In December, governments indicated they are at least willing to
discuss nuclear disarmament when they finally agreed to a programme
of work in the deliberative Disarmament Commission. After a year
of disarmament machinery deadlock and failures, perhaps they are
beginning to feel the pressure from civil society and international
leaders from Secretary-General Kofi Annan to Pope Benedict XVI,
who last week called for nuclear disarmament.
As nuclear weapon states continue to refuse to disarm, they put
the world in danger of increasing nuclear proliferation. The EU
is struggling to maintain its credibility in acting as a nuclear
non-proliferation mediator. Parliamentarians from Belgium, Britain,
Norway and Germany are calling for US nukes to be removed from their
soil, maintaining nuclear weapons possession damages their legitimacy
in non-proliferation negotiations. France, Greece and the Ukraine
have already banned foreign nuclear weapons from their territories,
although France, of course, has weapons of its own.
The BBC just presented papers showing both the British and Norwegian
governments were aware that the heavy water the United Kingdom sold
to Norway in the 1950's was bound for Israel. Papers were also released
showing Norway was aware Israel was interested in a nuclear weapons
program before they resold the heavy water to Israel.
It is not, and has never been, stable or sustainable for select
states to possess nuclear weapons while forbidding their possession
to others. Non-proliferation efforts urgently require that nuclear
weapon states begin true and global disarmament immediately, and
the EU must consider viable regional solutions when negotiating
with Iran over its nuclear program.
1. Disarmament Commission adopts an
agenda
The UN Disarmament
Commission (DC), which has been deadlocked for several years,
surprisingly agreed to an agenda on Monday, December 12, 2005. At
this organizational meeting at UN headquarters, no objections were
raised to current Chair Rowe’s compromise
proposal on the disputed nuclear disarmament agenda item. Although
the item was probably not entirely satisfactory to all parties,
no one was willing to block a programme of work.
The agenda for the 2006 substantive session is:
"Recommendations for achieving the objectives of nuclear disarmament
and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons."
"Practical confidence-building measures in the field of conventional
weapons."
The DC will also consider "Measures for improving the effectiveness
of the methods of work of the UNDC", an agenda item the United
States has been supporting, much as it has been advocating UN reform
in all areas, including the First Committee of the General Assembly
(see the US 2004
and 2003
resolutions on First Committee Reform, and UN reform debates at
the World
Summit in 2005).
The Disarmament Commission, a body open to all Member States under
the UN General Assembly, considers and makes recommendations on
disarmament problems. Unlike the Conference on Disarmament, it is
not a negotiating body, but focuses on discussing two to three disarmament
problems over three years, one of which is traditionally nuclear
disarmament. It is also supposed to “consider the elements
of a comprehensive programme for disarmament to be submitted as
recommendations to the General Assembly”. In 1996, the UN
DC created 16
Principles of Verification.
The 2006 substantive session will be held from April 10-28, at
UN headquarters in New York City. Member States will submit their
proposals for the UN DC Bureau in the first two months of 2006,
after which they will hold another organizational meeting. The Asian
Group is slated for Chair and the African Group for rapporteur.
A bureau with strong support for disarmament and a good diplomatic
track record will help Member States use the UN DC as a venue for
real discussions on how to make progress in disarmament.
2. General Assembly votes on First
Committee resolutions
The UN General Assembly passed
all the resolutions submitted by the First
Committee (Disarmament Committee) of the General Assembly on
December 8, 2005, with one, “Transparency in Armaments”,
to be put to a vote by the end of this week. Very few votes changed
between October, when UN member states discussed, drafted and negotiated
resolutions on disarmament and international security, and the plenary
sessions of the General Assembly.
The General Assembly usually approves the resolutions submitted
to it by the First Committee, and while more states tend to be present
for the plenary votes, there are not usually many changes in position.
The most significant changes this year were on the small
arms omnibus resolution and the resolution
on the prevention of an arms race in outer space (PAROS).
The First Committee controversially called for a vote on operative
paragraph two of the traditionally consensus small arms resolution,
and Mexico and Jamaica abstained to protest that the consensus-seeking
paragraph did not call for a legally binding instrument on marking
and tracing small arms. However, the resolution was adopted without
a vote in the General Assembly.
On the annual PAROS resolution, Israel changed its sole abstention
in the First Committee to a no vote, joining the only other no vote
from the United States. There were no other abstentions. According
to its explanation of vote in the First Committee, the United State
voted against the resolution because “there is no arms race
in outer space”. Ironically, many Member States and citizens
are most concerned about possible US deployment of weapons in space.
Russia has unilaterally declared it will not be the first nation
to deploy weapons, and has invited other nations to join it in such
confidence-building declarations. The US was the only vote against
the new Russian resolution
"Measures to promote transparency and confidence-building in
outer space", in both the First Committee and the GA plenary,
with Israel abstaining.
Taking into account these changes between the two, the First Committee,
and consequently the General Assembly, was characterized by attempts
at, and impediments to progress.
The United States voted against 22 resolutions out of 60, about
10 no votes ahead of the United Kingdom, Israel and France, who
were the next most likely to break consensus.
In dealing with the dysfunctional disarmament machinery tasked
with addressing these weapons systems, the First Committee delved
into issues of consensus and unilateralism. The conversation on
the purpose of consensus and its abuse will continue as various
international disarmament fora struggle to adapt to a changed, and
changing, geopolitical context. (For more information, see The First
Committee Monitor’s Introduction
Week 3 and Disarmament Machinery Report Weeks 1
and 2)
On the last day of the First Committee, Mexico insisted the Disarmament
Commission adopt an agenda by the beginning of its 2006 session,
by vote if necessary. The DC adopted an agenda at its December 12,
2005 organizational meeting, and will begin substantive deliberations
in 2006.
A new alliance of six countries, Brazil, Canada, Kenya, Mexico,
New Zealand and Sweden, presented a creative
proposal to the First Committee to establish four open-ended
ad-hoc committees under the General Assembly consistent with the
for a Conference on Disarmament (CD)
programme of work. Although a draft resolution was not tabled, it
caused a stir and demonstrated creative problem solving to address
the deadlock in the CD. If there is no progress in the world's sole
multilateral disarmament negotiating forum, the resolution will
hopefully be tabled next year with broader support. (For more information,
see The First Committee Monitor’sDisarmament
Machinery Report in the Final Edition) The CD will begin its
2006 substantive session January 23, 2006. Subscribe to Reaching
Critical Will’s CD Report to keep up on whether the CD will
respond to this pressure and finally adopt a programme of work!
Other positive developments this year included the New Agenda Coalition’s
(NAC) decision to vote for the Japanese nuclear disarmament resolution
in solidarity, despite having reservations about it, and China’s
first-ever for the resolution supporting the Mine Ban Treaty, though
it is still not party to the Treaty. Both the New Agenda Coalition
and Japan reworked their annual nuclear disarmament resolutions
this year in light of the failed Non-Proliferation Treaty Review
Conference and the 60 year anniversary of the US atomic bombings
of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. (For more information, see the New
Agenda and Renewed Determination and Landmines
Reports in the Final Edition of the First Committee Monitor.)
3. Iran Update
While the IAEA has not taken any action regarding Iran’s nuclear
program since our last E-news Advisory, escalatory rhetoric among
the parties has continued. In case you have missed the constant
media coverage, the brief recap is that Iran continues its inflammatory
statements about Israel, Israel declared Iranian uranium enrichment
as the point of no return and therefore their deadline for diplomatic
action, and Iran insisted that it would enrich uranium in Iran.
