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General E-News Advisories
2004
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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"
December 9
1) RCW analysis of the report of
the High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change
December 1
1) Invitation to
participate in an NGO Strategy E-Discussion on the NPT Review Conference
2) NGO Presentations
3) Countdown to the
NPT Calendar
4) Vertical proliferation
wins and losses
5) IAEA-Iran update
November 22
1) First Committee
Monitor: Final Edition
2) Countdown to
the NPT Calendar
3) Happy holidays
to RCW
4) The IAEA on Nuclear
Terrorism
October 22
1) Action Alert:
Support the New Agenda Coalition!
2) First Committee
Resources
October 14
1) Action Alert:
NGO participation at the First Committee
i. ALERT
NGOs!
ii.
Sample Letter
iii.
Suggested list of experts (unconfirmed)
2) First
Committee Monitor, No. 1: October 4-8, 2004
September 23
1) Disarmament
Index Now Online
2) NPT Strategy
Session, October 8
3) "Nuclear
Disarmament: What NOW?" - an updated educational booklet from
RCW
4) Contextualizing
Past, Present and Future Challenges to the NPT
5) Excerpts on
Disarmament and Nonproliferation from the Secretary-General Report
to the General Assembly
6) Statement by
the New Agenda Coalition on Disarmament and Nonproliferation
September 15
1) Conference on
Disarmament 2004 Session Closes
2) General Debate
Disarmament Index
3) General Assembly
First Committee
4) Update on Security
Council Resolution 1540
5) Event: Reaching
Critical Will is Honored in New York City
6) Abolition Now!
Campaign
August 20
1) General Assembly
First Committee on Disarmament and International Security update
and info for NGOs
2) Invitation to
participate in the NGO Working Group on the First Committee
3) Resources on
missiles, missile defense, and the prevention of an arms race in
outer space
August 4
1) US announces policy
on FMCT
2) Invitation to NGOs
to participate in UN General Assembly First Committee working group
3) Cardoso Panel Report:
tools for NGOs
4) Biological Weapons
Convention Second Meeting of Experts Adjourns
5) New resource on gender
and disarmament
July 14
1) New look
for the RCW website!
2) New FMCT resource
page
3) Updated CD resources
4) Biological and Toxin
Weapons Convention
5) SALW Week of Action
6) Nuclear Summer
June 14
1) G-8 Action
Plan on Non-Proliferation
2) PSI's one year anniversary
3) United States and Russia unveil new
nonproliferation initiative
May 20
1) NPT Resources at RCW
- statements
- reports and working papers
- NGO presentations
- Post PrepCom Analysis
- Summary of Issues under the NPT
- News in Review Archive
2) NGO Shadow Report:
Accountability is Democracy, Transparency is Security
3) Conference on Disarmament
Second Session Begins
4) Fundraising Update
5)"A Higher Wager"-
excerpt from Final Edition of the News in Review
April 21
1) NGO Registration
2) NGO Orientation
3) NGO Presentations
4) NGO Resource
Center
5) NGO Shadow Report
6) WILPF Events
April 7
1) The
United Nations Disarmament Commission Postpones 2004 Session
2) NGOs and the
Security Council Draft Resolution on Non-Proliferation
3)
New Conference on Disarmament resource from Reaching Critical Will
4) "Contextualizing
the NPT," a Report for Non-Nuclear Weapon States Party to the
NPT
5) NGO Morning Strategy
Sessions at the NPT Rescheduled
March 24
1) NPT Checklist
2) CD First Session
Ends
3) UNDC Scheduled
to Begin
4) This is What
Reporting Looks Like
5)
Mr. ElBaradei Goes to Washington
March 2: NPT Update #2
1)
Registration for the PrepCom is now open
2)
Office Space for NGOs participating in the PrepCom
3)
News in Review submissions
4)
Calendar of NGO events
5)
Housing for NGO representatives at the PrepCom
6)
Nuclear Testing: Then and Now
February 13: NPT Update #1
1) Invitation to
the 2004 NPT PrepCom
2) NGO Registration
3) What can we hope
to achieve?
4) NGO Statements
to the delegates
5) Housing Options
for NGO representatives
6) News in Review:
the daily NGO newsletter
7) What can I do
if I can't go to New York?
8)
Women's Caucus at the NPT
9) Links for more
information
January 29
1) Reaching Critical
Finances: a call for donations and a benefit concert
2)
News in Review subscriptions
3)
The Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission commences work
*****************************************************************
December 9
Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors,
Please find below a short analysis of the nuclear disarmament assessments
and recommendations contained in the report from the Secretary-General's
High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change. The analysis
has been prepared to provide some background to the recommendations
and offer support and critique where appropriate.
This assessment can also be viewed on our website here: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/highlevelpanel.html.
You can download a printable version of the report at: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/highlevel.pdf.
The original report, "A More Secure World: Our shared responsibility,"
is available here: http://www.un.org/secureworld/.
Best wishes,
Rhianna Tyson
Project Manager
December 1
Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors,
The first of December signifies a lot: colder weather is now upon
us (in the northern hemisphere), there are holiday gifts to get,
families to visit, New Year's plans to make and, most importantly,
only five months left of preparation for the Seventh Review Conference
of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty!!
This is the first in a series of NPT-focused updates from Reaching
Critical Will. Over the coming months, more important information
regarding your participation at the Review Conference will be disseminated
through this subscription service, including information on housing,
registration, accreditation, side events and other opportunities
for you and your organization to get your views across.
Of course, there are other events outside of the NPT framework to
look out for, so we included a few other news items at the bottom.
In this advisory:
- Invitation to participate in an NGO Strategy E-Discussion on
the NPT Review Conference
- NGO Presentations
- Countdown to the NPT Calendar
- Vertical proliferation wins and losses
- IAEA-Iran update
Also, tomorrow the General Assembly will begin to take action
on the resolutions adopted by the First Committee. Be sure to check
RCW's First
Committee page to view the results of the GA voting.
As always, we welcome all comments, questions and concerns. We also
welcome all tax-free donations made to the Reaching Critical Will
project. The General E-News Service and the other services from
Reaching Critical Will cannot continue without your support! Please
consider a donation today and visit: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/about/donate.htm
to make a secure on-line payment.
Best wishes,
Rhianna Tyson
Project Manager
1. Invitation to participate in an NGO
Strategy E-Discussion on the NPT Review Conference
The achievements of the 2000
Review Conference have been ignored, undermined or, in some
cases, even denied.
Nuclear proliferation, both vertical and horizontal, continues to
threaten our global security.
The third
Preparatory Committee of the NPT failed to agree on any recommendations
for the Review Conference, ensuring a rough start to what will surely
be a difficult month of negotiations next May.
With all of this in mind, all NGOs concerned with disarmament and
nonproliferation must come to the Seventh Review Conference with
a solid, effective and coherent strategy in mind.
RCW will be launching an E-Discussion
for NGOs to strategize around the seventh Review Conference.
This e-forum will be moderated by RCW and will run from January
10th until April 1st, 2005. We invite all NGOs to participate in
this discussion.
In this E-Discussion, we will be framing our discussion around specific
questions such as:
- What are our demands and expectations from the Conference?
- What types of proposals will be coming from our governmental allies
and how do we best support them?
- What will be the Nuclear Five's strategy and how do we best counter
it?
- What is our media strategy?
- What kind of side events (panels, workshops, seminars) do we want
to convene?
- How can civil society best amplify their messages so that they
are heard by our representatives?
Over the next few months, NGOs and governments will be holding an
array of preparatory meetings around the world. (See Item 4. below)
Others will be engaging in a grassroots campaign with students and
other peace and justice groups to try to bring their attention to
the Review Conference. We encourage participants to the E-Discussion
to offer the various findings, questions, conclusions and salient
points that were raised at these meetings and events.
At the end of each week, participants will receive a summary of
the main points raised and discussed.
This forum is for the purposes of strategizing only. It is not to
be used as a news-list nor to hold two- or three-way conversations.
Join the discussion today by sending an email to: NPTstrategy-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
2. NGO Presentations
Each year, NGOs are allowed one, three-hour long session to present
their views to the delegates at the Review Conference. You can read
last year's presentations at: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/npt/prepcom04/NGOpres.html
Some NGOs are already thinking about this year's crop of NGO presentations.
In previous years, Reaching Critical Will has coordinated the presentations
process. First, ideas for presentations were brainstormed, debated,
and finally selected over conference calls, meetings, email listserves,
and web-based information. Then, several NGOs volunteered to comprise
each presentation’s drafting committee, headed up by one convenor,
who was responsible for writing the drafts. Each of the drafts was
submitted to the group at large, whereby every NGO was invited to
comment, critique, and edit. After months of international conference
calls, wrangling on-line and in person, the drafts were finalized
and the presenters were chosen from a wide group of experts.
This year, some NGOs are exploring alternative ways of getting our
message of disarmament across. Some of these ideas include:
- A "speech competition". All civil society participants
would be invited to submit a 5-8 minute long statement to a "high-level"
panel of expert writers, poets and journalists. The winning 10
speeches would be selected by this committee.
- A "radio play". In this scenario, all or part of the
three hours designated to NGO presentations would be delivered
in a dramatic, play-reading style. The "play" would
incorporate the issues and points that the NGO community wants
to make, but in a more exciting, entertaining and media-grabbing
way.
- Mayors for Peace would deliver some or all of the presentations.
Statements would be drawn up in the same way as they were in the
past, but read out loud by celebrities, youth, or other big-name
peace advocates.
- Inviting youth from around the world to deliver their own messages.
- Utilizing the same process as the years past but forgoing the
usual themes of health risks, missile proliferation and the like,
focusing instead on a more grassroots message so as to alert the
world's governments of the growing popular movement against nuclear
weapons.
Regardless of the approach that we take this year, we must go to
great lengths to ensure the broadest possible range of participants.
We invite all interested NGOs to participate in a global conference
call Tuesday, December 14th, at 12 PM EST (9 AM west coast, 5 PM
London, 6 PM Paris, 6 AM {Wednesday}Wellington and so forth.) All
participants must cover their own cost for the phone call.
Call in#: +1 (641) 497-7200
Access code: 382902#
Please RSVP to Rhianna if you will be able to join the call. A reminder
to all RSVPed participants will go out a few days prior to the call.
3. Countdown to the NPT
Calendar
Groups, governments and grassroots coalitions are meeting in dozens
of places at dozens of times throughout these next few months, all
for the singular purpose of maximizing progress at the Review Conference.
In order to keep track of it all, RCW has created a "Countdown
to the NPT Calendar", now available at: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/npt/NPTcal.html.
If you or your organization is holding its own NPT-focused event,
contact us today and have your event posted on the calendar. Be
sure to include the event title, description, location and contact
information.
4. Vertical proliferation wins and
losses
While NGOs are scurrying with their NPT preparations, some governments
are busying with their own proliferation plans.
This week, Russia successfully conducted a successful test of an
"anti-missile missile" at the Sary-Shagaz testing grounds
in Kazakhstan. This missile test comes just weeks after President
Putin boasted of Russia's plans to develop "next-generation
nuclear missile", believed to be a modified Topol-M.
Meanwhile on the other side of the northern hemisphere, the US Congress
slashed funding for its own vertical proliferation programs. The
FY05 Omnibus Appropriations bill deleted all funds for the Robust
Nuclear Earth Penetrator (RNEP) and for the "Advanced Concepts
Initiative" on new low-yield nuclear weapons. These cuts are,
as Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) called, "a consequential
victory for those of us who believe the United States sends a wrong
signal to the rest of the world by reopening the nuclear door and
beginning testing and development of a new generation of nuclear
weapons."
But, as some in the peace and security community have pointed out,
the fight in the US is far from over. The Washington Times ran an
editorial, "Nuke Rep. Hobson's bill," saying "[t]his
wrong decision needs to be reversed promptly..."
(See http://www.washingtontimes.com/functions/print.php?StoryID=20041126-085502-5675r)
These cuts can still be reserved in the supplemental appropriations
bill, expected to be submitted with the regular budget on February
7.
Read more about Russia's vertical proliferation here:
http://www.mosnews.com/news/2004/11/29/antimissile.shtml
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/11/17/russia.putin/index.html
and about the US budget cut here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5554-2004Nov22.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/23/politics/23nuke.html?adxnnl=1&oref=login&adxnnlx=1101243099-asx3COCu1WfZgvvu/AcGeg
Read more about what all of the Nuclear Five are and are not doing
to live up to the agreements reached at the 2000 Review Conference
of the NPT here: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/npt/shadowreport/13steps.pdf
5. IAEA-Iran Update
On Nov 28, the IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei received
a letter from Iran, declaring its intention to place 20 sets of
centrifuge components under IAEA surveillance. These 20 sets had
been the one exception to the Agency's surveillance capability over
the Iranian nuclear programs. This agreement was the product of
the negotiations between Iran, France, Germany and the UK (with
support from the High Representative of the EU) reached on November
7, whereby Iran agreed to freeze its uranium enrichment program.
This agreement is now contained in document INFCIRC 637.
On Monday, November 29th, the IAEA Board of Governors passed a
resolution which, inter alia, emphasizes that Iran's suspension
of its enrichment and reprocessing facilities "is a voluntary,
non-legally-binding, confidence building measure, to be verified
by the Agency". On Tuesday, Iran's top nuclear official, Hassan
Rowhani, remarked that Iran's concession did not signify an abandonment
of its enrichment and reprocessing facilities, but only a suspension
of them for “several months”.
Mr. Rowhani also stated that "(t)he suspension (of enrichment
activities) will be limited to the negotiation period with Europe
and not beyond. In case negotiations cease or are unsuccessful,
there will not be any sort of suspension."
In a statement on Monday, ElBaradei said that "should the
suspension not be fully sustained, or should the Agency be prevented
from verifying all elements of the suspension," the Director-General
will notify the Board for possible further action, which could include
action by the Security Council.
For more on the IAEA-Iran Update, see: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/09/29/world/main646227.shtml
Full coverage from the IAEA: http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/Focus/IaeaIran/index.shtml
The IAEA Board Resolution: http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Documents/Board/2004/gov2004-90_derestrict.pdf
The Director-General statement: http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/Statements/2004/ebsp2004n017.html
************************************************
November 22
Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors,
Now that the General Assembly First Committee on Disarmament and
International Security has come to a close, it is now time to set
our sights on the big prize ahead: the nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty Seventh Review Conference, to be held in New York, May 2-27,
2005. RCW and the entire global disarmament community have big plans
in the works- be sure to keep checking RCW for all updates pertaining
to this all-important conference.
In this advisory:
1) First Committee Monitor: Final Edition
2) Countdown to the NPT Calendar
3) Happy holidays to RCW
4) The IAEA on Nuclear Terrorism
As always, we welcome all comments, questions or concerns you may
have regarding the General E-News service or any other service provided
by Reaching Critical Will. Send all comments to: info@reachingcriticalwill.org.
WILPF strongly supports the wide dissemination of all of RCW's news
services. A copy of this message, and all other General E-News Advisories,
can be found on our site at: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/action/Advisories04.html
Best wishes,
Rhianna Tyson
Project Manager
1) First Committee Monitor: Final Edition
You can now find on our website all five editions of the First
Committee Monitor, the weekly newsletter published by Reaching
Critical Will in collaboration with the NGO Working Group on the
First Committee. The Monitor offers independent views on
over a dozen of the most salient issues facing the First Committee,
including nuclear disarmament, small arms and light weapons, verification,
the New Agenda, missiles and more.
