI and Agreed Framework promises) in the reference to the
DPRK withdrawal. If States Parties were hoping to lure the DPRK
back to the NPT family, exonerating the U.S. by ignoring the role
that it played in the withdrawal was surely detrimental to the cause.
There was, however, one other legacy of the 2003 Preparatory Committee.
In addition to the statements, working papers, and Factual Summary,
the NGOs left behind a renewed commitment to better influence the
NPT process. Of course, the NGOs were predictably, audibly disappointed
with the lack of a unified outrage amongst NNWS toward for recent
U.S. proliferation. Where was the condemnation of the US’s
blatant vertical proliferation? After the joviality that accompanied
and followed Vice-Chair Salander’s musical close to the conference,
(this year it was a Frank Sinatra rendition) one NGO representative
stood helplessly near the entrance of the room, shouting, “When’s
the crying session start? Hello!? When do we collectively cry?”
No, we will not collectively weep over the lack of progress, substantial
commitments, or objectionable retreat from disarmament commitments.
We will simply harness the energy spawned amongst ourselves and
a few likeminded States Parties, and formulate it into an effective
strategy for next year, when a representative from the Non-Aligned
Movement will chair the proceedings, and consensus-based recommendations
will arise for the 2005 Review Conference. We will continue demonstrating
for the State Parties what transparency looks like through continued
advocacy for reporting and production of the NGO Shadow Report.
We will continue demonstrating for them what democracy looks like,
through a significantly increased NGO presence in New York, and
an increase of citizens’ weapons inspections around the world.
We will continue building bridges between the States Parties and
the people whom they purport to represent, by widely expanding our
disarmament education projects and initiatives. We will continue
educating governments and peoples about the horrors of nuclear weaponry
testing, and energy industries.
There’s no time for tears; we have a lot of work to do. And
distinguished delegates, we’ll see you in eleven months.
Rhianna Tyson
Reaching Critical Will
WILPF
2) Text of Mr. Dhanapala’s speech at the NGO Farewell Reception
Organized by the Hague Appeal for Peace,
Lawyers Committee for Nuclear Policy and
the NGO Committee on Disarmament, Peace and Security
New York
13 May 2003
Dearest Cora, my friends in the NGO community, Excellencies, Ladies
and Gentlemen,
May I begin by saying how overwhelmed with emotion Maureen and I
are by this heart-warming gesture of the NGO community, led by the
redoubtable and remarkably dynamic Cora Weiss, whose Hague Appeal
for Peace remains a beacon in the peace and disarmament field. I
had originally planned to speak from the heart and without a script,
as befits an informal occasion like this. After some reflection,
however, I decided that there was a real danger that the heart may
take over completely. And so, in order that I may speak to you both
from my heart and my head - which on most occasions reach a consensus
with the intervention of the keeper of my conscience, my wife -
I have decided not to engage in the "unscripted reactivity"
that I have recently been witness to at the NPT Prepcom in Geneva
but rather to speak from a script. This will ensure that in an emotionally
charged occasion for me, I will still be able to share some thoughts
based on my experience of working in the United Nations.
It is entirely appropriate, and not without significance, that one
of my final statements in New York, in my present capacity, should
be made under the aegis of the Non-governmental organizations. For,
as I have often said, the NGOs have been the wind under my wings
- especially during the last five years when some may have wanted
to clip those wings! Like the United Nations, civil society transcends
the parochialism of narrow national interests. And like the Pope,
in Stalin's famous riposte, civil society has no armed divisions.
As a former resident of Geneva I recall the seductive advertisement
of a Swiss bank at the Geneva Airport, which read "Money talks,
but wealth whispers". In a realpolitik-soaked United Nations
power speaks but influence lingers. And so, long after the headlines
of wars and crises fade away and the short attention span of Governments
and the media move on to other issues, what the value-based NGOs
have said and done will linger in the consciences of us all.
Like the United Nations, the NGOs do not represent the national
interest of any one country or group of countries, however powerful,
rich, or indispensable they may consider themselves to be. They
represent the collective, non-sectarian global interests of the
peoples of the world, which is more, much more, than the sum total
of the national interests of the nation states of the world. That
cannot please the jingoists and the proponents of civilizational
supremacy. Civil society challenges the monopoly claim of governments
- especially the unelected and undemocratic ones - to be the sole
interpreters of the national interests of their people. NGOs support
the transcendental values of global society. They represent civil
society and express global public opinion, which both Secretary-General
Kofi Annan and the New York Times have described as the other super-power.
But, to continue to exert that invaluable influence, civil society
must not only keep governments and the United Nations honest and
faithful to their ideals and their mandates. It must also remain
honest to itself - uncorrupted by pressures of power politics, the
lure of being sub-contracted by powerful interest groups or being
seduced subtly by individual ego-trips. Let me use this platform
to urge once again for the NGOs in the disarmament field the same
rights and privileges that are extended, for example, to those in
the human rights field. This includes participation in debates and
full access to delegations and documents. The voice of NGOs must
be heard in all disarmament fora however inconvenient and awkward
it may be to some governments. As we have seen in Geneva at the
last NPT Prepcom, the NGOs have a wealth of ideas, proposals and
research findings to bring to the table. There should be no artificial
obstruction preventing this wealth from being more amply articulated.
Rules of Procedure are not set in concrete. They can be changed
- they must be changed - for us all to advance the cause of multilateral
disarmament.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I recall that when I assumed my functions
as Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament, I said, in one of my
first statements to the NGO community, that I sought neither to
build empires nor to engage in turf battles. I hope that now, at
the end of my tenure, I will be judged to have been honest in maintaining
that pledge. It has not been easy, however, to conduct the affairs
of the smallest department in |