The EU and the US remain very concerned, and continue to explore
all diplomatic avenues. However, Iran just preemptively passed a
law that would limit international access to its facilities if the
IAEA refers it to the Security Council. Yesterday in Vienna, the
EU3 and Iran agreed to continue discussions next month, meaning
there may be enough common ground to renew negotiations.
Interestingly, the US Army War College published a paper, “” (you can
the entire publication), in which it acknowledged that neither diplomatic
nor military action would prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons
capabilities. This paper therefore suggested that the best way to
resolve the crisis would be through Israel dismantling its nuclear
program. A Nuclear Weapon Free Zone in the Middle East has been
conceptually universally endorsed, but not concretely acted on.
With this crisis heating up, it is time to look at regional solutions
in a pragmatic and realistic way. The Middle East and the world
cannot afford to risk another nuclear arms race.
Civil Society has been following this process closely, and supports
non-military solutions to the crisis. The global majority understand
that cascading proliferation, particularly in the volatile Middle
East, is a threat to life on earth, and that the only appropriate
way to deal with this threat is through global, irreversible, verifiable
nuclear disarmament. The Nuclear Weapon States have a responsibility
to lead this planet-saving action, starting now. Read the Civil
Society and Parliamentarians letter to decision-makers, and
sign on.
November 30
Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors,
The First Committee on Disarmament, Peace and Security concluded
earlier this month with indications that governments and civil society,
with few exceptions, are ready and willing to come together to make
real progress on disarmament. Reaching Critical Will is making the
most of this sentiment, and the time this coming spring with no
meeting of States Parties to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, by bringing
together civil society to work on disarmament and non-proliferation.
We know that with the disarmament deadlock and the increasing risks
of nuclear weapons, real work with concrete results is urgently
needed. Civil society has the freedom to take the lead by coming
together to create a Global Nuclear Inventory of the world’s
nuclear weapons, materials, reactors and policies, both military
and civilian, in order to impel progress on both nuclear disarmament
and non-proliferation.
As always, this and all other General E-News Advisories from Reaching
Critical Will are archived on our website. We welcome any feedback,
comments, questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Nordstrom
Project Associate
1. First Committee Concludes
The UN General Assembly’s First
Committee on Disarmament, Peace and Security concluded early
this month by passing 60 draft
resolutions covering issues from small arms to nuclear disarmament
to the prevention of an arms race in outer space. Reaching Critical
Will followed the proceedings every day, and our summary reports
on all the issues covered, published weekly and distributed to our
email list and to the delegates in The
First Committee Monitor, are available at: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/FCM.html
2. Global Nuclear Inventory
Reaching Critical Will is using the spring 2006 break in the Non-Proliferation
Treaty preparatory committee and review conference meetings as an
opportunity to generate collaborative proactive progress on nuclear
disarmament. The Global Nuclear Inventory (GNI), a comprehensive
and systematized update of RCW’s Model
Nuclear Inventory, centralizes information on nuclear weapons,
materials and policies.
Focused on 44 countries, including the Nuclear Weapon States and
all those that have a significant civilian nuclear program, this
disarmament education report offers vital information to mobilize
civil society and prompt decision-makers to action. Not unlike the
Landmine Monitor or the Small Arms Survey, this report is an NGO
research contribution designed to prompt governments to fulfill
their obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The Global Nuclear Inventory will not only improve the
quality and detail of information provided on nuclear weapons, materials
and policies, it will also bring NGOs together in a results-based
joint activity, providing an opportunity to coordinate strategies
and international messaging on nuclear disarmament.
If you would like a copy of the printed version of the Model
Nuclear Inventory, send a $20 check made out to Jane Addams
Peace Association to: Reaching Critical Will—WILPF, 777 UN
Plaza, 6th floor, New York, NY, 10017, with Model Nuclear Inventory
in the subject line.
3. Iran and the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA)
Developments surrounding international disagreement over Iran’s
nuclear program have tumbled out over the past month. Following
last month’s IAEA Board of Governors resolution that found
Iran in non-compliance with its nuclear safeguards agreement, developments
have taken place under the threat of possible referral to the Security
Council, as the resolution stipulated the situation was within the
Council’s competence.
Russia has since put forward a proposal to enrich Iran’s
uranium in Russia, endorsed by the EU3 (France, Germany, and the
UK) and then rejected by Iran. Earlier this month, Iran voluntarily
turned over blueprints obtained from the Khan network of how to
build the core of a nuclear warhead to the IAEA. However, the IAEA
decided at its November 24 Board of Governors Meeting to not immediately
refer Iran to the Security Council. Iran hardened its bargaining
position after the meeting, insisting that negotiations with the
EU3 be based on creating nuclear fuel in Iran while the EU3 softened
its stance by agreeing to resume negotiations even if Iran does
not suspend its enrichment activities.
4. Key
Issues Page
Reaching Critical Will has recently gathered all our issue-based
web pages into one “Key Issues Index Page” for easy
access and reference. The Key Issues page has links to pages on
the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space, a Fissile Materials
Cut-off Treaty, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and a nuclear
weapons convention, among others. In addition to our new web page
on Iran (see above) we are also developing a page that will follow
developments in the 6-Party talks and North Korea, and a new page
on nuclear terrorism.
Also check out our key issues page to see the latest developments
on the other weapons systems you follow. For instance:
the Second Review Conference of the Mine Ban Treaty is being
held this week (Nov 28 to Dec 2) in Zagreb, Croatia;
the 2005 annual meeting of States Parties to the Biological
Weapons Convention will be held next week (Dec 5 to Dec 9) under
the Chairmanship of Ambassador John Freeman of the United Kingdom;
and
the 10th Session of the Conference of States Parties to the
Chemical Weapons Convention was held from November 7 to 11 in
The Hague.
****************************
Jennifer Nordstrom
Project Associate, Reaching Critical Will
October 25
Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors,
I would like to take a moment to remind you of one of RCW's contributions
to disarmament: The
First Committee Monitor. Every year, RCW coordinates a
team of NGO reporters to monitor and report on the General Assembly
First Committee on Disarmament, Peace and Security.
You can find the First Committee Monitor here: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/FCM.html
(You can have these summaries emailed to you, in HTML or PDF form,
by replying to this email with 'subscribe HTML' or 'subscribe PDF'
in the subject line)
****************************
Jennifer Nordstrom
Project Associate, Reaching Critical Will
October 4
Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors,
We are beginning another session of the General Assembly's First
Committee on Peace and Security in the wake of numerous failed outcomes
in disarmament this year. Can we bring ourselves to hope for governmental
progress again? Although we know we must continue to work regardless,
the whispers around this session of the First Committee indicate
that we may have cause to hope for concrete progress by governments.
Finally, after nine years of deadlock in the Conference on Disarmament,
after a Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference with no substantive
outcome, after a World Summit with no reference to disarmament or
non-proliferation of nuclear weapons in its Outcome Document, in
the 60th year of the continued existence of nuclear weapons since
their first on civilians, governments are thinking about new ways
to make the disarmament machinery at their disposal work. The people
of the world must encourage them to succeed; we must insist they
succeed.
The
World Summit comes and goes, and Disarmament and Non-Proliferation
are deleted from the Outcome Document intended to address the
'new security environment'.