The Monitor was produced every Sunday night throughout
the five weeks of the General Assembly First Committee on Disarmament
and International Security. Over 800 subscribers around the world
received either the HTML or PDF version of the weekly report, and
each delegate to the Committee received a copy on Monday.
All archived editions of the Monitor are available at:
http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/FCM.html.
We urge all readers of the Monitor to fill out the easy-to-use questionnaire,
and let us know how you used the Monitor in your own work: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/questionnaire.htm
Click here to read the editorial Introduction from the final edition
of the Monitor, No. 5. Or check out the Final Edition in
its entirety, with articles on issues such as:
- Missiles
- Nuclear Disarmament
- Fissile Materials
- Terrorism
- Chemical and Biological Weapons
- Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space
- Disarmament and Development
- Conventional Weapons
- A New Agenda
- Negative Security Assurances
- Verification
- Disarmament Education
- Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
- Regional Issues
- Landmines
2) Countdown to the NPT Calendar
It seems that NGOs, think tanks, activists and governments are plotting
a thousand events over the next few months in order to make the
Seventh Review Conference of the NPT as successful as possible.
In the next few weeks, RCW will be tracking all of these events
and posting them on our new Countdown to the NPT Calendar. If you
or your organization will be hosting an NPT-related event, we urge
you to send us information ASAP. Be sure to include:
- the title of your event
- a brief description of your event
- contact information and website
- location of your event.
This Countdown Calendar will be up and running by the start of
the December holidays- just in time for you to make your travel
arrangements for the upcoming year.
3) Happy holidays to RCW
There are only six weeks left in 2004- only six weeks remaining
for you to give a much-needed, immeasurably appreciated, tax-free
donation to Reaching Critical Will.
WILPF created the Reaching Critical Will project to serve YOU- the
global community of disarmament experts, analysts and activists.
Only you understand how crucial the RCW project is to our community,
and now it is up to you- and only you- to save RCW and ensure our
continued services throughout the next important months.
Give yourself a holiday gift by considering a donation to Reaching
Critical Will today. A gift in the amount of $100, $500 or $1000
will ensure that RCW can follow through with our NPT plans, which
include:
- hosting an NPT Strategy Summit, February 2005
- facilitating an online NPT strategy discussion forum
- daily reporting in the News in Review
- publishing "Nuclear Disarmament: What Now?!"
- publishing an NPT Challenges Resource Guide
- publishing the 2005 edition of the NGO Shadow Report: Accountability
is Democracy, Transparency is Security
- coordinating the NGO presentations
- facilitating side events at the Conference
- organizing an NGO orientation session at the start of the Review
- holding daily briefings between NGOs and government delegations
and much, much more.
But none of this can happen without your vital support!! A donation
to Reaching Critical Will is an easy, powerful way to give support
to the entire international disarmament community as we prepare
to head in to the seventh Review Conference of the NPT.
We now have an easy-to-use PayPal account available on our site,
to make your credit card payment easier and safer. Just visit: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/about/donate.htm
Or, if you prefer, we also welcome checks made out to:
Jane Addams Peace Association
777 UN Plaza, 6th floor
New York, NY 10017
(Be sure to put RCW in the memo line of the check!)
As a Reaching Critical Will friend and advisor, we also encourage
you to introduce us and our work to other colleagues who might be
interested in becoming an RCW Friend and Advisor as well. After
all, they'd be in good company.
4) The IAEA on Nuclear Terrorism
Earlier this month, the International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General
Mohamed ElBaradei called for strengthened measures to keep nuclear
materials out of the hands of terrorists.
Below is an article from the UN News Service reporting on Mr. ElBaradei's
statement to the Asia-Pacific Conference on Nuclear Safeguards and
Security meeting in Sydney, Australia.
UN WATCHDOG URGES BETTER STEPS TO KEEP NUCLEAR MATERIAL OUT
OF TERRORIST HANDS
New York, Nov. 8 2004. 3:00PM
Declaring that the "threat of nuclear terrorism is real and
current," the head of the United Nations atomic watchdog today
called for urgent international measures to prevent radioactive
matter from falling into the hands of terrorists, citing increased
trafficking of nuclear or other radioactive materials as a "disturbing"
sign.
"The security of nuclear and other radioactive material
has taken on dramatically heightened significance in recent years,"
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Mohamed
ElBaradei told the Asia-Pacific Conference on Nuclear Safeguards
and Security meeting in Sydney, Australia.
"The events of September 2001 (terrorist attack on the
United States) propelled the rapid and dramatic re-evaluation of
the risks of terrorism in all its forms, whether related to the
security of urban centres, sports arenas, industrial complexes,
harbours and waterways, oil refineries, air and rail travel, or
nuclear and radiological activities," he said. "Nuclear
security should be urgently strengthened, without waiting for a
'watershed' nuclear security event to provide the impetus for needed
security upgrades."
Mr. ElBaradei said that "perhaps the most disturbing lesson
to emerge" from IAEA probes into recent nuclear programmes
in Iran and Libya was the existence of an extensive illicit market
for the supply of nuclear items which clearly thrived on demand.
"The relative ease with which a multinational illicit network
could be set up and operated demonstrates clearly the inadequacy
of the present export control system," he added, noting that
60 incidents of trafficking were reported in 2003 and the total
for this year will be even higher.
While the majority of these incidents did not involve nuclear
material and most radioactive sources involved were of limited concern,
the number showed that measures to control and secure nuclear and
other radioactive materials need to be improved. "They also
show that measures to detect and respond to illicit trafficking
are essential," Mr. ElBaradei said.
He called for better control of the sensitive parts of the
nuclear fuel cycle, namely the production of enriched uranium and
the reprocessing of plutonium essential elements in producing nuclear
weapons.
Who does possess indigenous capability for the full nuclear fuel
cycle? Who has enriched uranium and where is it? How much do they
have? How big are the existing plutonium stockpiles in the world?
Find out the answers to these and other questions relating to nuclear
terrorism in the NGO Shadow Report: Accountability is Democracy,
Transparency is Security, available at: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/npt/shadowreport/ngoshadrepindex.html.
************************************************
Rhianna Tyson
Project Manager
October 22
1) A call to support the New Agenda
Coalition resolution at the First Committee
The New Agenda Coalition (NAC), the group of seven States which
are primarily responsible for the drafting and successful adoption
of the 13 Practical Steps of the 2000 NPT Review Conference, has
put forth a new draft resolution this year, 59/L.22, "Accelerating
the implementation of nuclear disarmament commitments." You
can also find the resolution in Spanish and French, as well as English,
at www.lcnp.org.
All NGOs must contact your foreign ministries and missions in New
York and urge them to vote "yes" on the New Agenda resolution,
L.22. While all of the resolutions on disarmament deserve the fullest
support of civil society and the governments that represent them,
it is particularly important to amass as much support as possible
for the NAC resolution, as this year's version has a significant
chance of garnering support from key US allies, including NATO States.
The short, concise resolution is designed to obtain the maximum
amount of support heading into the 2005 NPT Review Conference, a
text that can unite the world's Non-Nuclear Weapon States in demanding
progress on disarmament. It lists priority areas where steps can
reasonably be taken by the Nuclear Weapon States prior to the Review
Conference. It could encourage action prior to the Conference, and
serve as a basis for assessment of compliance at the Review Conference.
In general, it is aimed at providing a focused means to highlight
and oppose the nuclear weapons states' flouting of the commitments
they made in 2000.
Last year, with the exception of Canada, which voted yes, NATO
countries, Japan, and Australia abstained. Civil society advocacy
in capitals could make a difference this year. It's needed soon
- the First Committee vote will likely come prior to November 2,
and ministers may be making a decision on how to vote as early as
this week. (See last year's voting results here: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/1com03/voting/L40WHOLE.pdf)
Please call, fax and email your representatives today!
If you have further questions, contact John Burroughs at Lawyers'
Committee on Nuclear Policy: johnburroughs@lcnp.org
2) Other First Committee resources
All draft resolutions are available at: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/1com04/res/resindex.html
All statements delivered at the Committee are available at: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/1com04/statements/statements.html
Archived First Committee Monitors, the weekly NGO publication on
the First Committee, are available at: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/FCM.html
Read press releases from the First Committee here: http://www.un.org/ga/59/first/press.shtml
Other non-papers and documentation are available here: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/1com04/docs/docs.html
*************************************************
October 14
In this advisory:
1) Action Alert: NGO participation at the First Committee
i. ALERT NGOs!
ii. Sample Letter
iii. Suggested list of experts (unconfirmed)
2) First Committee Monitor, No. 1: October 4-8, 2004
We encourage wide dissemination of this news advisory, especially
the NGO Action Alert. As always, this and all other RCW General
E-News Advisories can be found on our website, or by clicking on
"News" on the top of our homepage. We welcome all comments
and questions regarding this or any other service from Reaching
Critical Will.
Best,
Rhianna
1) Action Alert: NGO participation at the
First Committee
i. ALERT NGOs!!!
The issue of UN Reform is emerging as the hottest topic at this
year’s session of the UN General Assembly. At the First Committee
on Disarmament and International Security, a few proposals have
been put forth on ways to improve the First Committee, including
the United States, Argentina, China, Cuba, Mexico, New Zealand,
Norway, Sierra Leone, Switzerland, the European Union and the Non-Aligned
Movement.
The Chairman of the Committee, Ambassador Luis Alfonso de Alba (Mexico),
has also put forth his own informal proposal verbale, which would,
among other things, invite NGOs to address the Committee during
the thematic debate (beginning Monday October 18), according to
their area of expertise. For instance, during the thematic debate
on conventional weapons, NGOs would be allowed to make one short
statement after the Member States have delivered their interventions.
The statement would be short, concise, and provide a context for
the various draft resolutions. Following the NGO statement, Member
States would be invited to engage in a question and answer session
with the NGO speaker.
The NGO statement, as well as the following Q&A session, would
be held during the formal session, but kept off the record, so as
to ensure a greater level of frank and productive interaction.
If this unprecedented proposal is to succeed, the Chairman must
have the full support of as many Member States as possible. It is
therefore up to civil society to push our governments to support
this bold proposal, and to provide the Chairman with the names of
local experts on the various issues facing the Committee.
We call upon all NGOs to contact their governments, both in their
capitals as well as their Missions in New York, and urge their governments
to support increased NGO participation at the First Committee. We
recommend that copies of these letters be CCed to the Chairman.
We have included below a sample letter to be faxed to your government.
We have also included a list of suggested NGO experts who could
address the Committee during the thematic debate. This is simply
a list of unconfirmed, suggested experts; feel free to add or delete
other experts that you wish to put forward.
Your input at this time will be crucial. Increased NGO participation
at the First Committee can have a positive effect on civil society
participation within the entire United Nations system as a whole,
as recommended by the recently concluded Secretary-General Panel
of Eminent Persons on Civil Society and UN Relationships (the Cardoso
report).
Whether or not these proposals are carried through this year, support
from Member States today will help to ensure enhanced civil society
participation at the UN in the future.
You can follow these developments and others as they arise within
the First Committee by subscribing to the First Committee Monitor,
the weekly newsletter published by the NGO Working Group on the
First Committee.
Yours truly,
Rhianna Tyson
Editor, First Committee Monitor
ii. SAMPLE LETTER
Dear Ambassador/Minister ______________,[i]
As you know, the issue of reform has emerged as a major theme at
this year’s General Assembly First Committee on Disarmament
and International Security. We understand that a number of informal
proposals have been put forth to the Committee, including one that
would invite NGO experts to address the Committee off-record during
the official Thematic Debate.
We urge you to support this proposal to increase non-governmental
organizations’ (NGO) participation in the Committee.
Such interactivity with NGOs would enhance the work of the Committee,
by increasing its transparency and by providing depth and context
of the issues upon which all Member States will be voting soon.
The Secretary-General’s Panel of Eminent Persons on Civil
Society and UN Relationships (A/58/817) recommends, inter alia,
that:
“The General Assembly should permit the
carefully planned
participation of actors besides central Governments in its
processes. In particular, the Assembly should regularly invite
contributions to its committees and special sessions by those
offering high-quality independent input.”
In the Secretary-General’s report on this panel (A/59/354),
he concurred with this proposal, asserting that: “More effective
engagement with NGOs… increases the likelihood that United
Nations decisions will be better understood and supported by a broad
and diverse public.”
We strongly encourage you to join the Chairman and the growing number
of Member States who have already voiced appreciation for NGOs in
the First Committee. Attached is a list of suggested experts that
we believe will be able to enhance the discussions taking place
at the First Committee.
Increased NGO participation at the First Committee can have a positive
effect on civil society participation within the entire United Nations
system as a whole, which in turn will make the work of the United
Nations more transparent, more useful, and more effective in the
long term.
Thank you very much for your attention.
Sincerely,
Your Name Here.
[i] You can find the name of your Foreign Minister and Permanent
Representative in New York, as well as the name of the Disarmament
Counselor in charge of the First Committee through the Reaching
Critical Will Government Database: www.reachingcriticalwill.org/resources/govcontacts/govindex.html.
If writing to your mission in New York, we recommend CCing the Disarmament
Counselor in the head of your letter.
Be sure to CC the Chairman:
Ambassador Luis Alfonso de Alba
Permanent Mission of Mexico to the United Nations
Fax: (212) 688 8862
iii. SUGGESTED LIST OF EXPERTS
based on the Indicative Timetable for Structured Discussion of Specific
Subjects on the Adopted Thematic Approach on Disarmament and International
Security Agenda Items (A/C.1/59/CRP.2)
Nuclear weapons
1) Rebecca Johnson, Acronym Institute. rej@acronym.org.uk
2) Jackie Cabasso, Western States Legal Foundation, wslfweb@earthlink.net
3) Daryl Kimball, Arms Control Association. dkimball@armscontrol.org
Other weapons of mass destruction (BCWs)
1) Barbara Rosenberg, Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.
brosenberg@armscontrolcenter.org
2) Mark Wheelis, Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.
mwheelis@armscontrolcenter.org
Outer Space
1) Bruce Gagnon, Global Network against Weapons and Nuclear Power
in Space. globalnet@mindspring.com
2) Alice Slater, Global Resource Center on the Environment. aslater@gracelinks.org
3) Theresa Hitchens, Center for Defense Information. Thitchens@cdi.org
Conventional Weapons
1) Rebecca Peters, International Action Network on Small Arms. director@iansa.org
2) Randall Forsberg, Institute for Defense and Disarmament Studies.
forsberg@idds.org
3) Ruslan Pukhov, Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies,
Russia. (+7-095) 135-13-78,
4) Otfried Nassauer, Berlin Information Center. Otfried.Nassauer@bits.de
Other disarmament measures and disarmament machinery
1) Rebecca Johnson, Acronym Institute. rej@acronym.org.uk
2) Rhianna Tyson, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.
rhianna@reachingcriticalwill.org
Related matters of disarmament and international security, including
nonproliferation education
1) Dr. Kathleen Sullivan, Educators for Social Responsibility. edna@bestweb.net
2) Jean duPreez, Center for Nonproliferation Studies. jean.dupreez@miis.edu
September 23
Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors,
Although the General Assembly in full swing and the First Committee
on Disarmament and International Security just around the corner,
we must keep our eye on the big prize: the Seventh Review Conference
of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
In this brief E-News Advisory, we wanted to bring your attention
to both what is going on now at the United Nations, as well as some
food-for-thought as you begin your own preparations for this historic
Review Conference in May 2- 27, 2005.
In this E-News Advisory:
1. Disarmament Index Now Online
2. NPT Strategy Session, October 8
3. "Nuclear Disarmament: What NOW?" - an updated educational
booklet from RCW
4. Contextualizing Past, Present and Future Challenges to the NPT
5. Excerpts on Disarmament and Nonproliferation from the Secretary-General
Report to the General Assembly
6. Statement by the New Agenda Coalition on Disarmament and Nonproliferation
As always, this and all other News Advisories from RCW can be found
by clicking on "News" at the top of our website. If you
have any questions, comments, concerns or suggestions regarding
any of the services from RCW, please never hesitate to contact us.
Best wishes,
Rhianna
1. Disarmament Index of the 2004
General Assembly
The Disarmament Index of the 2004 General Assembly is now online.
This is an index of all references made to issues of disarmament,
peace and security, made in the High-Level General Debate of the
General Assembly. http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/1com04/disarmindex.html
Included are all references made to arms control, arms expenditures,
disarmament, multilateralism, nuclear energy, nuclear weapon free
zones, security, proliferation, terrorism and weapons. Each entry
also includes a link to the complete text of the statements.
This resource is a unique tool by which to gauge the issues to
be detailed during the First Committee of the General Assembly,
starting October 4, 2004.
With the help of RCW's newest interns, Renee O'Connor and Kerstin
Bihlmaier, RCW is updating this Index every evening after the close
of the day's statements. Be sure to check it daily!
Reminder: Do not forget to subscribe to the First Committee Monitor
to receive all of the updates coming from the General Assembly First
Committee on Disarmament and International Security!
2. NPT Strategy Session, October
8
On Friday, October 8, NGOs will be holding the another NPT Strategy
Session in the lead-up to the 2005 Review Conference. Several groups-
including the Japan-based Gensuikyo- will be in New York at this
time, and all NGOs are encouraged to attend.
The meeting will be held in Conference Room B in the United Nations
building. A UN badge is required. For more information, including
how to obtain a day-pass at the UN, contact either Monika Szymurska,
Abolition 2000 Coordinator, or Joseph Gerson, AFSC.
For a full listing of events taking place over the next two months,
see the First Committee Calendar of Events.
3. "Nuclear Disarmament: What
NOW?" - an updated educational booklet from RCW
It's been five years since Reaching Critical Will published its,
"Nuclear Disarmament: What Next?" designed to teach activists,
students and the media the basics of the NPT regime, and the implications
of the historic 2000 Review Conference Final Document.
In the next six months we intend to do as much awareness-raising
and outreach as possible. As part of that effort, we will be publishing
a new edition of this booklet, one of our most successful teaching
tools, now entitled- "Nuclear Disarmament: What NOW?"
With the input from dozens of our colleagues around the world, this
booklet will look back on the treaty, the promises of the 13 steps,
our assessments of 2000 and prospects for the future.
You can read the 2000 version, "Nuclear Disarmament: What
Next?" here: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/about/pubs/edkit.pdf.
4. "Contextualizing Past, Present
and Future Challenges to the NPT," article by RCW's Rhianna
Tyson in upcoming Disarmament Forum
The United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR)
also has its sights set on the 2005 Review Conference. In the next
issue of UNIDIR's quarterly journal Disarmament Forum focusing entirely
on the NPT, RCW's Rhianna Tyson offers a piece on "Contextualizing
Past, Present and Future Challenges to the NPT."
To order a hard copy of Disarmament Forum, check out UNIDIR's website.
http://www.unidir.org.
Below is an excerpt from Rhianna's article, which is available in
both English in French.
"In this age where crucial disarmament mechanisms remain
blocked to the point of paralysis, it seems that actors throughout
the international security community can scarcely agree on anything.
Yet advocates across the spectrum—from counter-proliferation
trumpeters to nuclear abolitionists—certainly agree on one
truism: non-proliferation is facing one of its most formidable crises
in the history of the nuclear age.
With only a few months remaining before the 2005 nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty (NPT) Review Conference (RevCon), activists, analysts, experts
and governmental representatives are seeking to understand what
has gone wrong with the disarmament and non-proliferation regime,
and how they can address the current challenges within the NPT system.
Even as the oft-cited ‘cornerstone of disarmament’ has,
for over thirty years, halted the proliferation of new nuclear-weapon
states prophesized by United States President Kennedy, the current
challenges are prompting the international community to scrutinize
the nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation regime, doubt its
current efficacy and seek to understand where things went so wrong.
After a short assessment of the missteps that contributed to the
situation we are faced with today, it is time to ask ‘what
can we now do right?’ What alchemy was at work in 2000 that
facilitated the Thirteen Steps of the 2000 RevCon Final Document?
What opportunities lay ahead of us that could create more favorable
conditions in the future?"
5. Excerpts on Disarmament and Nonproliferation
from the Secretary-General Report to the General Assembly
The Secretary-General's Report to the General Assembly is now available
online. In the section, "Achieving Peace and Security,"
the Secretary-General notes that "The proliferation of weapons
of mass destruction and terrorism remain issues of great concern."
(page 3, 11)
The SG urges the Conference on Disarmament to "resume its
role of negotiating new arms control agreements" while noting
that the Conference has "benefited from focused high-level
discussions during which foreign ministers voiced strong political
support." (page 18, 68)
He notes "several issues" that "remain of great
concern to the international community" including "the
slow pace of disarmament, violations of non-proliferation commitments,
evidence of a clandestine nuclear network and the threat of terrorism,"
noting that these "developments jeopardize international peace
and security and may increase the risk of new instances of unilateral
or pre-emptive use of force." (page 18, 69)
You can read the section on Disarmament on the RCW website at:
http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/SG2004.pdf.
6. Statement by the New Agenda Coalition
on Disarmament and Nonproliferation
from the International Herald Tribune, Tuesday, September 21, 2004
Nuclear weapons, a legacy of the cold war, today give rise to dangerous
new perspectives. Old and new threats converge, putting at risk
the security of us all.
Seven years ago the foreign ministers of our countries - Brazil,
Egypt, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa and Sweden - joined
together in a New Agenda Coalition to work toward a security order
where nuclear weapons would no longer be given a role. Today, we
are more convinced than ever that nuclear disarmament is imperative
for international peace and security.
We are faced with the perils of nuclear weapons finding their way
into more military arsenals and the risk that these old tools of
deterrence might become new tools of terrorists.
Nonproliferation is vital. But it is not sufficient. Nuclear nonproliferation
and nuclear disarmament are two sides of the same coin and both
must be energetically pursued. Otherwise we might soon enter a new
nuclear arms race with new types, uses and rationales for such weapons
and eventually also more warheads. And the primary tool for controlling
nuclear weapons, the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, risks falling
apart, with further proliferation as a consequence.
The nonproliferation treaty cannot be complied with à la
carte. It is a legally binding agreement, which relies on a fine
balance between the commitments of the five nuclear-weapon states
- China, France, Russia, Britain and the United States - and those
of the nonnuclear-weapon states. The heart of the treaty is that
the latter will not develop nuclear weapons in return for which
the nuclear powers will reduce and eventually eliminate their nuclear
weapons.
In 1995 and 2000 this bargain was further refined. In 1995, the
nonnuclear-weapon states agreed to the indefinite extension of the
nonproliferation treaty, provided that the nuclear powers pursued
nuclear disarmament and that all worked toward the entry into force
of the comprehensive nuclear test-ban treaty.
In 2000, the nuclear powers made an unequivocal undertaking to eliminate
their nuclear arsenals, and all parties adopted a practical plan
for the pursuit of nuclear disarmament. Since then, however, very
little progress has been made.
There are deeply disturbing signs pointing in the opposite direction.
Instead of working toward the entry into force of the nuclear test-ban
treaty, the United States, which was the first country to sign the
treaty, has withdrawn its support. And China delays its ratification
process year after year. Instead of eliminating nuclear weapons,
some nuclear powers have plans to modernize or develop new kinds
of nuclear weapons or new rationales for them.
Some even entertain the notion that nuclear weapons may be used
pre-emptively against nonnuclear-weapon states. In Russia, nuclear
weapons are increasingly seen as a possible defense against conventional
weapons. Instead of destroying their nuclear warheads, the United
States and Russia store them.
The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty is an important step in the
right direction, but it does not require the destruction of these
weapons, does not include tactical nuclear weapons and does not
have any verification provisions. The process is neither irreversible,
nor transparent.
If the nuclear-weapon states continue to treat nuclear weapons
as a security enhancer, there is a real danger that other states
will start pondering they should do the same. Recent developments
show that this has already happened.
What, then, can be done?
First, all parties must comply with their commitments under the
nonproliferation treaty, and the treaty should be made universal.
All states should raise the guard against the further spread of
nuclear weapons. And the nuclear-weapon states must comply with
their commitments and pursue nuclear disarmament in good faith.
Any plans to develop new nuclear weapons, new uses, roles or rationalizations
for their use, must be shelved immediately.
Second, the entry into force of the nuclear test-ban treaty should
be pursued as a matter of urgency.
Third, talks on a verifiable fissile material cutoff treaty should
start immediately. The treaty would ban the production of key components
of nuclear weapons, enriched uranium and plutonium, and form a cornerstone
in the nuclear disarmament process.
It would impose restraints on India, Israel and Pakistan, the three
states still outside the nonproliferation treaty. Together with
the test-ban treaty, it would go a long way to uphold the nonproliferation
treaty and strengthen the norm on nuclear nonproliferation and nuclear
disarmament.
The future depends on our actions.
This article was signed by Foreign Ministers Celso Amorim of Brazil;
Ahmed Ali Aboul Gheit of Egypt; Brian Cowen of Ireland; Luis Ernesto
Derbez Bautista of Mexico; Phil Goff of New Zealand; Nkosazana Dlimini-Zuma
of South Africa; and Laila Freivalds of Sweden.
************************************************
Rhianna Tyson
Project Manager
September 15
Yesterday, the 2003 Session of the General Assembly officially
came to a close, and the incoming General Assembly President,
Mr. Jean Ping, Foreign Minister of Gabon, opens the 2004 session
today.
With the start of the new GA comes also the closing of the Conference
on Disarmament 2004 session, the preparations for the GA First Committee
on Disarmament and International Security and the start of a deluge
of work from Reaching Critical Will and our NGO colleagues (and
I hear the diplomats are busy as well).
In this General E-News Advisory:
1. Conference on Disarmament 2004 Session Closes
2. General Debate Disarmament Index
3. General Assembly First Committee
4. Update on Security Council Resolution 1540
5. Event: Reaching Critical Will is Honored in New York City
6. Abolition Now! Campaign
As always, we welcome all comments, questions, concerns and suggestions
regarding RCW's News Services, website or other services. We look
forward to hearing from you.
All the best,
Rhianna
**************************************************************************
1. Conference on Disarmament 2004
Session Closes
The 2004 session of the Conference on Disarmament has drawn to a
close. The President of the Conference, Ambassador U Mya Than of
Myanmar, will deliver a resolution based on the CD’s
Final Report to the General Assembly First Committee in New
York, October 2004.
Another year has passed, and still the Conference has failed to
adopt a formal program of work or to officially establish (or re-establish)
any mechanism to facilitate progress on any of its agenda items.
While support for the Five Ambassadors Proposed Agenda (the A5)
continues to mount, the Conference has yet to adopt a working plan
of action for the 2005 session.
As is the tradition, key proposals and positions were offered towards
the end of the annual session. On July 29, the United States announced
the result of its long-awaited review of a Fissile Material Cut-Off
Treaty (FMCT).
US Ambassador Jackie Sanders also proposed
a ban on all "persistent" landmines, a much more narrow
ban than the one enshrined in the Ottawa Convention. On August 26,
China and Russia tabled two non-papers on the Prevention of an Arms
Race in Outer Space (PAROS).
These non-papers, "Verification
Aspects of PAROS" and "Existing
International Legal Instruments and Prevention of the Weaponization
of Outer Space" will be followed by a third non-paper on
"Definitions in the Legal Instrument of PAROS." Canada
has already offered some suggestions on PAROS definitions in its
statement
to the CD on August 26.
RCW has just updated a new version of the Reaching
Critical Will Guide to the Conference on Disarmament, an advocacy
and educational tool for activists, journalists and students. In
it, you can find a history of the CD, learn about the items on its
agenda, catch up with a summary of the major issues, and get an
overview of the current political context and more.
We have also finished the 2004 edition of the CD
Summary of Statements by Topic, a tool by which you can easily
assess where the CD Member States stand on the important issues
facing the Conference.
he 2005 session of the Conference on Disarmament will start on
January 24, 2005.
2. General Debate Disarmament Index
On September 21, the General Debate of the General Assembly opens,
wherein heads of state, foreign ministers or other high-level representatives
have the opportunity to address the entire international community
to express their State's concerns, priorities and opinions.
Reaching Critical Will compiles a Disarmament
Index of all references to issues of disarmament and international
security made during the General Debate, to be used to gauge the
range of positions and increased concerns on disarmament and non-proliferation
issues expected to be detailed during the First Committee, starting
October 4, 2004.
See the 2003
Disarmament Index here.
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 59th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.
3. General Assembly First Committee
The General
Assembly First Committee on Disarmament and International Security
opens on October 4, 2004.
(See past RCW News Advisories from August 4
and August 20 for previous important updates
on the First Committee.)
Calendar of Events
RCW has arranged for a Conference Room in the UN to be used by NGOs
throughout the First Committee. We have posted a First
Committee Calendar of Events on our website, featuring the many
workshops, briefings, strategy sessions- even a Disarmament Education
course for diplomats!- taking place over the next few months.
If you or your organization would like to organize an educational,
networking or advocacy event during the First Committee, contact
the Project Manager today to reserve a room. These events will be
held during the lunch session (normally 1-3 PM) so as to enable
more delegates' participation.
NGO Working Group on the First Committee
Reaching Critical Will coordinates an NGO Working Group on the
First Committee which shares the monitoring and reporting responsibilities
in an attempt to make the work of the First Committee more transparent
and useful for people not directly involved in the small New York
disarmament community. The fruit of our collective labor is compiled
and edited in the weekly newsletter, the First
Committee Monitor, covering the broad range of issues discussed
by the First Committee. The Monitor is distributed to all
delegates of the First Committee, and is available on our site and
through a free email-based subscription service in both PDF as well
as HTML.
The first meeting of the working group will be held on Monday, September
20, at 3 PM, 8th floor of the UN Church Center (777 UN Plaza/44th
street and 1st avenue). This is an open meeting and all NGOs are
encouraged to attend. Please RSVP as soon as possible.
The Monitor has been hailed by diplomats, UN staffers
and activists as one of the most useful resources produced during
the General Assembly. The HTML versions include easy-to-use hyperlinks
to all governmental statements, while the PDF versions include important
announcements, calendars of events, resource spotlights, and more.
Stay updated with the First Committee by subscribing
to the Monitor today. Be sure to indicate if you would prefer PDF,
HTML or both formats.
4. Update on Security Council Resolution
1540
On April 28, 2004, the Security Council passed resolution
1540 on non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
On August 13, the Security Council Committee established pursuant
to resolution 1540 (the 1540 Committee) adopted Terms
of Reference and Guidelines
for the Conduct of its Work. Both of these are available on
the RCW website.
Tomorrow, September 16, the Chairman of the Security Council Committee
established pursuant to resolution 1540 will hold a briefing on
the work of the Committee. For further information, contact Mr.
Ionut Suseanu,
Permanent Mission of Romania, or the Secretariat focal point, Mr.
Jeremy Farrall: (212) 963-2475.
Continue to check RCW's
page on the Security Council for all important updates regarding
the Council's work on disarmament and nonproliferation.