As always, this and all other General E-News Advisories from Reaching
Critical Will are archived on our website. We welcome any feedback,
comments, questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Nordstrom
Project Associate
1. The 60th session of the General
Assembly of the UN's First
Committee on Disarmament Peace and Security began
yesterday, October 3, 2005.
The First Committee is the UN committee of the General Assembly
that deals with issues of disarmament and international security.
All 191 Member States of the UN are welcome to attend, debate the
issues, and draft, negotiate and vote on resolutions during this
4-5 week session every October. This year the First Committee will
run from Monday, October 3, to Tuesday, November 1. (See the First
Committee meeting
schedule and Calendar
of events)
Following several failed attempts by governments to come to consensus
on disarmament and non-proliferation issues this year, there is
hope that the traditionally conservative First Committee will use
this 60th session to make progress on the impasse. The First Committee
has the procedural advantage of voting, giving it options unavailable
to the deadlocked Conference on Disarmament (CD)
and failed Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)
Review Conference that operate by consensus.
Reaching Critical Will monitors the First Committee and reports
on what happens there in the weekly First
Committee Monitor and catalogs all statements,
non-papers
and resolutions.
We will keep you up on the developments of 2005 if you subscribe
to the Monitor (type 1comsubscribe in the subject line).
This year's Monitor features a new layout and the most exciting
First Committee news including reports on: new initiatives in disarmament
machinery, disarmament and non-proliferation, First Committee and
UN Reform, the 7-nation initiative, the New Agenda Coalition, Preventing
an Arms Race in Outer Space, negotiations on a Fissile Materials
Cut-off Treaty, Negative Security Assurances, the Comprehensive
Test Ban Treaty, disarmament and development, terrorism, small arms
and light weapons, biological and chemical weapons, and landmines.
2. The Conference on Disarmament (CD)
closes
another year without a program of work. This is the
ninth consecutive year the CD has failed to come to agreement on
a program of work. Current CD President Peru recently offered another
take on the Five
Ambassadors (A5) Proposal for a programme of work, combining
the A5 proposal with the suggestions made by Ambassador Chris Sanders'
(Netherlands) in his "Food
for thought" non-paper earlier this year. According to
Japanese Ambassador Mine, Peru's proposal, CD
1757, does not have a great deal of support, but discussions
on it will continue during consultations at this year's First Committee.
See the full
report on the last formal CD session of 2005.
3. The
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT)'s fourth Entry Into Force Conference
concludes with 2 new ratifications (neither by an Annex II state)
and no appearance by the US.
From September 21-23, parties and signatories to the CTBT gathered
in New York to discuss how to bring the Treaty into force more quickly.
The conference made clear that although progress on entry-into-force
of the Treaty is slow, and is being boycotted and actively opposed
by the United States, it is still happening. Although it has yet
to become international law through formal entry-into-force, it
is establishing a legal norm, with 176 signatures and 125 ratifications.
The new Executive Secretary of the , Ambassador Tibor Toth, also
that two-thirds of the verification system has been built. At the
conference, Haiti and Antigua and Barbuda announced their ratifications.
See more highlights from the conference here.
4. The
World Summit comes and goes, and Disarmament and Non-Proliferation
are deleted from the Outcome Document intended to address the 'new
security environment'.
At the World Summit, governments reached agreement on development
aid, on climate change, on human rights, on management reform, on
peace-building, and almost every issue but disarmament and non-proliferation.
Disarmament and non-proliferation issues (see the ) were so contested that Member States
deleted the entire section from the consensus-approved Outcome Document.
The United Nations reform that was supposed to take place at the
World Summit in order to address the 'new security environment'
did not address nuclear weapons.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan called this a disgrace, and he was
right. (RCW's Summit
Disarmament Index has all the related governmental quotes from
the high-level plenary session, as well as quotes on other issues
in disarmament and international security.) Once again, attempts
to bridge the deadlock ran into the same handful of spoilers using
the rules of consensus to block the democratic majority. However,
democracy cannot be thwarted forever, at the governmental level
or at the grassroots. The vast majority of states will eventually
come together forge a path of progress on the commonly accepted
disarmament and non-proliferation provisions like the Comprehensive
Test Ban Treaty, and the vast majority of people will eventually
come together to force the states to abolish nuclear weapons. Subscribe
to the First
Committee Monitor to follow the next chapter in this unfolding
saga of geopolitics.
5. Keep Space for Peace Week, Oct 1-8.
The (WILPF) is co-sponsoring Keep Space for
Peace Week, including a demonstration at Vandenberg Air Force Base
in California. Events from around the world are listed on the RCW
website, and on the .
For more information, see the WILPF on Keep Space for Peace Week or contact Carol
Urner or Bruce Gagnon.
****************************
Jennifer Nordstrom
Project Associate, Reaching Critical Will
September 13
Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors,
Tomorrow, the World Summit (Millennium + 5 Summit) on UN Reform
begins, which means negotiations on its Outcome Document are scheduled
to conclude today. The Summit has been touted as the most change
in the history of the United Nations, and the most important meeting
since the its inception 60 years ago. However, the actual results
of all the discussions remain unclear. As of this writing, the disarmament
and non-proliferation section of the draft Outcome Document is empty.
In the 60th anniversary year of the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima
and Nagasaki, our governments have failed to answer Kofi Annan's
call to use this Summit as an opportunity to make bold commitments
in order to breathe new life into all forums dealing with disarmament
and non-proliferation following the failed 2005 Non-Proliferation
Treaty Review Conference. However, similar to the Review Conference,
during Summit negotiations most governments agreed on a path of
progress on these issues, but were thwarted by the dedicated efforts
of a handful of spoilers. As Civil Society, we must get creative
during next month's First Committee and work with governments committed
to a world free of nuclear weapons to see around and through the
blocks of a few states.
In this E-News Advisory:
Update on the UN World Summit: new disarmament text and status
of negotiations
CTBT EIF Conference Information:
NGO Statement: Sign on!
Logistics: Side Events and Security
Preparing for the General Assembly’s First Committee on
Peace and Security: NGO Working Group Meeting and side events
Heads up on the Disarmament Index
As always, this and all other General E-News Advisories from Reaching
Critical Will are archived on our website. We welcome any feedback,
comments, questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Nordstrom
Project Associate
1. Update on the UN World Summit:
new disarmament text and status of negotiations
Governments continue to negotiate 'UN reform' for the upcoming
World Summit. The Summit will be held at UN Headquarters in New
York City this coming Wednesday through Friday, September 14 –
16. World leaders have now gone through four draft Outcome Documents
for the summit, and are currently re-negotiating the text from the
sixth revision of September 12, 2005, 12:30 pm available here.
The disarmament and non-proliferation section of the current version
of the Outcome Document is blank. When governments could not agree
on the September 6 language on disarmament and non-proliferation,
they tasked Pakistan, Australia and Norway with crafting a "short,
balanced text on principles". Their first draft of September
9 has been further watered down to the text they are now using to
negotiate, available here. These seven paragraphs have been agreed
to by a ‘contact group’ of States who are now steering
the process: the five Permanent Members of the Security Council
plus India, Pakistan, Canada, Brazil, South Africa, Japan, the Netherlands,
Mexico, Jamaica, and Egypt, but not necessarily by anyone else.