5. Event: Reaching Critical
Will is Honored in New York City
On Thursday, October 7, the Art Club will be honoring the work
of Reaching Critical Will, the Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy,
United for Peace and Justice, Western States Legal Foundation and
Women in Prison Project of the Correctional Association of New York.
All of RCW's friends and advisors are invited to mix and mingle
at this informal gathering of art and feminism at the Tribeca Studio
of Linda Stein, 100 Reade Street, between West Broadway & Church
St., one block north of Chambers St.
There is no charge for this event, and refreshments will be served.
You must, however, RSVP at (212) 964-6007, and tell the receptionist
that Reaching Critical Will referred you. Or, you can email Linda@LindaStein.com.
For those who want the 15 minute art tour/talk about our host:
Victoria Watkins came to a recent Stein event and wrote: “Linda
Stein, best known for her anti-war, feminist and androgynous art,
showed us several rooms of her artwork spanning three decades of
her career as a sculptor, painter and printmaker. Each studio room
represents a period of her work, which parallels her personal evolution
from emerging artist in the mid-1970s to feminist activist and established
artist.
Her mood portraits of prominent women's rights leaders -- including
Bella Abzug, Flo Kennedy, Billie Jean King, Margaret Sanger, Gloria
Steinem, and Virginia Woolf-- are striking in the way moods are
shown through dazzling patterns and colors.
In her anti-war sculpture, I like how Linda transformed steel machete
blades from crude tools and weapons associated with violence to
sensuous curvilinear sculptures that display beauty and strength
as they seemingly float from the ceiling of her studio.
Her recent sculpture reflects the female shape combining embedded
engraving plates, calligraphic glyphs, musical sounding forms, stone
and other objects reminiscent of our past and present civilizations.
What a lift when Linda encouraged us to touch her sculpture! I loved
how she drew us into her art work beyond the visual experience.”
6. Abolition Now! Campaign
In the coming year, the Abolition 2000 Network, a network of over
2000 NGOs dedicated to the abolition of nuclear weapons, announce
their new campaign, Abolition Now! Dare to Plan! Working with the
Mayors
for Peace Emergency Campaign to Ban Nuclear Weapons to create
the political will, Abolition Now! calls for completing negotiations
for a nuclear weapons free world by 2010 with the complete abolition
of nuclear weapons by 2020.
In the lead-up to the NPT Review Conference at the UN in New York
this May, Abolition Now! asks your support for the call for concrete
plans for a nuclear free world during the 60th Anniversary Year
of Remembrance and Action for a Nuclear Weapons Free World from
August 6, 2004 to August 9, 2005.
Please check the new website www.abolitionnow.org
to download the brochure and sign-on form, sign the Abolition
Now! petition, and join efforts with the Mayors for Peace Campaign.
Please feel free to send comments and questions about the Abolition
Now! campaign to mszymurska@gracelinks.org.
Your efforts and feedback are greatly appreciated.
************************************************
Rhianna Tyson
Project Manager
August 20
1) General Assembly First Committee
on Disarmament and International Security update and info for NGOs
The First Committee
on Disarmament and International Security of the 59th session
(2004) of the General Assembly will meet from October 4- November
5.
Mexico's Ambassador Luis Alfonso de Alba will Chair the session.
The Vice-Chairmen include Dziunik Aghajanian (Armenia), Alon Bar
(Israel), and Sylvester Ekundayo Rowe (Sierra Leone). The Rapporteur
is Mohamed Ali Saleh Alnajar (Yemen).
The Provisional Agenda can be downloaded here.
What Can NGOs Do Around the First Committee?
The First Committee is one of the best opportunities for outreach,
education and advocacy efforts on disarmament and nonproliferation
issues. Most of the disarmament-focused diplomats- normally based
in Geneva- will be working in New York throughout the five weeks
of the Committee, and much of the groundwork for the spring's NPT
Review Conference will be laid out at this time.
1) Organize an event in New York
RCW will be able to provide your organization with a conference
room at the United Nations for any educational, networking or advocacy
event that you would like to hold during the First Committee. These
events will be held during the lunch session (normally 1-3 PM) so
as to enable more delegates' participation.
If you would like to organize an event, contact RCW immediately
to book your event and have it posted on the First
Committee Calendar.
2) Monitor the First Committee
Stay updated with what your country does or does not say on the
important disarmament and international security issues facing us
today. You can see what your head of state or foreign minister says
at the General Debate through our Disarmament
Index.
You can also stay updated with the First Committee by subscribing
to the First
Committee Monitor, a weekly publication reporting on a dozen
of the most pressing, controversial issues discussed in the First
Committee. Read archived issues and subscribe
today.
3) Media Outreach
While decisions taken on matters of disarmament and nonproliferation
are some of the most critical issues to the world, there remains
a lack of adequate coverage of these issues by the mainstream media.
Many mainstream media agencies are subsidiaries
of military corporations. These agencies are never going to
give positive media coverage to groups and messages that challenge
their power.
Notice the correspondents in the print, radio and TV media covering
nuclear or foreign policy matters. Build a data base of media contacts
and keep a select group of journalists, or your entire list, informed
of your activities and analysis of events and developments in this
field.
CREATE YOUR OWN MEDIA: newsletters, radio shows, video documentaries,
email lists, webpages. To find out how to get involved with local
independent media near you, see: www.indymedia.org.
4) Organize an event at home
With the First Committee in session, it is a prime teachable moment
to continue your own education, outreach and advocacy efforts at
home. To find out what disarmament NGOs are working in your area,
check our NGO
contact database or contact Monika
Szymurska, Global Coordinator for Abolition
2000, a network of over 2000 civil society groups dedicated
to the abolition of nuclear weapons.
5) Reach out to your representatives
Contact your representatives in New York and in your capital. Fax
or email them letters urging them to support disarmament-focused
resolutions. Offer them resources for more information and demand
a response. For more information on writing a letter, click here.
Organize a meeting with your representatives; listen to their opinion
on nuclear issues- share yours.
Don't know who represents you? Find out at our database
of governmental decision-makers.
2) Invitation to participate in the NGO Working Group on
the First Committee
If you will be in New York during the First Committee, we encourage
you to participate in the NGO Working Group. Since 2000, Reaching
Critical Will has coordinated this diverse group of NGOs sharing
the monitoring and reporting responsibilities in an attempt to make
the work of the First Committee more transparent and useful for
people not directly involved in the small New York disarmament community.
The fruit of our collective labor is compiled and edited in the
weekly newsletter, the First Committee Monitor, covering the broad
range of issues discussed by the First Committee. The Monitor is
distributed to all delegates of the First Committee, and is available
on our site and through a free email-based subscription service
in both PDF as well as HTML.
The first meeting of the working group will be held on Monday,
September 20, at 3 PM, 8th floor of the UN Church Center (777 UN
Plaza/44th street and 1st avenue). Please RSVP as soon as possible.
The Monitor has been hailed by diplomats, UN staffers and activists
as one of the most useful resources produced during the General
Assembly. The HTML versions include easy-to-use hyperlinks to all
governmental statements, while the PDF versions include important
announcements, calendars of events, resource spotlights, and more.
Your organization's participation will be an important contribution
to the success of this year's reporting. Contact us today!
3) Resources on missiles, missile defense, and the prevention
of an arms race in outer space
Rather than working to negotiate a strengthened, verifiable and
effective ban on missiles, and refuting any attempts to begin serious
work on the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space (PAROS) in
the CD, the United States has instead chosen to address the threat
posed by missiles by developing and deploying an untested, unproven,
wasteful and dangerous missile "defense" system.
This week, the US deployed the first of six ground-based interceptors
at Fort Greely, Alaska, with another four planned for Vandenberg
Air Force Base, California in the following weeks. The US plans
on deploying 20 ground-based interceptors by the end of 2005.
And it doesn't stop there. According to President Bush's December
17, 2002 address, these deployments are just the first part of a
multi-layered missile "defense" system, with interceptors
deployed on land, sea and air. While still short of President Reagan's
"Star Wars" fantasy, the first deployments of this multi-layered
system spurs serious questions as to the preservation of space for
peaceful purposes.
These first deployments are also a serious boon to the major defense
contractors, Raytheon and Boeing, the latter of which stands to
reap $3 billion this year in missile "defense" contracts
alone.
For more information on missiles:
RCW's Missile
page
For more information on missile defense:
"Ready
or Not, Missile Defense," L.A. Times, August 16, 2004
"Beyond
Missile Defense"- report from the Missile Ban Working Group
of Abolition 2000
World Policy Institute Press Release
Gard, Ret. Lt. Gen. Robert G., "No-Value
Missile Defense,"
"Technical
Realities: An Analysis of the 2004 Deployment of a U.S. National
Missile Defense System" Union of Concerned Scientists
"A
Fresh Look at Vertical Proliferation - Ballistic Missiles, Missile
Defenses, and Space Weaponization"- NGO presentation at
the 2004 NPT PrepCom
For more information on War Profiteers such as Raytheon and Boeing:
RCW's Corporate
Connections in the Military Industrial Complex
Arms
Trade Resource Center
For more information on the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer
Space:
RCW PAROS
page
Global
Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
Project
Ploughshares (Canada)
Western States
Legal Foundation
Space
News
************************************************
Rhianna Tyson
Project Manager
August 4
1) US announces policy on FMCT
Last week, at the start of the third and final session of the Conference
on Disarmament (CD), the United States announced that it has concluded
its policy review of a Fissile Material
Cut-Off Treaty (FMCT). Ambassador Jackie Sanders affirmed the
US's commitment to negotiations on the long-awaited FMCT, but said
that they doubt the treaty's verifiability.
An FMCT, like any disarmament or nonproliferation treaty, requires
effective verification mechanisms in order for that treaty to be
effective.
After China and Russia declared their willingness to begin negotiations
on an FMCT last year, the CD has remained stalled on this issue
as it awaited an official policy from the United States. Now, in
the final weeks of the 2004 session, progress on the issue still
remains to be seen.
The CD has not engaged in substantive work since 1996.
Click
here to read the RCW report on the CD.
Click
here to read the responses to the US announcement from Algeria,
the Netherlands, the UK, France, Pakistan and others.
Click
here to read the press release from the Arms Control Association.
Click
here to access the Governmental Contact Database: urge your
representatives in Geneva to include talks on verification in any
FMCT negotiations.
2) Invitation to NGOs to participate
in UN General Assembly First Committee working group
The General Assembly is fast approaching, and it is time to begin
NGO preparations for the First
Committee on Disarmament and International Security.
Since 2000, Reaching Critical Will coordinates a group of NGOs sharing
the monitoring and reporting responsibilities in an attempt to make
the work of the First Committee more transparent and useful for
people not directly involved in the small New York disarmament community.
We edit a weekly newsletter, the First Committee Monitor,
covering the broad range of issues discussed by the First Committee.
The Monitor is distributed to all delegates of the First
Committee, and is available on our site and through a free email-based
subscription service in both PDF as well as HTML.
If your group would like to participate in this important collaboration,
contact us today. In the upcoming weeks, we will be holding the
first of the meetings to coordinate the various responsibilities
required for such an effort.
Last year, participating groups included:
- Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy
- NGO Committee on Disarmament, Peace and Security
- Global Action to Prevent War
- Amnesty International
- Abolition 2000
- Franciscans International
- Quakers International
The Monitor has been hailed by diplomats, UN staffers and
activists as one of the most useful resources produced during the
General Assembly. The HTML versions include easy-to-use hyperlinks
to all governmental statements, while the PDF versions include important
announcements, calendars of events, resource spotlights, and more.
Your organization's participation will be an important contribution
to the success of this year's reporting. Contact us today!
You can read archived editions of the First Committee Monitor at:
http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/1com03/FCM/FCMindex.htm.
Subscribe to the Monitor by filling out the Subscription
Form.
3) Cardoso Panel Report: tools for NGOs
As we begin our preparations for the General Assembly (as well as
for the NPT), NGOs and governments are encouraged to utilize the
recommendations contained within the recently released report from
the Secretary-General's Panel of Eminent Persons on United Nations-
Civil Society Relations.
Chaired by the former President of Brazil, Fernando Henrique Cardoso,
the "Cardoso report" reviews existing guidelines, decisions
and practices that affect civil society organizations' access to
and participation in United Nations deliberations and processes,
and offers recommendations for strengthening this relationship.
As Chairman Cardoso writes in his letter to the Secretary-General,
"Constructively engaging with civil society is a necessity
for the United nations, not an option. This engagement is essential
to enable the Organization to better identify global priorities
and to mobilize all resources to deal with the task at hand."
The report contains 30 proposals for strengthening and streamlining
civil society participation in United Nations efforts, including:
Proposal 6: The General Assembly should permit the carefully planned
participation of actors besides central Governments in its processes.
In particular, the Assembly should regularly invite contributions
to its committees and special sessions by those offering high-quality
independent input...The Secretariat should help to plan innovative
and interactive sessions linked to but outside the formal meetings.
The report also includes recommendations directed at the Security
Council and the Secretariat, with foci on NGOs, businesses, parliamentarians
and local representatives.
Read the report here: http://www.un.org/reform/panel.htm
4) Biological Weapons Convention Second
Meeting of Experts Adjourns
The second Meeting of Experts from States Parties to the Convention
on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling
of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction,
was held in Geneva from 19 to 30 July 2004. The Convention, generally
known as the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), prohibits the
development, production and stockpiling of biological and toxin
weapons.
Around 450 experts and officials from 87 BWC member countries,
as well as from the World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Organization for Animal
Health (OIE) participated in the Meeting of Experts, which was convened
to discuss two topics: (1) strengthening and broadening national
and international institutional efforts and existing mechanisms
for the surveillance, detection, diagnosis and combating of infectious
diseases affecting humans, animals and plants; and (2) enhancing
international capabilities for responding to, investigating and
mitigating the effects of cases of alleged use of biological or
toxin weapons or suspicious outbreaks of disease.
Read the full press release.
Read the background paper prepared
by the Secretariat on "Consideration of enhancing international
capabilities for responding to, investigating and mitigating the
effects of cases of alleged use of biological or toxin weapons or
suspicious outbreaks of disease."
Other RCW resources on the
Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention.
5) New resource on gender and disarmament
Reaching Critical Will's Project Manager Rhianna Tyson has recently
returned from the United Nations Department for Disarmament Affairs
Conference on Disarmament Issues: "Mounting Challenges to Peace
and Security Today," held in Sapporo, Japan, 26-29 July.
You can download her presentation, "A
New Security: Using gender to enable a human security framework
in issues of disarmament," from the RCW website.
Other books and articles have also recently been added to RCW's
resources on gender
and disarmament. We welcome all comments, questions and suggestions
on any of the resources available on our site.
************************************************
Rhianna Tyson
Reaching Critical Will
July 14, 2004
In this News Advisory:
1) New look for Reaching Critical Will
2) New RCW resource on Fissile Materials Cut-Off Treaty
3) Updated CD resources
4) Biological Weapons Convention conference
5) SALW Week of Action
6) Nuclear Summer
On the new template, all RCW General E-News Advisories can be easily
accessed from all pages of our website, by clicking on the "News"
link on top. They can also be found at: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/action/Advisories04.html.
1) New look for Reaching Critical
Will
This past week, Reaching Critical Will launched a brand-new look
for its website. The new design makes it easier to find all of the
resources for which you have come to depend upon Reaching Critical
Will, including information on:
- the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
- the Conference on Disarmament
- the General Assembly First Committee
- Gender and Disarmament
and much, much more.
All of your favorite RCW webpages that you have bookmarked will
still function under the new design.
We would love to hear your comments on our new website! Please have
a look around the new layout and tell us what you think. Send all
comments to info@reachingcriticalwill.org.
2) New RCW resource on Fissile Materials
Cut-Off Treaty
Reaching Critical Will has recently added a new page of resources
on the long-awaited Fissile Materials Cut-Off Treaty (FMCT), available
at: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/fmct.html.
On our new FMCT page, you can find:
- background information on the fissile materials debate, including
overview of contentious issues;
- statements, resolutions and other governmental materials;
- NGO resources and analysis of an FMCT.
We urge all organizations to use this information on an FMCT to
mobilize support for the treaty in their own communities and in
their capitals. We also urge all governments to send us recent statements
regarding their position on an FMCT, so that civil society understands
where you stand on the issue.
If you or your organization have more information on fissile materials
that you would like to see posted on RCW's new FMCT page, please
never hesitate to contact us.
3) Updated CD resources
The second session of the Conference on Disarmament came to a close
on June 25. Reaching Critical Will has updated its Summary
of Statements by Topic, a quick guide to understanding where
each Member State stands on the issues facing the Conference.
All statements from the 2004 session are available at: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/cd/speeches04/index.html
Read RCW's weekly CD advisories, available at: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/cd/speeches04/advisories.html
Press releases from the CD are available at: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/cd/press04/pressindex.html
Summary of Statements by Topic is available at: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/cd/speeches04/topic.html
RCW's Beginner's Guide to the CD is available at: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/cd/cdbook2004.pdf
The third and final session of 2004 will begin on July 26. Be sure
to subscribe to RCW's weekly CD advisory list before the start of
the next session.
4) Biological Weapons Convention conference
The Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention Meeting of Experts will
take place July 19-30 in Geneva.
Among the other items on their agenda, the experts will be discussing
disease surveillance, strengthening and broadening national and
international efforts in accordance with the BTWC, mitigating the
effects of cases of alleged use of biological or toxin weapons,
and more.
The provisional agenda for the meeting is available here: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/bw/2004provagenda.doc
The programme of work is available here: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/bw/2004programme.doc
Read also the background paper prepared by the Secretariat on "Consideration
of enhancing international capabilities for responding to, investigating
and mitigating the effects of cases of alleged use of biological
or toxin weapons or suspicious outbreaks of disease" at: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/bw/background.doc
Reaching Critical Will also has a variety of other background materials
on the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention on
our site.
5) Small Arms Week of Action
Non-governmental organizations in 30 countries participated in the
fourth annual coordinated Week of Action Against Small Arms to draw
attention to the human toll of small arms proliferation and misuse,
and to demand governments enact policies that put their citizens'
security first. Many of the events in this year's extended Week
of Action (1-10 July) are coordinated with the Control Arms Campaign,
the joint Amnesty International - Oxfam - International Action Network
on Small Arms (IANSA) effort to regulate the arms trade.
First launched in 2001, the Week of Action has grown to be the
largest annual coordinated gun violence prevention event in the
world. Last year, 120 events were held in 42 countries from Bangladesh
to Uganda, in preparation for the UN Biennial Meeting of States
on Small Arms.
IANSA highlights some of the recently reported events surrounding
the SALW week of action:
UK
On 9 July family members of gun violence victims took part in the
destruction of 300 symbolic replicas of guns in London to mark International
Gun Destruction Day. The event was widely covered by the UK press,
including the BBC.
Salvador
The launch of the campaign 'Safe zones, No guns on the streets'
was reported by the national newspaper La Prensa Gráfica
in three articles. The Diario de Hoy and the website 'Sociedad sin
violencia' also covered the campaign.
Paraguay
During a press conference at the offices of Amnesty Paraguay, Maria
Cecilia Gortari, of IANSA member the Sociedad Paraguaya de Criminología,
presented the Control Arms campaign, its objectives and activities
in Paraguay. The national newspapers Diario ABC Color and Diario
Noticias covered the story, along with Canal 9 and Diario Última
Hora. Maria Cecilia Gortari was also interviewed on Radio FM Trinidad
and Radio Cáritas.
Macedonia
Natasa Dokovska works for an organization called Journalists for
children and women rights and protection of environment in Macedonia
(JCWE). She organized a wide range of activities during the Week
of Action.
Uganda
The Ugandan government expressed its support for the ATT at the
workshop held 1-2 July. This was covered in both major Ugandan newspapers,
the New Vision and the Monitor. IANSA participant PWD - Uganda has
been generating public support for the treaty through radio talk
shows this week.
Argentina
IANSA member Espacios has organized an amazing assortment of activities
for the Week of Action, including student competitions in poetry,
sculpture, writing, short stories, and poster making; the launch
of the web site 'Argentina without weapons', and the screening of
the documentary 'Desarmados' in Buenos Aires,
Mendoza and Rosario. It is expected that 500,000 schoolchildren
will take part in 'Disarmament in the Schools' Week. La Nacion covered
these activities in an extensive article.
Philippines
On 1 July PHILANSA showed the Michael Moore film 'Bowling For Columbine'
to students at the International Studies Class at the Miriam College
in Quezon City, Metro Manila. This was the start of a series of
film screenings to more than 10 universities and communities in
Metro Manila, Central and South Philippines.
Visit IANSA's website for more information the Week of Action:
www.iansa.org.
6) Nuclear Summer
As we in the northern hemisphere brace ourselves against the sweltering
heat of the summertime, several ominous anniversaries take place
during the summer months that remind us of the continued potential
for a nuclear winter.
On July 16th, 1945, the first nuclear explosion in history took
place at the Alamogordo Test Range on the Jornada del Muerto desert
in New Mexico. The Trinity test marked the beginning of the nuclear
age, out of which we have yet to evolve.
Less than a month later, the US tested their new weapon again, this
time on the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
During the week surrounding the 59th anniversary of the atomic bombings,
commemorative actions are planned for all over the world. See the
Calendar of Events from Be Safe at: http://www.besafenet.com/nukeevents.htm.
************************************************
Rhianna Tyson
Reaching Critical Will
June 14, 2004
Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors,
Over the last two weeks, we have heard announcements of a variety
of nonproliferation initiatives. From the islands of Georgia to
the halls of Krakow, government officials are announcing new developments
in the field of nonproliferation that will undoubtedly resonate
throughout the entire international security regime. With so much
at stake, these recent developments warrant the careful analysis
and scrutiny that any addition to the international security regime
should merit.
In this News Advisory, we wish to bring your attention to some
of these recent developments:
1) G-8 Action Plan on Non-Proliferation
2) PSI's one year anniversary
3) United States and Russia unveil new nonproliferation initiative
Other developments that have fallen under the radar of the mainstream
media include the admittance of China into the Nuclear Suppliers
Group (NSG) on May 28. This is particularly important in light of
the U.S.'s proposals to halt all transfers of enrichment technology
to countries which do not already possess them and to require countries
to buy their fissile materials from the NSG "at reasonable
cost," as President Bush proposed in his February 11 speech.
U.S. Secretary of Energy Abraham's testament that, "a truly
effective nonproliferation regime is made up of the collaboration
of efforts by all of us, not just a few," runs contrary to
these recent initiatives, which take place in a plurilateral context,
rather than a truly multilateral forum. To give you some background
on the proliferation of plurilateral initiatives, be sure to read
the NGO Presentation to the NPT PrepCom, "Beyond the NPT: Recent
Initiatives to Prevent Proliferation," convened by Reaching
Critical Will and Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy, available
at: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/npt/prepcom04/NGOpres.html#beyond.
This News Advisory is also available online at: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/action/Advisories04.html.
As always, we welcome any comments, questions, or concerns.
Best wishes,
Rhianna Tyson
Reaching Critical Will
*****************************************
1) G-8 Announces Action Plan on Nonproliferation
The annual summit of leaders from the world's 7 richest industrialized
countries (plus Russia), held this year on a remote elite island
off of the southern U.S. state of Georgia, announced their new Action
Plan on Nonproliferation on Wednesday, June 9. The plan has been
submitted to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, where the
U.S. Permanent Representative to the CD Jackie Sanders summarized
the Plan in her statement
on June 10.
The Plan calls for expanding the Proliferation Security Initiative
(see item #2) and the "Global Partnership," the G-8 Plan
on Nonproliferation that was announced at its 2002 summit in Kananaskis,
Canada. Also referred to as "10+10/10," the Kananaskis
Initiative aimed to track and account for WMD materials in the former
Soviet Union, using $10 billion pledged by the U.S. plus $10 billion
pledged by Canada, France, Italy, the UK, Japan and Germany over
a ten year time frame. The 2004 G-8 Plan aims to expand the Kananaskis
scope as well as its funds; the G-8 are inviting other countries
to contribute to the Global Partnership fund, which will also help
fund the redirection of former Libyan and Iraqi weapons of mass
destruction (WMD) scientists to civilian research projects, as senior
administration official told the UN Wire.
The Action Plan also calls for strengthening the IAEA and making
the Additional Protocol a condition of supply of nuclear technology,
a proposal that had been widely discussed at both the recent NPT
PrepCom as well as the Nuclear Suppliers Group meeting in Sweden.
G-8 leaders also agreed upon a one-year moratorium on new transfers
of uranium enrichment and reprocessing technology to states which
do not already possess such capabilities. The U.S. nonproliferation
proposals, outlined in U.S. President
Bush's February 11 address, called for a permanent cessation
of such technology transfers. While the one year moratorium does
not quite measure up to February 11 proposals, the United States
can nonetheless claim the adoption of the G-8 Action Plan as a victory
for U.S. nonproliferation goals. The U.S. is still "aiming
to implement (such) permanent controls before the 2005 G-8 Summit,"
as Ambassador Sanders assured the CD.
2) PSI's one-year anniversary
A year has gone by since the United States announced the Proliferation
Security Initiative in Krakow, Poland. When it was announced last
year, many States and non-governmental security experts expressed
doubt as to the Initiative's legal legitimacy. Now with a Security
Council blessing (thinly veiled in operative paragraph 10 of Security
Council resolution 1540), and nearly 60 States participating
in the anniversary meeting in Krakow, the PSI seems to be gaining
popularity- yet has the legal regime sufficiently caught up? What
effects will this "activity" have on the international
security regime?
States such as Cuba
and others which are not allied with the United States remain highly
skeptical of the PSI leaders' intentions, while disarmament experts
disdain the way in which PSI- as well as SC resolution 1540- exacerbate
the delinkage of nonproliferation from disarmament. Yet PSI participants
argue that "non-proliferation efforts – like the PSI
– will lead to the progress also in disarmament area,"
as Polish
Ambassador Stanislaw Przygodzki stated in the CD on June 3.
Yet how effective will the PSI ultimately be? How will the necessary
legal framework be developed or enforced? Non-governmental analysts
have already begun to ask these important questions:
British American Security Information Council: http://www.basicint.org/pubs/Research/04PSI.htm
Foreign Policy in Focus: http://www.fpif.org/papers/prolif2003.html
Bipartisan Security Group: http://www.gsinstitute.org/gsi/pubs/09_03_psi_brief.pdf
3) United States and Russia unveil new nonproliferation
initiative
On May 26th, United States Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham announced
the launch of the Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI), a new
initiative between the U.S., Russia, and the International Atomic
Energy Agency which aims to repatriate Russian- and U.S.- originated
fissile materials from over 40 countries around the world. Under
GTRI, the United States plans to dedicate more than $450 million,
an amount that "should be more than sufficient," according
to Secretary Abraham.
The GTRI is an extension of several existent programs which aim
to eliminate HEU in civilian nuclear programs. These programs include
the Russian Foreign Research Reactor Fuel Return (RFR) Program,
the Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors Program, the
Foreign Research Reactor Spent Nuclear Fuel Acceptance Program,
the Radiological Threat Reduction Program, and others.
Under GTRI, the U.S. will also be conducting a Global Research
Reactor Security Study, a comprehensive database of research reactors
replete with an assessment of "materials and sites relative
to vulnerability to sabotage, theft, or terrorist attack."
While the United States is touting the GTRI as an important new
plan in Vienna that seeks to "secure, remove, or dispose"
of global stocks of nuclear and radiological materials, some analysts
are not quite so optimistic. Jon Wolfsthal of the Carnegie Endowment
for International Peace writes that the plan "will take almost
a decade to implement and may not prevent additional weapons-usable
nuclear materials from being exported in the meantime."
The U.S. is hoping to convene a GTRI Partners' Conference later
this autumn, at which other countries will be invited to participate
in this initiative.
Read Secretary Abraham's speech at: http://www.energy.gov/engine/content.do?PUBLIC_ID=15949&BT_CODE=PR_SPEECHES&TT_CODE=PRESSSPEECH
Read the DoE's Fact Sheet on GTRI at: http://www.energy.gov/engine/doe/files/dynamic/264200491138_Vienna_GTR_Fact%20Sheet_FINAL1_052604%20.pdf.
Just how much U.S.- and Russian-made fissile materials are there
in the world? Check out the "Nuclear Activities" sections
in RCW's Shadow Report: Accountability is Democracy, Transparency
is Security at: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/npt/shadowreport/ngoshadrepindex.html
************************************************
Rhianna Tyson
Reaching Critical Will
May 20, 2004
1. NPT Resources at Reaching Critical
Will
With the help of our NGO colleagues, our friends at the UN Department
for Disarmament Affairs, and most importantly our amazing interns,
Dulce Fernandes, Monika Szymurska and Julika Erfurt, resources from
the 2004 PrepCom are our most comprehensive to date.
Statements
For those of you who were following the proceedings- either in New
York or through the News in Review- you know that NGOs were permitted
access to the vast majority of debates for the first time in NPT
history. In a move toward greater accountability and transparency,
some States Parties finally recognized that the Rules of Procedure
(specifically rule 44.4) have been erroneously interpreted since
1997, and a correct reading of the rules opened the doors to civil
society. Due to this important decision, (see News in Review, No.
6) we were able to post texts of statements in all of the cluster
debates.
Reports
and Working Papers
At the 1995 Review and Extension Conference, States Parties agreed
to submit reports on steps to promote the achievement of a Nuclear
Weapon Free Zone in the Middle East. In 2000, States agreed to submit
reports on the implementation of Article VI.
Reporting is an important way by which States can create a culture
of accountability and transparency. This year, 40 reports and 25
working papers were submitted.
NGO
Presentations
The NGO presentations are now available in HTML format. Also on
this page is a list of all participating NGOs, as well as contact
information for all convenors and speakers.
If you would like to order a Compendium of NGO Presentations, send
us a request with a check or money order for $5 (shipping and handling)
made out to Jane Addams Peace Association.
Post-PrepCom
Analysis
We have also compiled post-PrepCom analysis from non-governmental
sources, including the Acronym Institute, the Middle Powers Initiative,
the UN Wire, Greenpeace, the British American Security Council and
others.
If your organization has completed its own analysis of the PrepCom,
we encourage you to submit it to RCW and have it posted on our site.
Summary
of Issues Under the NPT
With so much at stake in 2005, sometimes its difficult to understand
all of the issues facing the Review Conference. Reaching Critical
Will breaks down the issues and proposals that have been put forth
by States Parties over this past review cycle in order to help everybody
in the disarmament community strengthen the international disarmament
regime.
News in Review
Archive
Every day of the PrepCom, Reaching Critical Will published a daily
newsletter of NGO views in the News in Review. Each day's edition
included a daily briefing on the PrepCom proceedings, summaries
of side events, interviews with delegates and NGO representatives,
crosswords, cartoons, feature articles and more. At times, it served
as a two-way avenue of communication between the delegates and the
NGOs.
The cover article from the Final Edition, published today, is included
below (see item #5).
Be sure to visit our NPT
page for all of these resources and more.