In this text, the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is not referred
to by name, the Conference on Disarmament (CD) is not tasked with
adopting a programme of work, and there is nothing on the Comprehensive
Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), a Fissile Materials Cut-off Treaty (FMCT),
or the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space (PAROS). Previous
versions of the disarmament and non-proliferation section included:
a call to accede to the NPT, support for a CTBT;
a call to negotiate an FMCT and effective measures on PAROS
in a programme of work in the CD; and
an appeal to the Nuclear Weapon States (NWS) to take concrete
steps toward the elimination of nuclear weapons, including through
the implementation of Article VI of the Non-Proliferation Treaty
(NPT).
The section on disarmament and non-proliferation is still contentious
and undecided. Although the US led the way to slashing all disarmament
references (see John Bolton’s letter on the disarmament and
non-proliferation section of the document in which he does not see
a need for any emphasis on disarmament because “the true threat
to international security stems from proliferation”), other
governments quickly followed the US lead with their own consensus-blocking
and language-weakening revisions. Presumably language on the NPT
is now missing due to objections from the three non-States Parties
to the Treaty: India, Pakistan and Israel.
2. CTBT EIF Conference Information:
1. NGO Statement: Sign on!
NGOs are permitted to make one statement to the Comprehensive Test
Ban Treaty Entry Into Force conference, to be held at UN Headquarters
September 21-23, 2005. In 2003, we had nearly 100 NGOs sign on to
a joint NGO statement, and I would like to invite all RCW’s
NGO friends and advisors to sign on this year.
The statement is available on the RCW website here; it was a collaborative
drafting process by over a half dozen disarmament NGOs, including
the Arms Control Association, Women's International League for Peace
and Freedom-Geneva Office & Reaching Critical Will, the International
Network of Engineers and Scientists Against Proliferation, Physicians
for Social Responsibility, Religions for Peace, Peace Depot and
the Fellowship of Reconciliation.
Please send your endorsements to jennifer@reachingcriticalwill.org,
with your name and organization.
2. Logistics: Side Events and
Security
Side Events: NGOs have Conference Room A for the duration of the
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) conference. If you would like
to hold a meeting or side event please send it to me immediately
and I will add it to the calendar of events, which will soon be
available in the CTBT section of the RCW website.
Security: Registration will take place:
11 am - 4 pm September 21 9 am - 4 pm September 22 9:30 am - 4 pm September 23
NGOs attending the CTBT EIF Conference must enter at the 48th Street
entrance. After passing through the gate, head toward a white tent
at the back of the garden area in the direction of the East River
and FDR drive. The second of two white tents is for NGOs and Press.
Because of the high level events during the month of September,
security will be very VERY tight. You must carry your passport or
photo identification at all times, and it is a good idea to also
carry copies of any communication you have had with UN officials
regarding your attendance at the conference. The less extraneous
materials (purses, backpacks, briefcases) you carry, the faster
the security check will be, for you and everyone else. You should
expect long lines and waiting time.
Here, the Department for Disarmament Affairs (DDA) will ask for
your photo ID and locate you in the database provided that you applied
for accreditation, met the criteria for accreditation and were informed
of such by the DDA. No person without accreditation from DDA will
be admitted to the UN for any reason. They will then create a pass
printout for you to take to the UN Security photo stations set up
alongside the computer stations right next to the DDA desk. You
will go there to get your pass.
Once your pass has been created, you will proceed down the garden
promenade to the UN entrance to Level 1-B, the floor with both Conference
Room 4 and Conference Room A, the two rooms where side events will
be held. The Conference itself will be held in the Trusteeship Council,
which you will be able to access via the 3rd floor entrance to the
gallery. Although you will have access to the UN cafeteria, expect
crowds.
3. Preparing for the General Assembly’s
First Committee on Disarmament, Peace and Security: NGO Working
Group Meeting and side events
The 2005 General Assembly’s First
Committee on Disarmament, Peace and Security is coming up next
month. As the first meeting of the First Committee since the failed
NPT Review Conference and immediately following the developments
and reforms taking place at the World Summit, there is a great deal
of work to do. Civil Society needs to get creative and work with
governments on finding ways around and through the current consensus
blocks, and the First Committee is an ideal opportunity for this.
Now is the time to start preparing for a dynamic First Committee.
Everyone who is interested in working on the NGO Working Group on
the First Committee Monitor, the only comprehensive weekly report
distributed at the First Committee (see previous issues here),
should contact RCW immediately
to participate in the NGO Working Group on the First Committee Monitor.
The NGO Working Group collaborates on monitoring and reporting on
the First Committee to other NGOs and the delegates. The first preparatory
meeting will be held next week in New York City.
Side events are an excellent way to educate each other, delegations
and members of the Secretariat on a broad range of disarmament and
security issues ranging from missiles to radioactive waste. NGO
side events, while a relatively new phenomenon during the First
Committee, are becoming increasingly popular with both diplomats
and civil society. NGOs have also held strategy sessions during
the NPT. If you are planning a side event, meeting or strategy session
and would like to hold it in the UN, please contact RCW.
4. Heads up on the Disarmament Index
During the General Debate of the General Assembly, RCW complies
all references to disarmament, peace and security and posts them
online by country. The statements from the General Debate will give
us an idea of the issues on which governments will be focusing during
the First Committee. This will be available following the General
Debate on the RCW website: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/1com05/disarmindex.html
****************************
Jennifer Nordstrom
Project Associate, Reaching Critical Will
August 19
Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors,
As we approach the 60th Session of the General Assembly, predictions
of possible outcomes of the Millennium+5 Summit on UN Reform are
everywhere. There are many players in these negotiations, but the
rumor mill is particularly focused on the positions of the United
States. At the moment, the US remains staunchly opposed to strong
references to disarmament and to the entry-into force of the Comprehensive
Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). As we come up on yet another CTBT Entry-Into
Force (EIF) Conference and look back on the shambles of the failed
2005 Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference, let us commemorate
the recent 60th anniversary of the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima
and Nagasaki by insisting disarmament be included in this round
of change.
In this E-news Advisory:
1. CTBT Entry Into Force Conference Information: Registration, NGO
Statement, Side Events, Security Information
2. New M+5 draft Outcome Document now available: analysis of disarmament
and non-proliferation section
3. The Conference on Disarmament (CD) opens its third and final
session of 2005
As always, this and all other General E-News Advisories from Reaching
Critical Will are archived on our website. We welcome any feedback,
comments, questions or concerns.
At this year's Comprehensive
nuclear Test Ban Treaty Entry-Into Force (EIF) Conference, to
be held at UN headquarters in New York from September 21-23, Reaching
Critical Will will serve as the NGO liaison to the conference. All
NGOs interested in attending this conference must read the Department
for Disarmament Affair's aide memoire, now available on the
RCW website, where you can also find the draft
provisional agenda for the conference. For more information
about what the conference is and why it is important, please see
the last E-News Advisory.
Registration Deadline: August 30
NGOs wishing to attend the conference must register with the Department
for Disarmament Affairs (DDA) no later than August 30. NGOs should
send their list of delegates to the conference to:
Mr. Nikolai Rogosaroff, Associate Expert
Weapons of Mass Destruction Branch
Department for Disarmament Affairs (DDA)
United Nations Headquarters
Room 3170F
New York, NY 10017 USA
Tel: +1 (917) 367 2158
Fax: +1 (212) 963 8892
E-mail: rogosaroff@un.org
If you do not have a UN grounds pass, you also need to fax or email
the accreditation form on page four of the aide memoire to Nikolai
Rogosaroff (rogosaroff@un.org; (212) 963-8892) no later than August
30. The accreditation forms are also available on the DDA website
at: and the CTBTO web site at: www.ctbto.org. The letter should
be sent of faxed on letterhead, and should list the names of the
NGO delegates to the conference.