2. NGO Shadow Report: Accountability
is Democracy, Transparency is Security
The new and improved NGO
Shadow Report: Accountability is Democracy, Transparency is Security,
completely updated for the 2004 PrepCom, is available online and
by request.
With the invaluable contributions from our colleagues around the
world (see Acknowledgements),
the Shadow Report is quickly becoming one of the most comprehensive
inventories of nuclear materials, both civilian and military. In
order for us to maintain the highest level of accuracy and in order
to be as useful a tool as possible, it is essential that you give
us your feedback.
Please fill out the Evaluation
Form on our website and let us know how we can improve the report
for next year.
3. Conference on Disarmament Second
Session Begins
Geneva-based delegates to the PrepCom had only a few days to recover
from the New York conference before heading back to Switzerland
to convene the Second Session of the Conference on Disarmament.
The CD has agreed, based on a proposal from then-presiding President
of the CD Pablo Macedo (Mexico), to structure informal plenaries
on substantive issues along the following timetable:
May 13: Cessation of the nuclear arms race and nuclear disarmament.
May 18: Prevention of nuclear war, including all related matters.
May 27: Prevention of an arms race in outer space (PAROS).
June 3: Effective international arrangements to assure non-nuclear-weapon
states against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons (NSA).
June 10: New types of weapons of mass destruction and new systems
of such weapons; radiological weapons.
June 17: Comprehensive program of disarmament.
June 24: Transparency in armaments.
Reaching Critical Will offers a weekly report on the CD through
a free, email based subscription. Subscribe today and check out
the weekly reports that you have been missing, archived at: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/cd/speeches04/advisories.html.
4. Fundraising Update
As many of you are already aware, Reaching Critical Will continues
struggling through our worst financial crisis to date.
In order to keep this important project going, we ask that our friends
and advisors write a letters of recommendation for Reaching Critical
Will. We ask that you make a few copies of this letter and put them
in separate, sealed envelopes, and then send the lot of them in
a large envelope addressed directly to us, so that we may send the
individual letters to various foundations as part of our grant proposal.
The first deadline is scheduled for June 15, so we ask that these
letters be sent to us as soon as possible. And feel free to forward
this email on to any other groups whom you know appreciate the work
and services provided by Reaching Critical Will.
If you have any questions or concerns, or if there is any other
information that you need before you write your letter, please do
not hesitate to ask. If you'd like, we can keep you updated on our
fundraising progress. Of course, donations are more than welcome
as well.
Once again, we cannot thank you enough for your support of Reaching
Critical Will.
5. "A Higher Wager"-
excerpt from Final Edition of the News in Review
The pool was up to about $35. Dozens of NGO representatives, having
already lost their money after placing bets on times like 6:45,
7:09, 7:45, even 8:05, threw in a few more dollars, betting this
time on perhaps 10:30 or even midnight. Even a governmental delegate
or two, fleeing the increasingly banal discussion inside of Conference
Room IV for a cigarette, got in on the bet.
The bored and frustrated NGO representatives, hovered over potato
chip laden tables and watching funny anti-nuclear video clips c/o
the UN's wireless Internet service, placed $1 bets on what time
the delegates would finally reach agreement on something, and open
the doors to civil society to officially take decision on, well,
whatever it is they could take decision on. Throughout
two weeks of one of the most tense, frustrating, and least interactive
PrepComs, the number of possible points of agreement seemed to shorten
each day.
Even though one NGO rep (who shall remain nameless) walked away
with the $35 bucks, nobody officially won the bet, since decisions
were never officially taken in a public meeting. When the delegates
started to filter out from the Conference hall at around 8:30, we
stood confused amidst our empty beer bottles and Greenpeace nuclear
puzzlers- this isn't how it was supposed to end! The PrepCom's own
rules of procedure state that decisions of the Committee should
be taken in public in order to make them official. Yet here they
were streaming out of the room, some looking battered and weary,
others looking deliriously pleased that it was at long last simply
over.
Alas, the many points of contention that had gripped the PrepCom
into near paralysis were never reconciled, even in the late hour.
Even before the PrepCom started, most believed that agreement on
substantive recommendations- as mandated to the PrepCom by the Review
Process- would be an unattainable goal; Chairman Sudjadnan hoped
instead to prepare a Chairman's Summary à la Mólnár,
to be affixed as an appendix to the Final Report. Even this compromise-
which took some pre-PrepCom persuasion for the U.S. to agree- never
materialized. In fact, it seemed from the hall that the only agreement
that did prevail in the PrepCom was that most every State was unhappy
with the Chairman's Summary. Some, such as the United States, frustratingly
laughed it off as nothing more than a NAM document; others were
disappointed that some parts were verbatim repetition of the 2003
Chairman's Summary. Other predictable contentious points included
references to Iran, vertical proliferation, NGO participation, security
assurances and other oft-discussed issues from the past two weeks.
With so many disagreements over so much of the Chair's text, and
with no State Party possessing the will or desire to see it through,
the compromised Chairman's Summary was compromised again; rather
than an appendix to the report, the summary was demoted to that
of a Chair's working paper, which lacks the authority and clout
of an official Chair's Summary.
The Committee failed to reach agreement on a number of other important
procedural issues as well, including an agenda, non-governmental
participation, and background documents. After what seemed to be
a short but heated debate inside of the closed conference room,
it was decided that the NGO attendance that marked this PrepCom
would, in the words of the final report, "not constitute a
precedent." (paragraph 12(c) NPT/CONF.2005/PC.III/CRP.4) The
United States' staunch rejection of any reference to the 2000 Final
Document- a move repeatedly warned against by South Africa (see
News in Review, No. 10)- blocked the adoption of that historic document's
inclusion into the Final Report, which, two weeks after the close
of the PrepCom, is still not available.
In closing, Reaching Critical Will would like to offer our deepest
wishes of luck to President-designate Duarte, who faces one of the
greatest diplomatic challenges in the post-Cold War world. He will
undoubtedly be traversing the globe in the upcoming months to hold
consultations with dozens of governments, with a view to agreement
on an agenda as soon as the Conference opens next May.
We also extend our best wishes of luck and support to our NGO colleagues
around the world, as they hurriedly begin their preparations for
the 2005 Review Conference as well. There are mayors to sign up
to Mayors for Peace, lobbying to be done in our capitals, letters
of support to write to States like South Africa, Mexico, Brazil,
Canada and others who held the line firm in their support for- and
implementation of- the 13 Steps. There are demonstrations and rallies
to organize in protest of vertical proliferation and the continued
reliance of nuclear weapons in national security strategies.
While this difficult chapter of the NPT closes- albeit in a fuzzy,
confusing way- it opens up a new phase of work for all of us: diplomats,
analysts, lobbyists and organizers. And if agreement cannot be reached
the next time around, the gamble will be much higher than a dollar.
For when the United States attempts to negate consensus-based agreements,
they hold the entire international security regime at risk. When
governments permit negotiating machinery to implode in the dearth
of political will, they are placing bets on the very real risks
of nuclear proliferation. When key U.S. allies- such as their NATO
partners and Japan- look the other way as vertical proliferation
undermines the entire disarmament regime, they are betting that
another Hiroshima can be averted anyway. When the smaller Nuclear
Weapon States pay their usual lip service that "they've done
everything that they can" and are now waiting upon the Big
Boys to make further cuts, they are betting that their populations
and the populations of neighboring States can withstand another
few years of nuclear risk, nuclear accident, nuclear waste, or nuclear
war.
And when the governments of the world come to New York again in
11 months time, what will be the wager on further inaction?
We're placing bets now. Do you want to bet that all of us can continue
to live under the specter of nuclear annihilation for another two,
five, twenty, hundred years? Or do you want to bet that the people
of the world have had enough, and that something is stirring in
civil society? Do you want to bet that proliferation can be contained
by a 35-year-old treaty that has failed to bring disarmament to
the world? Or do you want to bet on the exigency for disarmament
propelling the majority of governments to negotiate a final abolition
of these genocidal and suicidal weapons?
Go on. Name your wager.
-Rhianna Tyson,
Reaching Critical Will
*Reaching Critical Will's email news subscriptions, including
General E-News Service, CD Advisories, the News in Review and the
First Committee Monitor, are no longer available in Plain Text format.
All General E-News Advisories will now be sent out in HTML format
only.
************************************************
Rhianna Tyson
Project Associate
April 21, 2004
1) NGO Registration
To pick up your necessary badges, NGOs must enter the building
through the 46th street entrance and pass through public security
in the white tent on the Plaza. Once inside, you must proceed to
the far left (east) corner of the Visitor's Lobby which is known
as the Zeus/Sputnik corner, where you'll see a team of DDA staffers
armed with a bank of computers to begin your registration process.
This registration process will be open from April 26-30, from 9
AM- 12:30 PM, and then again from 2- 4:30 PM. From May 3-5, it will
be open only from 9:30- 11:30 AM, and then again from 2- 4:30 PM.
From May 6-7, it is only open from 9 AM- 12 PM.
These times are not negotiable.
The only item you must bring with you is one form of photo identification.
2) NGO Orientation
There will be an orientation for all NGOs coming to the PrepCom
on Sunday, April 26, from 1-4 PM at the Genesis House, 113 E.13th
Street (b/w 3rd and 4th ave). This will be a great opportunity for
newcomers to the NPT to get a sense of what's in store for the two
weeks ahead, receive some fabulous background materials, and participate
in our first collective strategy session.
It will be a very informal meeting, facilitated by WILPF UNO Director
Susi Snyder, and we hope that all experienced NGO representatives
will come too, in order to share their expertise and lessons learned.
We'll also be giving out some helpful hints for getting around NYC,
lobbying tips, an overview of events, and a discussion on the major
issues facing us at this year's PrepCom.
To get to the Genesis House, you'll take the 4,5,6, L, N, R or
W train to Union Square, then walk one block south (to 13th street)
and two blocks east (to 4th ave). Or you can take the M15 bus (which
runs north on 1st ave and south on 2nd ave) to 14th street.
If you are planning on coming to the orientation, please call or
email Susi as soon as possible to RSVP.
3) NGO Presentations
The NGO presentations will be delivered to the delegates on Tuesday,
April 27th, beginning at 3 PM. Text of these statements will be
handed out to all delegates as well as archived on the RCW site
as soon as they are delivered.
19 organizations collaborated on these thirteen presentations,
which will be discussing a range of important issues, including
vertical and horizontal proliferation, grassroots initiatives, proliferation
in the Middle East, the 13 Steps, and more. We will be employing
perspectives from the medical community, from North America, Western
and Eastern Europe, Northeast Asia and the Middle East. We will
also be hearing presentations from Mayors for Peace, a network of
over 500 mayors dedicated to the abolition of nuclear weapons.
If you are going to be in New York for the PrepCom, we urge you
to come to this important session and add to the growing number
of NGO representatives who will be showing the world's governments
that we are watching them and we expect results!
4) Events
The NPT Calendar
of Events has been recently re-formatted for easier use and
printing. Please be sure to check it now, as it has gone through
many revisions over the past couple of days. If your organization
is hosting an event, make sure that the listing is correct. If there
are any changes to the calendar, please let me know as soon as possible.
Special Events to Look Out For: there will be a Town Meeting called
"Nuclear Weapons and Perpetual War: What you need to know and
what you can do about it!" organized by Abolition 2000 on Friday,
April 30, from 4:30-9 at All Souls Church on 80th St. and Lexington
avenue.
On Saturday, May 1, there will also be a rally and concert at Bryant
Park, at 42nd St. and 5th avenue. For more information, contact
Jackie Cabasso.
5) Resource Center
Throughout the two weeks of the PrepCom, the WILPF UN Office will
be converted into an NGO Resource Center for all NGOs participating
at the PrepCom. At our office, located on the 6th floor of the UN
Church Center (44th st. and 1st avenue), NGOs will be able to:
- find a plethora of background materials;
- find key people to answer any questions you might have;
- drop off materials;
- quickly check your email using two computers;
- hook up your own laptop to the internet;
- make local telephone calls;
- receive and send faxes;
- make copies (with paper that must be either brought in yourself
or bought from us);
- find an updated calendar of the day's events;
and more.
Governments and UN staffers may also regard our office as a meeting
spot for NGOs: if you need to find one of us, or if you are looking
for additional NGO resources, you can find it all here.
However, those who have visited us in New York before know that
our office is a remarkably tiny space. Please use our resources
sparingly and with consideration for our other staffers and the
other NGOs who may also need to use our resources.
If you have any questions regarding the use of the WILPF office
as your home base during the PrepCom, never hesitate to ask.
6) Shadow Report: Accountability is Democracy, Transparency
is Security
The 2004 edition of the NGO
Shadow Report: Accountability is Democracy, Transparency is
Security is now up on the web. With the invaluable help of many
of our colleagues around the world, we have fully updated all information
on all Nuclear Weapon States and the 44 Annex II States including:
- amount, location, and operational plan of nuclear weapons
- activities specifically undertaken in accordance with Article
VI of the NPT
- location and capability of nuclear facilities
- fissile material holdings
- research programs
- international nonproliferation programs
- positions taken in international fora on various issues of nuclear
disarmament
This edition of the Shadow Report also includes a fully updated
chapter on the Nuclear Weapon States’ Compliance with the
13 Step Plan.
Each delegation at the PrepCom will be receiving one complementary
copy of this report, one of the most comprehensive databases on
military and civilian nuclear holdings available.
Hard copies of the Shadow Report are also available for US$20. Send
a check payable to Jane Addams Peace Association, with RCW/Shadow
Report in the memo line, to:
WILPF
777 UN Plaza
6th floor
New York, NY 10017 USA
For more information on the NGO Shadow Report, contact the Project
Associate.
7) WILPF Side Events
The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom is much
more than just Reaching Critical Will. This year, there will be
over 70 WILPFers from around the world coming to represent the world's
oldest women's peace organization. With so many representatives,
we have a lot going on. Some of the activities that WILPF is working
on include:
Monday, April 26, 1:15 PM
Co-organizing a panel with Hidankyo, the atomic bomb survivors group
in Conference Room A. Under-Secretary-General Nobuyasu Abe will
be one of the featured speakers.
Tuesday, April 27, 2:30 PM
Co-organizing the Abolition 2000 Press Conference in the United
Nations Correspondents Association club.
Wednesday, April 28, 10 AM
WILPF-US is organizing a panel on the Military-Corporate Connection.
6:30 PM
You are invited to our 89th Anniversary reception, held on the 2nd
floor of the UNCC.
Friday, April 30
Rhianna, the RCW Project Associate, will be speaking at the Town
Hall meeting on April 30 (details above).
Saturday, May 1
Susi, the WILPF UNO Director, will be speaking at the May 1 rally
for nuclear disarmament in Bryant Park.
Tuesday, May 4
Organizing a panel on Women, WMD, and Conflict Prevention, with
USG Abe speaking on that panel as well.
Every Day:
- Publishing the daily News in Review, the only NGO analysis produced
each day during the conference.
- Posting all statements, working papers, non-papers, and reports
on our website in near real time. For all of you who will not be
able to be in New York, be sure to check the RCW NPT page every
day to see what your government does or does not say.
For more information on any of these events, contact Susi or Rhianna
today.
We'll see you at the PrepCom...
Rhianna Tyson
Project Associate
April 7, 2004
1) The UNDC Postpones 2004 Session
On Monday, April 5, the United
Nations Disarmament Commission convened in New York, as scheduled.
Yet despite months of diplomatic wrangling over the substantive
agenda items, the major players- the US, the UK, and the Non-Aligned
Movement (NAM)- remain deadlocked and the session is now postponed.
In his opening statement as Chair, Georgia's Ambassador Revaz Adamia
urged Members to "seek inspiration" from past achievements
of the Commission, such as Nuclear Weapon Free Zones and conventional
arms control measures. He stressed the need for revitalized efforts
in the face of new challenges to the international disarmament regime,
including "new concepts of deadly weaponry," threats of
terrorism, and "the readiness or willingness of some Member
States to comply" with existing obligations.
Under-Secretary-General Nobuyasu
Abe, too, delivered a short intervention, in which he reminded
States that "the work of this Commission has been shaped by
the political will of its members" and called for "increased
joint efforts to strengthen the multilateral system of international
peace and security."
Ms. Philomena Murnaghan, Deputy Permanent Representative of Ireland,
was elected Vice-Chair of the Commission.
The First Special Session of the General Assembly on Disarmament
(SSOD I), provided the mandate for the United Nations Disarmament
Commission as the world's only universal forum for deliberating
substantive disarmament issues. Years later, it was decided that
the UNDC would focus only on a few substantive issues over a three
year cycle, in order to facilitate in-depth discussions on these
matters most important to international peace and security. The
Commission is then to make consensus-based recommendations to the
General Assembly.
In 2000, the Commission adopted an agenda that covered 1) Nuclear
disarmament; and 2) Confidence-building measures (CBMs) in Small
Arms and Light Weapons (SALW). Completely divided on the issues,
Member States chose to postpone the 2002 session, in order to provide
more time for reaching consensus. By the close of the third and
final year of this cycle, the UNDC adjourned in 2003 without having
reached consensus.
For the 2004 session, the NAM States wished to continue deliberations
on the two previous items. The United States, which drafted a 2003
GA resolution (58/126) on the issue of First Committee reform, wished
for the Commission to deliberate the non-substantive issue of UNDC
reform. Finally, the United Kingdom, a bit less adamantly, proposed
an agenda that would cover nuclear verification and best practices
in SALW.
Indonesia, speaking on behalf of the NAM, stated that they "remain
hopeful" that continued deliberations will result in the agreement
on agenda items that take into consideration the concerns of all
delegations. Both the UK and the US refrained from making an official
statement to the Commission.
The informal consultations on the agenda continued immediately
after the Chair suspended the session on Monday and will continue
throughout the three few weeks.
2) NGOs and the Security
Council Draft Resolution on Nonproliferation
After months of intensive debate amongst the P5, a new draft resolution
on nonproliferation was made public on March 24. The draft resolution,
as it currently stands, fails to acknowledge the indivisible relationship
between non-proliferation and disarmament. If this resolution is
passed as is, it would further contribute to the dangerous de-linkage
between these two, incontrovertibly interdependent goals.
NGOs based in New York sent a memorandum, along with recommendations
for draft language on the resolution, to the Security Council and
other states, emphasizing the need for full consultation with all
interested states, and with civil society, including through an
open session and an informal (“Arria formula”) civil
society briefing.
Abolition 2000, a network of over 2000 disarmament NGOs, is conducting
a major grassroots mobilization, urging civil society to contact
the Security Council and their Ministries of Foreign Affairs to
demand an open session of the Security Council as they debate this
unprecedented SC resolution.
Click here to read
the letter of appeal that was sent out by the Abolition Global
Council, the International Steering Committee of Abolition 2000.
Click here to read the article
from the UN Wire.
Click here to read the statements delivered by John
Burroughs and Susi
Snyder at the UN Correspondents Association Press Club Press
Briefing on March 31, 2004.
For more information, contact either Susi
Snyder, WILPF UN Director, or John
Burroughs, Executive Director of Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear
Policy.
3) New CD Resource from Reaching
Critical Will
Now that the Conference
on Disarmament has adjourned its first session of 2004, we have
compiled a Summary
of Statements by Topic, that is now available on our
website.
This resource makes it easy for CD watchers to see where each State
stands on the pertinent issue facing the Geneva body. We have listed
every reference by Member States made to the following topics:
Fissile Material Cut Off Treaty
Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space
Subsidiary Body on Nuclear Disarmament
Negative Security Assurances
A5 Agenda
Verification
Terrorism
This list will be updated at the close of each session. We hope
this will prove to be a useful resource.
While the CD takes a break, be sure to stay updated with other
disarmament fora by subscribing to RCW's other email news services,
including the News in Review, the daily newsletter published during
the NPT. Subscribe today by sending an email to: nir@reachingcriticalwill.org.
To receive the weekly reports on the CD, send an email to: cd@reachingcriticalwill.org,
or check out the archived updates. For a full description of all
of RCW's email services, see: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/action/listindex.html.
4) "Contextualizing the NPT,"
a Report for Non-Nuclear Weapon States Party to the NPT
In collaboration with the Lawyers'
Committee on Nuclear Policy and the Western
States' Legal Foundation, Reaching Critical Will has published
a report, "Contextualizing
the NPT," in preparation for the NPT PrepCom, April 26-
May 7. The report, which outlines various challenges facing the
treaty and recommends ways of moving forward on key issues, is available
in PDF and with an accompanying PowerPoint
presentation. Both are available on the web for a limited time.
5) NGO Morning Strategy Session Re-Scheduled
Throughout the PrepCom, the Abolition
2000 network will be holding a daily Strategy Session for NGOs
at 8 AM, in the Grumman Room 10th floor, of the UNCC at 777 UN Plaza.
Following each day's strategy session, we will be reconvening at
9 AM in Conference Room A for a briefing by delegates at the PrepCom.
For more information on these strategy sessions, contact Emma
McGregor-Mento, the Abolition 2000 coordinator.
For a full listing of all of the events planned for this year's
PrepCom, see the Events Calendar,
also available in a printable
format.
************************************************
March 24, 2004
Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors,
March is indeed a busy month for disarmament activists and advisors.
While the weather in New York shifts daily, our efforts remain focused
on the various disarmament machinery at work during this unpredictable
month.
This edition of RCW's General E-News service offers a checklist
of NPT preparations, an update on the Geneva-based Conference on
Disarmament, backroom discussions on the (scheduled) United Nations
Disarmament Commission, an update on the NGO Shadow Report, as well
as a UN press release from the IAEA Director General's recent visit
to Washington, DC.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the upcoming NPT
PrepCom, or any other information provided in this News Advisory,
never hesitate to contact us. All questions during March 26- April
4 should be directed to Susi
Snyder, the WILPF UN Office Director. After that, Rhianna
will be back in New York to answer any question you may have.
As always, this and all other news from Reaching Critical Will is
archived on our site.
With best wishes,
Rhianna Tyson
Project Associate
I) NPT PrepCom Checklist
The third Preparatory Committee conference of the nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty is just about a month away. In order to ensure that your
own preparations are coming along, we've prepared a brief checklist
for all activists and disarmament experts who plan on making their
voices heard at this crucial meeting.
1) The registration deadline is April
1, a week from Thursday. All materials- including the names of your
delegates and a history of past interaction with the UN- must be
faxed in to Charles Mahaffey of the Department for Disarmament Affairs.
For more information, please refer to the last
News Advisory and be sure to read thoroughly the DDA's
aide memoire.
Please remember that the names you submit to the DDA are not subject
to later revision.
The DDA will not be issuing confirmation letters. They will only
be contacting you if something is missing from your application
or if your application has been denied. They will be making their
final decisions by Friday, April 9.
2) There are still time slots available if your organization wishes
to organize a side event during the PrepCom.
Please see the Calendar
of Events for all available slots. If you wish to book
Conference Room A- free of charge- for a side event, please contact
Rhianna today.
We have recently posted a printable
Calendar of Events on our site. This will be a useful
tool for all delegates- governmental as well as nongovernmental-
who will be at the PrepCom.
3) We are still accepting submissions to the News
In Review, the daily NGO newsletter published throughout
the NPT PrepCom. Read the guidelines for submissions and send us
your view today. Publishing an article, a cartoon, an advertisement,
or an announcement in the News in Review is a great way of getting
your views across to the delegates. They are distributed each day
to all governmental delegations and UN staffers, and they are also
archived on our site.
Furthermore, if you have not subscribed to the News in Review,
do it today. Send a message to Rhianna to be sure that you receive
the NIR in your mailbox each night it is published.
II) Conference on Disarmament First
Session Ends
The first session of the 2004 Conference on Disarmament will draw
to a close this week. The 66-member body has still not decided on
a program of work, although the proposed agenda from five ambassadors
(the A5 agenda) seems to be accumulating more support with each
revision. The United States and a few other key players have not
yet stated their position.
At such a crucial moment in history for disarmament, peace and security,
disarmament activists must continue to monitor and put necessary
pressure on the CD to begin negotiations on any of the items on
the proposed agenda.
Reaching Critical Will has been publishing
weekly CD Updates on this, the world's sole negotiating
body for disarmament. Later this month, we will also be posting
a summary of the 2004 session thus far, in order to help activists
and nuclear policy watchers understand where each country stands
on the pertinent issues of this Geneva body.
The CD section of our website also hosts all
statements delivered in Geneva, as well as all of the
press releases that are issued from UNOG.
For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the Conference, be sure
to read Reaching
Critical Will's Guide to the Conference on Disarmament,
which was updated in the autumn of 2003. There you can find a complete
overview of the history of the CD, its members, and the issues.
Subscribe to
the CD Advisory email list today and join the hundreds
of nuclear policy analysts who already receive these useful weekly
updates.
III) United Nations Disarmament Commission
Update
The United Nations
Disarmament Commission, the only universal body for
deliberating issues of disarmament, is scheduled to resume work
on April 5. However, after the UNDC failed to reach consensus on
either of its two substantive agenda items last year, the forum
has still not yet agreed on a program of work for this year.
The Non-Aligned Movement is advocating for the UNDC to resume discussions
on the two agenda items from the last cycle: nuclear disarmament
and confidence-building measures in small arms and light weapons
(SALW). The United Kingdom wants the UNDC to discuss verification
issues and best practices in the field of SALW. Finally, the United
States is pushing for the UNDC to discuss the issue of reform.
The deadline for the UNDC's agenda is set for April 1. If the concerned
parties do not reach agreement, the 2004 session of the UNDC will
be postponed until further notice. If the session does indeed begin
as scheduled, RCW will be posting all available statements on our
website and issuing weekly updates through this General E-News service.
IV) This is What Reporting Looks Like
At the 2000 Review Conference of the NPT, States Parties agreed
to 13 Practical Steps
to Disarmament. Step 12 of that consensus-based document
called on all States to submit regular reports on their progress
on their disarmament and nonproliferation obligations. Even though
the reluctance of some States to comply with this promise nearly
brought the 2002 PrepCom to an early close, "the culture of
reporting" is growing.
Reaching Critical Will offers the NGO
Shadow Report: Accountability is Democracy, Transparency is Security,
as a model for States Parties to fulfill their reporting obligation.
Last year, the Shadow Report was updated to include a new chapter
on the five NWS' compliance with the 13 Steps. This year, we are
wholly updating the entire report in time for the 2004 PrepCom.
If you have information on the nuclear holdings of your country
or your neighboring countries, contact
Rhianna today. The 2004 edition is well underway, and
in order to make it as comprehensive a tool as possible, we need
your knowledge and expertise. After all, this is an NGO Shadow Report.
It is up to civil society, once again, to demonstrate for our governments
what kind of transparency and accountability will make us all secure.
V) Mohamed ElBaradei Meets with George
W. Bush
In February of this year, the United States and the IAEA both put
forth separate proposals on how to fight the horizontal spread of
so-called weapons of mass destruction. These proposals- and others-
are sure to be one of the most prominent topics of debate at this
year's PrepCom, as well as at the 2005 Review Conference.
Last week, IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei met with the
Bush administration in Washington to discuss their proposals. The
following is a press release from the UN News Service.
UN NUCLEAR CHIEF URGES NEW RULES TO FIGHT SPREAD OF WEAPONS OF MASS
DESTRUCTION
New York, Mar 19 2004 10:00AM
Declaring that nuclear proliferation is now "a different ball
game" in which
"either we all will win or everybody would lose," the
head of the United
Nations atomic watchdog agency has called for international cooperation
to
devise new rules to combat the spread of weapons of mass destruction.
"The non-proliferation regime right now is absolutely under
growing stress,"
Mohamed ElBaradei, Director General of the International Atomic
Energy
Agency (IAEA) said at the end of a three-day visit to Washington
yesterday,
during which he conferred with President George W. Bush and other
top United
States officials.
"We are facing now the threat of proliferation of weapons
of mass
destruction which is everybody's fight," Mr. ElBaradei said
in an interview
on Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) television.
"What we have seen with A.Q. Khan associates, the black market,
what we have
seen with some of the Al-Qaida people interested in nuclear weapons,
makes
it clear that this is a different ball game and we have to revise
the rules,
and that really was the focus of my discussion with President Bush
yesterday," he added, referring to the Pakistani scientist
blamed for the
spread of nuclear technology to other countries.
"I think the message I'm getting from Washington this week
(is) that we
really need to put our heads together, not just the US and IAEA,
but
everybody in the international system."
Drawing an analogy with the fight against terrorism, he said defeat
would
spell widespread doom. "It's either we will win or everybody
would lose."
Calling on the international community to look at the big picture,
Mr.
ElBaradei declared: "There's a lot of measures we need to take,
control of
the nuclear material, better export control, better authority for
the
Agency, less countries having enrichment and reprocessing."
*************************************************
In this NPT Update, March 2, 2004:
I) Registration for the PrepCom is now open
II) Office Space for NGOs participating in the
PrepCom
III) News in Review submissions
IV) Calendar of NGO events
V) Housing for NGO representatives at the PrepCom
VI) Nuclear Testing: Then and Now
The information included in this NPT Update is very important, so
please read carefully. If you have any questions, just contact
us.
As always, all information regarding the NPT PrepCom is available
on our
NPT page.
I) Registration is Open
All NGOs wishing to participate in the Third NPT PrepCom, April
26- May 7, must register with the United Nations Department for
Disarmament Affairs, Weapons of Mass Destruction branch.
Instructions on NGO registration and other logistics are available
in the aide
memoire published by the DDA.
You must send:
1) A letter written on organizational letterhead requesting accreditation
to the PrepCom. This letter must include the number and names of
delegates. Please note: you may not change the names of delegates
once the letter is sent in!
This letter must also include an overview of past interactions between
your organization and the UN in relation to disarmament and non-proliferation
issues. (Including past PrepComs, co-sponsorship of events, ECOSOC
consultative status etc.) Be sure to also include all contact information:
including email, phone and fax.
2) A mission statement or summary of work
Fax this information to Mr. Charles Mahaffey, NGO Liaison and Coordination:
(212) 963-8892 no later than April 1.
The DDA will be notifying you through email if you have been accepted.
For more information on NGO registration and other logistics, please
see our NPT
Page.
2) Office Space for NGOs
Due to severely restricted space in the Secretariat in New York,
NGOs will not be assigned their own office space. However, WILPF
will be allowing NGOs participating in the PrepCom to use their
office space, located at 777 UN Plaza (at the Church Center on 44th
street and 1st avenue). NGOs will have access to 2-3 Internet-ready
computers, as well as DSL plug-ins for laptops. There is also a
photocopier available for use for small jobs. You must buy the paper
from us at 5 cents per sheet, or bring your own.
The WILPF office will be staffed from 9AM- 6PM. If you need to
use it later than 6 PM, you must contact us for special arrangements.
Please keep in mind that there are many organizations who will
be requiring the facilities; please use these resources only as
needed, and with consideration for the other WILPF staff women who
will be working there.