NGO Statement
The NGOs will deliver their collective statement to the conference
during our one allotted five minute portion of the agenda on the
afternoon of Friday, September 23. NGOs wishing to participate in
drafting and editing this statement should email the RCW Project
Associate (jennifer@reachingcriticalwill.org).
Press Conference
NGOs will hold a press conference during the CTBT EIF Conference.
This conference presents a unique opportunity to highlight the CTBT--and
disarmament generally--because the conference is occurring at the
same time as the Millennium+5
(M+5) Summit. Moreover, the US is vocally resisting any reference
to the Entry-Into-Force of the CTBT in the M+5 Outcome Document,
such as those in the newest (more discussion of the most recent M+5 document
is below and on our website). Continued vocal support for the entry-into
force of the CTBT is crucial as governments negotiate the outcome
of the Summit.
Side Events
NGOs will have access to Conference Room A for the duration of the
conference. Anyone wishing to organize an NGO side event in Conference
Room A during the conference should contact the RCW Project Associate
by September 9.
Security Information
The CTBT EIF will be happening at the same time as the Millennium+5
Summit, where over 120 heads of state are expected to attend, so
security will be extraordinarily tight. It is absolutely imperative
that everyone wishing to attend the conference register with DDA
before August 30.You will not be
able to attend the conference if you do not register. You must also
have your UN grounds pass on you at all times.
2. M+5 draft Outcome Document
The most recent for the Millennium+5
(M+5) Summit, to be held in New York at the start of the 60th
Session of the General Assembly, was released on Friday, August
5, 2005, and a new round of negotiations on the document is scheduled
to begin August 22, 2005.
The section on disarmament and non-proliferation contained several
notable changes since the (July 22), including:
References to a Fissile
Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT) were deleted from a stand-alone
paragraph and combined with language addressing both an FMCT and
Prevention
of an Arms Race in Outer Space in the context of agreeing on
an agenda in the Conference on Disarmament;
The word "indefinite" was deleted from the language on
"maintaining an indefinite moratorium on nuclear test explosions
pending the entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban
Treaty";
Language on the prevention of the spread of nuclear technology and
alternatives to nuclear technology, which previously preceded the
now stand-alone declaration on respecting the peaceful use of nuclear
technology, was deleted;
A bullet point calling on the Nuclear Weapon States to reaffirm
their commitment to Negative
Security Assurances (NSAs) was added;
More specific language on prevention non-state actors' acquisition
of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and complying with Security
Council Resolution 1540 was added;
Language contextualizing a call for universal accession to the comprehensive
safeguards agreement as deterring nuclear proliferation was deleted
in exchange for language contextualizing the call as a method for
strengthening "verification by the IAEA of the peaceful use
of nuclear energy";
and a call to adopt the Model Additional Protocol was added in the
same paragraph.
Some of these changes, such as those referring to the CTBT, Physical
Protection of Nuclear Material and peaceful uses, appear to have
come from the joint proposal for the draft
Outcome Document of the UN Summit by Seven Nations (Australia,
Chile, Indonesia, Norway, Romania, South Africa and the United Kingdom)
seeking to strengthen the nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament
regime.
Several NGOs, including WILPF, sent
a letter to governments on August 17 advising Member States
to maintain the current language on disarmament and offering suggestions
for strengthening that language.
Because a new round of negotiations on the Outcome Document is
scheduled to begin Monday, August 22, now is the time for
you to contact your government and advocate for stronger disarmament
language. Contact
your Foreign Ministry and UN Ambassador and urge them to maintain
strong references to disarmament and to the CTBT. You can send the
NGO letter to your government or use it, or our
other resources, as your talking points.
3. The CD opens its third and final
session of 2005
The Conference
on Disarmament opened its third and final session of 2005 last
Thursday, August 11. Here
is the RCW CD Report, the only ongoing reporting on the world's
lone body for negotiating disarmament treaties, from that first
session.
****************************
Jennifer Nordstrom
Project Associate, Reaching Critical Will
August 1
Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors,
In her novel, The Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler
wrote that, "The only lasting truth is change." The protagonist
of her story taught that while change is the only constant force
in the world, it is up to all of us to affect change and shape it
in a positive way.
That determination lies at the heart of the efforts of civil society,
which works tirelessly to change the destiny of our planet from
a nuclear nightmare to a nuclear-free peace. Sometimes, opportunities
for change are squandered, as we saw this past May with the failed
Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (see News
in Review, Final Edition). The international disarmament
community just lost another opportunity, too, as the United Nations
Disarmament Commission closed its organizational session without
agreement on an agenda.
Yet always, another opportunity for change lies just around the
corner, and it is up to us to seize it to push the disarmament agenda
forward and continue the struggle to abolish nuclear weapons. The
Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty Entry-Into-Force Conference
is just a few weeks away, as is the Millennium+5
Summit and the 60th session of the General Assembly; all of
these events are momentous opportunities around which civil society
must begin to organize now.
Reaching Critical Will, too, is undergoing a significant change
itself: as of August 5, Rhianna Tyson will no longer be the RCW
Project Manager. Jennifer Nordstrom will be taking over the RCW
project as of August 3. After that date, all RCW-related inquiries
should be sent to jennifer@reachingcriticalwill.org.
In this E-News Advisory:
1) Introducing the new Project
Associate for Reaching Critical Will
2) Update on the UN Disarmament
Commission
3) Information for NGO Participation
on the CTBT Entry-Into-Force Conference, September
Why
this Conference is important
What
NGOs can do
Links
for more information on the CTBT
4) Seven Nations Seek to Strengthen
the Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Regime
As always, this E-News Advisory, along with all others, is archived
on our site. We welcome all comments, questions and concerns regarding
this and all other services from Reaching Critical Will.
On a personal note, I would like to give a great big thank you to
all of RCW's friends and advisors for your support, advice and dedication
to making this world nuclear-free.
My very best wishes,
Rhianna
1) Introducing the new Project Associate
for Reaching Critical Will
The WILPF United Nations Office is proud to announce that Jennifer
Nordstrom will be taking over the Reaching Critical Will project
as of August 3. Jennifer comes to RCW from Global Action to Prevent
War, where she was the International Coordinator responsible for
planning and implementing GAPW's programs, organizing conferences
and events and coordinating the communications among GAPW's National
Steering Committees and international members.
Jennifer worked to create links among conflict prevention, disarmament,
gender and peacekeeping communities with the belief that civil society
is the emerging global superpower required to reign in governments.
She has a long history working in the peace and feminist movements
and is thrilled to be working for disarmament with a gender perspective
at Reaching Critical Will. Contact her at: jennifer@reachingcriticalwill.org.
Rhianna, meanwhile, will continue to work with Reaching Critical
Will on its Informal Board of Advisers as she pursues her Master's
degree in Global Politics at the London School of Economics. She
can be reached at: ryetyson@yahoo.com.
2) Update on the UN Disarmament Commission
On July 26, the UN
Disarmament Commission (UNDC) concluded its organizational meeting
without reaching agreement on an agenda for its substantive session.