3) News in Review
The News in Review, the daily NGO publication for the PrepCom,
is a great way of getting your views across to the delegates. They
are distributed each day to all governmental delegations and UN
staffers, and they are archived
on our site.
We are still accepting submissions for the News in Review. We are
accepting Feature Articles on any disarmament issue (not to exceed
1000 words), cartoons, artwork, and advertising space.
Deadlines for submissions are April 12.
For more information on submissions, please see the
last news advisory contact Rhianna.
4) NGO Calendar of Events
The vast array of side events planned by NGOs make up a conference
in and of themselves! Groups from all over the world have organized
workshops, plenaries, and discussion fora which will be held in
the NGO Conference Room A, in the basement of the Secretariat building.
The Department for Disarmament Affairs has also arranged for a photocopier
to be available for NGO use in the NGO Conference Room.
The
Calendar of Events has been newly formatted to enhance
its readability. Be sure to check it out today.
5) Housing
We have compiled and posted a
list of affordable accommodations in New York City
for NGOs wishing to participate in the PrepCom. Be sure to make
your reservation as soon as possible!
Some New Yorkers have also offered a bed in their private home for
NGOs visiting New York for the PrepCom. If you are interested in
being a guest in somebody's home, contact Rhianna today.
6) Nuclear Testing: Then and Now
Yesterday, March 1, marked the 50th anniversary of the first deliverable
hydrogen bomb test "Bravo" at Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands.
Civil society groups commemorated the 15-megaton hydrogen bomb explosion
with rallies, memorials, and silent vigils around the world. According
to Fanai Castro, an indigenous rights activist, the Bravo test-
with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima bombs- was probably the deadliest
of the Cold War-era nuclear tests for the peoples of the Marshall
Islands.
The fallout from the blast, later referred to as "ashes of
death," rained down radioactive dust and other fallout to islands
hundreds of miles away. Within hours of the explosion, hundreds
of those islanders, as well as U.S. weather observers and Japanese
fishermen in the area, were suffering from burns, nausea, diarrhea,
itching, peeling skin, sores, lost hair and nails and other immediate
effects from radiation.
While civil society mourns the death and destruction wrought by
the Bravo test, the United States is busy revving up for another
subcritical nuclear weapons test. Under the auspices of the Stockpile
Stewardship and Management Program, the subcritical test, nicknamed
UNICORN-1, is scheduled for sometime this month at the Nevada Test
Site. For more information, contact the Shundahai
Network.
For more information on the history of Bikini Atoll, please see:
http://www.bikiniatoll.com/history.html.
------------------------------------------
Rhianna Tyson
Project Associate
February 13, 2004
***Please distribute widely***
Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors,
This is the first in a series of updates from Reaching Critical
Will on the NPT Preparatory Committee meeting in New York on April
26- May 7, 2004.
In this NPT News Advisory:
1) Invitation to
the 2004 NPT PrepCom
2) NGO Registration
3) What can we hope
to achieve?
4) NGO Statements
to the delegates
5) Housing Options
for NGO representatives
6) News in Review:
the daily NGO newsletter
7) What can I do
if I can't go to New York?
8)
Women's Caucus at the NPT
9) Links for more
information
Reaching Critical Will has recently updated and re-organized our
NPT page at: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/npt/nptindex1.html,
which contains all official documents from past NPT meetings, background
on the treaty and the issues at stake in 2004, NGO analysis, reports,
and presentations to the PrepCom and more. If you have any questions
or concerns regarding the new organization of the information, never
hesitate to contact us.
In peace,
Rhianna
1. Invitation to NGOs to attend the
nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Preparatory Committee Meeting (NPT
PrepCom) April 26- May 7, 2004.
All non-governmental organizations that work on nuclear disarmament
and nonproliferation are invited to attend the Third PrepCom meeting
of States Parties to the NPT, to be held in New York on April 26-
May 7. This is the last Preparatory Committee meeting before the
Review Conference in 2005.
Ambassador Sudjadnan Parnohadiningrat of Indonesia will be chairing
the conference.
All states, both signatories and non-signatories, are invited to
attend.
If your organization wishes to participate in the upcoming PrepCom,
be sure to subscribe to Reaching Critical Will's General E-News
service to receive all updates and information throughout the upcoming
weeks. Send an email to: subscribe@reachingcriticalwill.org.
2. NGO Registration
NGOs wishing to attend the PrepCom must register for accreditation
to the Department for Disarmament Affairs.
Registration will be open in the coming weeks.
Please note that the registration process this year will be more
stringent than it was in 2003. It is very important that you stay
updated with RCW in order to receive the aide memoire and other
important information on the registration process.
3. What can we hope to achieve at this
PrepCom?
The world is facing a nuclear disaster. States are moving away from
a policy of nonproliferation to one of counterproliferation at the
expense of the multilateral treaty-based system of law. Great strides
of progress that were made at the 2000 Review Conference have been
systematically undermined or nullified in the four years since.
Proliferation is on the rise, both vertically and horizontally.
The NPT is at its greatest crisis in history.
In recent PrepComs, NGOs have provided invaluable insight and expertise
to the conference, and their influence is growing. It is ever more
imperative that committed NGOs attend the Third PrepCom, where States
Parties will be working on a consensus-based list of recommendations
to send to the Review Conference in 2005. They will be discussing
the ideas for strengthening the Treaty that have been put forth
in working papers, official documents, and plenary discussions,
and will be seeking ways of moving forward on these issues.
At this critical meeting, NGOs will be:
•urging the governments to renew their commitment to the NPT
•offering review and analysis of the Nuclear Weapons' States
progress on the 13 point action plan for disarmament
•fostering a reassessment of the role and level of participation
of NGOs in international fora
•recommending ways of strengthening other disarmament machinery,
including the Conference on Disarmament and the Disarmament Commission
•engaging diplomats in discussions on the newest ideas and
issues in disarmament at side-events and lunch time panels
•holding press conferences and conducting media outreach to
draw attention to the conference and the issues
•organizing a massive public demonstration demanding nuclear
disarmament
•organizing a public outreach and educational forum, linking
proliferation and permanent war
and more.
NGOs have already begun organizing a vast array of side panels,
discussions, workshops and receptions. The DDA has kindly reserved
Conference Room A for the entirety of the PrepCom solely for NGO
activities. If your organization wishes to hold an event, be sure
to book the room through our calendar. Check it out at: www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/npt/events.html.
Then send an email to rhianna@reachingcriticalwill.org
with your organization's name, the title of the event, the time
slot you wish to book, and contact information.
4. NGO Statements
NGOs are allotted one, three-hour session to present their ideas
and recommendations to the States Parties. These presentations are
drafted in a collective, consensus-based manner, and will also be
distributed to all governments and archived on the RCW website.
(You can read last year's statements at: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/npt/NGOpres2003index.htm.)
The NGO presentations drafting process has already begun, and drafts
will soon be circulated for editing among dozens of NGOs. If you
are an NGO wishing to participate in this drafting and editing process-
and we urge you to do so- join the discussion by sending an email
to: npt-outreach-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
Once you have subscribed, you will receive further instructions
on participating.
Subscribe today!
5. Housing Options for NGO representatives
Reaching Critical Will wants as many NGOs to come to New York for
this PrepCom as possible. And, as New Yorkers, we understand how
expensive this city can be. That's why we will help you find the
best accommodations to suit your budget and your needs. As a resource
for our out-of-town guests, we have a lengthy list of affordable
accommodations in NYC, as well as offers from many of our friends
and advisors to host a guest or two in their own home.
If you are a New Yorker with a spare bed, couch, or other sleep
space, please consider hosting a disarmament activist in your home
during the PrepCom, April 26- May 7. Some activists come only for
the first week, others for only the first few days. Please discuss
it with your family or housemates if you would be able to share
your home with one or more of our out-of-town friends for a few
nights.
If you are interested in being a host or a guest, please contact
me at: rhianna@reachingcriticalwill.org,
indicating any special needs that must be met.
Check out our list of Affordable
Accomodations.
6. News in Review: the daily
NGO newsletter
The News in Review is a daily publication produced during
the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Preparatory Committee and Review
Conferences. It features analysis of the day's events, feature articles
from NGOs around the world, interviews with diplomats and NGO representatives,
nuclear facts, announcements, cartoons, calendar of events, and
more. You can read past NIRs at: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/npt/nirindex.html.
We encourage you to submit to this year's News in Reviews.
The guidelines are as follows:
Feature articles: In addition to the daily analysis of
the proceedings of the PrepCom, the News in Review also
contains feature articles that cover a range of nuclear disarmament
issues. We welcome submissions from NGO experts around the world,
even if you are not able to come to New York this April. Articles
should be between 500-1000 words and may be edited for length. The
deadline for feature submissions is April 12th.
Advertising space: This year, you can use the News
in Review to publicize an important announcement, event, or
project hosted by your organization. NIRs are distributed
to all of the delegates at the PrepCom, through a free email subscription,
and are archived on our website, www.reachingcriticalwill.org. By
placing an ad in the News in Review, you will be able to
get your message across to hundreds of well-informed members of
the disarmament community.
1/4 page ad: $25
1/2 page ad: $75
full page ad: $200
Cartoons, photos, artwork, poetry: Calling all creative
anti-nuclear activists! The News in Review wouldn't be
complete without its fill of poignant, satirical, and beautiful
artwork. We are accepting all forms of anti-nuclear artwork, to
be sent in either a .jpg, .gif, or .pdf file. Start drawing, coloring,
taking photos, painting, or doodling- but get it in to us soon!
The deadline for all submissions is April 12.
Send all submissions, inquiries, comments or concerns to rhianna@reachingcriticalwill.org.
7. What can I do if I can't go to New
York?
- See where your government stands on the issues by reading their
statements from last year's PrepCom here: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/npt/2003statements/day1statements.htm.
- Subscribe
to RCW's CD News Advisory list, and receive weekly updates
on what your government is saying this week in Geneva. http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/action/Advisories04.html
- Make an appointment with your Foreign Ministry or equivalent.
Urge your Foreign Minister to attend the conference, reminding
them that they represent YOU. Use our Governmental Contact Database
for their information: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/resources/govcontacts/govindex.html
- Call your local media! Publicize your views and your government's
policies, and let them know what's happening in New York.
- Once the PrepCom is in session, you can read what your government
did or did not say by checking RCW's NPT page at the end of the
day. We post all statements, working papers, non-papers, reports,
NGO statements, and official documents on our website in near
real-time. Subscribe to the News in Review, the daily non-governmental
NPT publication, and receive daily updates on what is happening
in New York. http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/npt/nirindex.html
- Call your representatives in New York and Geneva, to let them
know that you are paying attention, and that you are demanding
nuclear disarmament! http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/resources/govcontacts/govindex.html
8. Women's Caucus at the NPT
It's been over three years since the Security Council passed resolution
1325 on Women, Peace, and Security, the historic resolution that
"encourages all those involved in the planning for disarmament"
to incorporate a gender perspective in their deliberations. From
what we can tell, the States Parties to the NPT haven't quite yet
achieved this.
This year, the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
will be hosting a women's caucus during the NPT. The caucus, as
envisaged, would meet several times during the PrepCom, in order
to formulate a gendered analysis of the proceedings. The caucus
would then comprise a list of recommendations to be sent to the
delegates and the Chairman, using the DDA's Gender Mainstreaming
Action Plan, launched last year, as a basis for strengthening the
work of the PrepCom.
In addition to inviting our female friends and colleagues who already
work on disarmament issues, we would like to incorporate the perspectives,
expertise, and views of women working in the field of women, peace,
and security.
If you are interested in participating in this new initiative, please
contact us as soon as possible. We welcome any thoughts, concerns,
ideas, or proposals for moving this initiative forward.
The DDA's Gender Mainstreaming Action Plain is available here: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/social/genderdisarm/genderindex.html#dda
9. Links for more information
See: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/npt/nptindex1.html#NGOlink
********************************
January 29, 2004
Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors,
With the NPT fast approaching, Reaching Critical Will has begun
coordinating civil society efforts at the PrepCom, April 26- May
7, 2004 in New York. In the upcoming weeks, friends and advisors
of RCW will be receiving a series of NPT-focused advisories, including
information on registration, the NGO presentations process, the
NGO newsletter, side events registration, logistical information,
and more.
In the meanwhile, we have a few quick announcements:
1) Reaching Critical Finances: a call
for donations and a benefit concert
2) News in Review subscriptions
3) The Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission commences
work
As always, we welcome any comments, questions, or concerns you
may have about any of the information below, the upcoming NPT PrepCom,
or international disarmament news in general. We look forward to
hearing from you!
In peace,
Rhianna Tyson
RCW Project Associate
1) Reaching Critical Finances
As all of us in the international disarmament community are aware,
funding for NGOs has hit an all-time low. Many governments today
do not believe that disarmament is possible, and others still believe
that it is not desirable. In response to this dreary political outlook,
many of the funders have turned away from international work, and
projects like Reaching Critical Will, along with many other amazing
research and advocacy groups, find themselves in a serious financial
crisis.
All of the information services upon which you have come to depend
from Reaching Critical Will are at stake. We are now reaching out
to our friends and advisors, in this time of need, to keep these
services operating through the end of this year's critical NPT PrepCom.
If you would like to know more about Reaching Critical Will before
sending a cheque, we will gladly send you a briefing book that details
all of the services that your generous donation will provide. We
are also available at any time to answer any questions you may have
about this important project.
Please make all cheques payable to The Jane Addams Peace Association
(JAPA), with "RCW" in the memo line.
JAPA/RCW
777 UN Plaza
6th floor
New York, NY 10017
One friend of Reaching Critical Will has already volunteered his
services for our project.
This Saturday, January 31st, Jazz for Peace will be performing
two special benefit concerts for Reaching Critical Will. Come and
show your support!
Two shows: 7:30 PM and 9 PM
Jazz on the Park
36 West 106th Street (Duke Ellington Blvd)
between Manhattan Ave and Central Park West.
Tickets are $20 and can be purchased in advance at www.jazzforpeace.org
or by calling (212) 947-1104.
As the New York Times Jazz Forum maintained, it is "...sure
to be a good show."
2) News in Review subscriptions
The News in Review is the daily NGO letter published by RCW during
the NPT PrepComs and Review Conferences, containing daily analysis
of the conference proceedings, feature articles from disarmament
experts around the world, interviews with diplomats and NGO representatives,
announcements, calendar of events, nuclear fun facts and more.
But the NIR is not just distributed to those in New York. In fact,
it is meant to give all of you who can't be in New York all of the
information you need to know exactly what is going on here at the
PrepCom. What government said what? What did your government not
say? Are the debates fruitful? What did the NGOs have to say? Get
the inside scoop by subscribing today! Send an email to rhianna@reachingcriticalwill.org
with the subject "NIR subscribe", indicating if you
would prefer PDF or plain text. The NIRs will not be going out on
this General E-News list- you must subscribe separately.
Read archived NIRs from the past four years here: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/npt/nirindex.html.
And, as an extra bonus to all email subscribers- you'll receive
your daily NIR the night before the delegates do! Subscribe today!
3) The Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission
commences
The independent commission to investigate weapons of mass destruction,
initiated by the Swedish government, began its work yesterday. Headed
up by former UNMOVIC chief Hans Blix, many of the world's top disarmament
experts, acting in their own personal capacity, are contributing
to the world's understanding of the WMD threat to our survival.
Read Jim Wurst's article from the UN Wire:
Iraq War Should Not Be Disarmament Model, Experts Say
http://www.unwire.org/News/328_426_12603.asp
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