Expectations for this UNDC session rose and fell like a carnival
roller coaster. In the weeks leading up to its commencement, agreement
on an agenda was nowhere in sight; the battle over the two-item
agenda mainly focused over one versus two references to "non-proliferation"
in the first item, and the inclusion of "verification mechanisms"
in the discussion surrounding "practical confidence-building
measures in the field of conventional weapons". With the informal
consultations articulating the diversity of opinion on these issues,
most diplomats and UNDC-watchers expected the Commission to convene
only once, to allow for some delegation to suggest postponing it
another year. Most high-level representatives went home, on holiday
or back to Geneva.
Then, unexpectedly, the United States, which had been holding out
for the second reference to "non-proliferation", agreed
ad referendum to drop this insistence. When the focus then turned
toward the inclusion of "verification mechanisms" in the
second agenda item, many other Member States, including South Africa,
China, the Non-Aligned (NAM) and Russia, agreed with the United
States that it was not necessary to discuss verification, since,
according to GA resolution 59/60,
a Group of Governmental Experts will be convening in 2006 to explore
that issue.
It seemed then that consensus was nearly at hand. All were waiting,
quite literally, with baited breath for the United States delegate
to return to the room to announce if his capitol could accept the
compromise. After a few postponed sessions, the US threw in another
stipulation: it could, conceivably, accept the proposed agenda,
so long as the Commission could agree to another item on its agenda:
improving the effectiveness of the working methods of the UNDC.
A predictable debate ensued, with many Member States, while supporting
the idea of reviewing the Commission's methods of work, reluctant
to establish a third agenda item. The Chair pursued a compromise,
wherein the report would state that "the issue of measures
for improving the effectiveness of the methods of work of the Disarmament
Commission will be considered in plenary meetings at its 2006 substantive
session, with equitable time allocated to it.” A good few
hours were spent debating the word "equitable" versus
"equal". "Equitable" won out.
The report, which will be submitted to the General
Assembly 60th session, will convey that there was agreement,
but not consensus, on the two following agenda items: “Recommendations
for nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons
in all its aspects, in particular for achieving the objective of
nuclear disarmament”; and “Practical confidence-building
measures in the field of conventional weapons”. The report
will also refer to the United States delegation’s 22 July
proposal of an oral amendment to the first agenda item, as follows:
“Recommendations for nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation
of nuclear weapons”.
If reaching agreement on an agenda was this difficult, let us not
yet dare to imagine how painstaking the actual substantive negotiations
will be.
Fax,
email and call your representatives here in New York. Let them
know that you know what has been happening in the UNDC, and that
you expect them, when the substantive session is convened next year,
to work towards negotiating concrete recommendations for irreversible,
verifiable nuclear disarmament.
The UNDC, like all of our multilateral disarmament machinery, is
only as effective as the Member States will it to be. And the efficacy
of that political will depends entirely on the pressure that you-
as those whom they represent- place on them.
3) Information for NGO Participation
on the CTBT Entry-Into-Force Conference, September
If we are to follow past practices, we can assume (yet this is only
an assumption) that we will have the opportunity to present one
statement on behalf of civil society. We must begin drafting this
statement as soon as possible. You can read the statement from the
2003
Conference and the 2001
Conference on the Reaching
Critical Will website.
If there is no opportunity to present this statement to the delegates,
we must present it to the members of the media.
If you are interested in participating in this collective NGO statement,
or, if you would like to participate in the discussions surrounding
our media strategy for this all-important conference, contact
Jennifer Nordstrom today.
Why is the EIF Conference Important?
The Entry-Into-Force Conferences are opportunities for:
* announcing ratifications and signatures;
* calling on those states that have not yet signed or ratified the
CTBT to join the international consensus to end nuclear testing;
* urging states with active nuclear weapon research programmes and
test sites to take actions that would reinforce the CTBT and support
its goals, such as refraining from activities at test sites that
might be construed as CTBT violations, halting research, development
and production of nuclear warheads based on modifications of existing
designs, that give them new military capabilities;
* examining ways and means of removing obstacles which delay Entry-Into-Force;
* discussing and agreeing on specific measures to convince the last
holdout states to support the test ban;
* support for the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty Organisation in
Vienna that has made significant progress in setting up the International
Monitoring System and International Data Center, so that the CTBT's
verification system is ready by the time the treaty enters into
force;
* condemning any future testing; and,
* calling upon governments, businesses and peoples to take decisive
action in reaction to any future testing.
What Else Can NGOs Do?
* contact Reaching Critical Will, who will be coordinating an NGO
statement to be delivered to the CTBT States Parties at the Conference;
* make an appointment to speak with a representative at the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs or equivalent and encourage the Foreign Minister
to attend the conference to publicly urge the CTBT hold out states
to promptly ratify the Treaty; to contact your government's mission,
see RCW's
Governmental Database;
* Register your group to attend; (details on registration will be
forthcoming through the RCW
General E-News service)
* monitor the CTBT EIF progress through the Reaching
Critical Will website and react to what your government does
or does not say
* publicize your views and your government's policies on the CTBT
to the press in your country.
For more information on the CTBT:
4) Seven Nations Seek to Strengthen
the Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Regime
On July 26, the Foreign Ministers of Australia, Chile, Indonesia,
Norway, Romania, South Africa and the United Kingdom issued a declaration
that seeks to strengthen the international disarmament and non-proliferation
regime. They also submitted to the General Assembly President suggested
language for the Outcome Document of the Millennium+5
Summit to be held in New York, September 14-16.
The statement was initiated by the Foreign Minister of Norway, Mr.
Jan Petersen, who, like his counterparts and the majority of the
world's people, was gravely disappointed with the failure of the
NPT
Review Conference this past May.
While Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General, viewed the political
declaration as "deeply encouraging", many NGOs are troubled
that the text fails to build upon past achievements, in particular
those of the 2000 NPT Review Conference. It also reaffirms, in the
very first paragraph, the "vital" nature of nuclear energy,
despite the environmental, health and proliferation risks that it
poses. NGOs are also doubting the credibility of a text that resolves
to "pursue practical, systematic and progressive efforts to
advance disarmament globally", when one of the text's signers-
the United Kingdom- is contemplating replacing its nuclear arsenal.
The draft text submitted by the seven ministers does, however, reaffirm
some of the goals of the 2000 NPT Review Conference- such as negotiations
of a Fissile Material Treaty and the ratification and entry-into-force
of the CTBT. It also includes elements that were not a part of the
historic 2000 Final Document, such as calling upon the Conference
on Disarmament to explore "effective measures for the prevention
of an arms race in outer space" and welcoming "the
report of the IAEA Director General's Expert Group on ".
In order to follow the developments of the Millennium+5 Summit and
the 60th session of the General Assembly, be sure to subscribe
to the First
Committee Monitor, the only weekly publication that follows
disarmament and international security debates throughout the General
Assembly season.
July 18
Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors,
Even during the most seemingly predictable of nuclear disarmament
meetings, interesting things do occur. From the Conference on Disarmament
to the UN Disarmament Commission, the discussions taking place have
been noteworthy as of late and, seeing as how we are encroaching
upon the 60th anniversaries of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear
bombings, and, with the miserable failure of the NPT
Review Conference still fresh in our minds, it has become all
the more imperative that we pay attention to these proceedings and
their developments, and continue to urge our governments to work
toward global nuclear disarmament.
As always, this and all other General E-News Advisories from Reaching
Critical Will are archived on our website. We always welcome any
feedback, comments, questions or concerns.
Best wishes,
Rhianna
1. RCW Fundraising update
Recently, we sent out an appeal to all of our subscribers who rely
on Reaching Critical Will's monitoring, reporting and coordinating
services to help us through our current financial dilemma.
Thanks to your support, we were able to raise $5,000. Some of you
sent $30 gifts, others sent $500 or $1000 gifts. We are very grateful
for all.
Those of you who have not yet sent in a contribution towards the
support of our work, we ask you to consider making an investment
in Reaching Critical Will. We count on your dollars to maintain
our work, which will become all the more important as we head toward
the 60th session of the General Assembly, the Millennium+5 Summit
and the GA First Committee.
On behalf of the entire WILPF UN Office, I would like to once again
thank all of you who have supported the Reaching Critical Will project
financially. If you have any other questions or concerns, please
do not hesitate to contact the WILPF
UNO Director.
2. The UN Disarmament Commission
Opens... Kind of
Today, on July 18, the United
Nations Disarmament Commission (UNDC), the only universal body
mandated to deliberate and make recommendations to the General Assembly
on all disarmament matters, opened its 2005 substantive session.
Well... kind of.
After months of organizational meetings and informal consultations,
the Chair, Mr. Sylvester Rowe of Sierra Leone, had been unable to
obtain consensus on an agenda, thus prompting everyone to believe
that the 2005 session of the UNDC would be postponed.
However, after a lengthy discussion this morning that recapped
what had transpired in the informal consultations, it appeared that
consensus was much more easily within reach than previously believed,
and the meeting of the Commission will continue tomorrow. However,
agreement on the agenda is still not yet obtained, and, while these
meetings were originally scheduled as part of the UNDC substantive
session, it seems that delegates will use this time to continue
the organizational and procedural work of the Commission.
The UNDC, created in 1978 by the first Special Session of the General
Assembly on Disarmament (SSOD I), is a subsidiary organ of the General
Assembly, composed of all Member States of the United Nations. It
is a deliberative body with the mandate to consider and make recommendations
on various problems in the field of disarmament and of following
up on the relevant decisions and recommendations of the SSOD I.
(The UNDC, keep in mind, is different from the Conference
on Disarmament, or CD, which has a mandate to negotiate disarmament
treaties. The CD has only 66 members and is based in Geneva.)
Since 1993, the UNDC has, in practice, dealt only with two or
three items on its agenda, each of which has usually been considered
for three consecutive years. In 1998, by its decision 52/492, the
General Assembly decided that the UNDC's agenda, as of 2000, would
normally comprise two substantive items.
This year, the Chairman put forth a two-item agenda for the UNDC:
1. Recommendations for nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation
of nuclear weapons in all its aspects, in particular for achieving
the objective of nuclear disarmament.
2. Practical confidence-building measures (CBMs), including
verification mechanisms, in the field of conventional weapons.
The US reportedly insisted on adding the words "and non-proliferation"
after "nuclear disarmament" in the first recommendation.
The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) also immediately spat forth their
own proposal, which would have mandated the UNDC to deliberate on
"guidelines and strategies", rather than "recommendations"
for nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. After consulting
with Washington, the US rejected the NAM proposal.
After a month-long debate over "guidelines", "recommendations"
and/or "strategies", it was becoming increasingly clear
to everybody that the 2005 UNDC session would be able to provide
none of these to the General Assembly this fall.
Then today, the US announced that it was no longer insisting on
the word "non-proliferation" at the end of the first recommendation,
thus paving the way for true consensus on this one agenda item.
Of course, it will have to confirm with Washington that the Chair's
original proposal is acceptable, though the US delegate definitely
implied this possibility.
While this development is indeed pleasantly shocking, there still
remains the task of securing agreement on a second agenda item.
The US already made it clear that it has reservations with the second
agenda item, noting that a Group of Governmental Experts will be
created in 2006 to deliberate and make recommendations on verification
in all its aspects, as per the General
Assembly resolution 59/60.
The US also made it very clear that they intend to push for a third
item on the UNDC agenda: "Measures for improving the effectiveness
of the methods of work of the UNDC," which would perhaps be
a similar undertaking to that of the First Committee, whose review
of its own methods of work has also been initiated by the United
States, via two separate resolutions in 2003 and 2004, 58/41
and 59/95,
respectively.
Should the UNDC reach agreement on its agenda, it is important
to note that the substantive sessions of the Commission are closed
to civil society. Therefore, the only input that we have in the
deliberations is through our national representatives. Be sure to
contact
your governmental representatives to urge them to uphold the
integrity of multilateralism and to do all they can to ensure that
the UNDC makes substantive recommendations on ridding the world
of nuclear weapons.
Contact also the UNDC Chairman, and let him know that civil society
is paying attention to these proceedings:
Sylvester Rowe
245 East 49th Street
New York, NY 10017
Ph. (212) 688 1656
Fax. (212) 688 4924
Email: sierraleone@un.int
Should the UNDC remain unable to reach agreement on an agenda,
the possibility of canceling the remainder of the 2005 UNDC session
is not off the table, nor is it far from many delegates' minds.
The UNDC is scheduled to convene through August 5. All updates on
the UNDC will be available through RCW's General E-News service.
3. Conference on Disarmament ends
second session of 2005: Substantive discussions prevail despite
deadlock on agenda
On July 14, the Conference on Disarmament (CD) adjourned its second
session of the year. While the CD has still not reached agreement
on its program of work, they did manage to have some very interesting,
focused and useful discussions on the main four issues facing the
negotiating body: nuclear disarmament, fissile materials, prevention
of an arms race in outer space (PAROS) and security assurances.
28 delegations spoke at the meeting focused on nuclear
disarmament. (The United States, incidentally, did not
participate, the only Nuclear Weapon State to refrain from doing
so). Some countries used the opportunity to present newer ideas
and proposals for moving the regime forward, including a reassessment
of multilateral machinery. The Netherlands’
Ambassador Chris Sanders, suggested rethinking the mandates of the
CD and the UNDC, and proposed instead that governments “settle
for one single universal body… (such as) the (General
Assembly) First Committee” which “seem(s) capable
of negotiating treaties”. Sweden
expressed hope that the reform of the United Nations, to be discussed
at the September Millennium+5 (M+5) Summit, would be an opportunity
to address the failure of existing machinery. Sweden, supported
by Mexico,
also proposed that the Conference take stock of what disarmament
efforts had already been made or were on-going in other contexts.
Ambassador Whelan of Ireland
suggested that the Conference provide a forum where countries which
have not ratified the NPT (Israel, India and Pakistan) could engage
meaningfully in nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation issues.
At the meeting focused on fissile
materials, 20 delegations spoke, elaborating their
positions on the most controversial aspects of a proposed Fissile
Material Treaty (FMT), namely its scope (whether or not to include
existing stocks in the production cap), verification mechanisms
and the mandate for the negotiations. South
Africa’s Ambassador Mtshali called the United States’
position on an FMCT verification as “a unilateral conclusion
(which is) a major setback and stumbling block in resuming negotiations”
and opposed their position “being used as a precondition for
negotiations.” The United States, on the other hand, blamed
the CD itself, rather than on its own seemingly isolated position
against verification, for the lack of progress on this issue. It
was the CD, asserted Thomas Cynkin, that must move beyond the Cold
War era in order to live up to its potential "to be part of
the action" in strengthening international peace and security.
Canada’s
Ambassador Meyer suggested “establish(ing) an FMCT Experts
Group (to bring) together experts” to consider scope and verification,
such as was established in the lead-up to negotiations on the Comprehensive
nuclear Test-Ban Treaty.
In the area of PAROS,
most countries welcomed the efforts of Russia and China, which have
submitted three
thematic non-papers on the issue, including working paper CD/1679,
on "Possible Elements for a Future International Legal Agreement
on the Prevention of the Deployment of Weapons in Outer Space, the
Threat or Use of Force Against Outer Space Objects." While
staunchly committed to not being the first to deploy weapons in
space, Russia
warned that, "if someone starts to place weapons in outer space
we will have to react accordingly."
In the debate on security
assurances, perhaps the strongest intervention (of the 18 that
were made that day), came from a Nuclear Weapon State.
The Non-Nuclear Weapon States are, according to China,
"fully justified and reasonable to demand not to be threatened
by nuclear weapons and to insist that this form of security assurance
be made legally binding." While most States are in agreement
over the need to negotiate a legally binding negative security assurance
(NSA), there remains a dispute over the appropriate forum. Most
support discussions taking place in an Ad Hoc Committee of the CD,
such as Pakistan, while others, such as Canada,
prefer the NPT context, "given that we consider such assurances
as one of the benefits of adherence to the NPT," said Ambassador
Meyer. Italy, South
Korea and France voiced tepid support for the CD to deal with
NSAs, whereas South Africa adamantly maintained that, "security
assurances rightfully belong to those States that have foresworn
the nuclear weapons option, as opposed to those who still prefer
to keep their options open." South Africa also suggested that
"an internationally legally binding instrument...could either
be in the format of a separate agreement reached in the context
of the NPT, or as a protocol to that Treaty."
Despite all of this debate, Ambassador Strømmen, in his
final
statement as president of the CD, lamented that he "has
received no indications from any delegation that we are closer to
a resolution with regard to a programme of work for the conference."
He made a point to "encourage civil society and academia to
analyze the records (of these recent plenary meetings) from their
particular perspective and assist all of us in identifying prospects
and opportunities".
Two main proposals remain on the table as possible bases for a
program of work: the Five Ambassadors' Proposal (the A5
agenda) and the "Food-for-Thought"
paper, put forth by Netherlands' Ambassador Chris Sanders. Both
proposals would establish four Ad Hoc Committees on the four main
issues, though in the Food-For-Thought paper, it is explicitly noted
that issues relating to scope and verification of an FMCT would
be addressed in the negotiations, rather than settled in the mandate.
The Food-For-Thought paper also demotes the mandate of the Ad Hoc
Committee dealing with NSAs; in this framework, the Ad Hoc Committee
would be tasked to simply "develop recommendations on how the
Conference could more effectively deal" with this issue, rather
than be charged with negotiating a possible "internationally
binding" mechanism, as suggested in the A5 proposal.
The third and last part of the 2005 session of the Conference will
be held from August 8- September 23. The next plenary of the Conference
will be held on Thursday, 11 August. It should also be noted that
Russia will be holding an informal meeting on the issue of PAROS
on Tuesday, August 16.
We strongly encourage you to read through the recent CD
Reports, which provide a useful summary of where the States
stand on these various issues facing the disarmament regime. RCW's
CD Report is the only weekly reporting service on the world's lone
forum for negotiating disarmament treaties. Understanding the issues,
the nuances and the positions of CD Members will greatly enhance
your own advocacy efforts as we all push our own countries toward
reaching a critical mass of political will for nuclear disarmament.
August 6 and 9, 2005 mark the 60th anniversaries of the atomic
bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States. Join with
people at four central US nuclear weapons sites in major actions
calling for an end to the development and production of nuclear
warheads. Activities will recognize the devastation caused by nuclear
weapons and memorialize the many victims of bomb production at every
step - from uranium mining to design, to production, to testing
and use. Join the global majority to say NO! to militarism, war
and oppression, and YES! to nonviolence, justice and a more secure
world for all.
In Japanese culture, the 60th birthday holds a particular cultural
significance in celebrating long life. In this 60th year since the
US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the greatest gift
to the hibakusha (survivors of the atomic bombings) and to the world
would be to reaffirm life by immediately initiating negotiations
for the elimination of nuclear weapons.
Here is what you can do:
1. Attend a major action on August 6 at one of the core nuclear
weapons sites in ,
,
and .
Be sure to share the information and bring others with you!
2. Organize or participate in a candlelight vigil at the City Hall
in your community on August 9. for more information.
3. Download, copy and distribute the August 6 and 9 National Days
of Remembrance and Action flyer to your friends, family, networks
and/or members of your organization and encourage them to get involved!
4. Print the August 6 and 9 National Days of Remembrance and Action
Postcard to distribute to members of your organization or at events.
For more information, please contact Carah Ong at cong@napf.org
or (202) 378-3334.
August 6 and 9 National Days of Remembrance and Action are coordinated
by: Abolition Now!, Buddhist Peace Fellowship, Nevada Desert Experience,
Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, Pax Christi New Mexico, Oak Ridge
Environmental Peace Alliance, Tri-Valley CAREs, United for Peace
and Justice, and Western States Legal Foundation.
For a full listing of commemorative events, see:
June 13
Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors,
The Seventh Review Conference of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
(NPT) has come and gone without a shred of substantive recommendations
for strengthening the international disarmament and nonproliferation
regime. While the NPT remains the cornerstone of the regime, NGOs
and creative governments are already forging ways of moving forward
on the variety of issues that threaten our collective security.
The failure of the Review Conference must only fortify these efforts
and renew our sense of urgency as we struggle to rid our planet
of these genocidal, suicidal and ecocidal weapons.
In this E-News Advisory:
1. Final News in Review now online
2. NPT Resources
3. Conference on Disarmament Begins Second Session
4. NGO Forum on the Millennium+5 Summit
Note also that we are accepting applications for the Project
Associate position vacancy until this Wednesday, June 15. For
more information, contact
the WILPF UN Office Director, Mary Ann McGivern.
As always, this and all other General E-News Advisories are archived
on our site.
Best wishes,
Rhianna Tyson
Project Manager
1. Final News in Review now
online
The Final Edition of the News in Review, the daily NGO
newsletter covering the Seventh Review Conference of the NPT, is
now available online. You can read the front page editorial, "A
Phoenix of Hope," or download the entire
edition in PDF format.
The Final Edition includes:
- Spineless NPT Ends in a Whisper, Rebecca Johnson, Acronym
Institute
- Seeing the RevCon in the Rearview Mirror, Matt Martin,
British-American Security Information Council
- NPT Gender Credentials, Felicity Hill, WILPF
- Nuclear Theatre of the Absurd, Diane Perlman, Psychologists
for Social Responsibility and Xanthe Hall, International Physicians
for the Prevention of Nuclear War
- US Nuclear Hypocrisy, David Krieger, Nuclear Age Peace
Foundation
- 10 Years of Mad Cowboy Nuclearism, Alice Slater, Global
Resource Action Center on the Environment
and more.
Compendia of the 2005 editions of the News in Review are available
in either black and white or full color copies, by order through
Reaching Critical Will. To order your compendium, contact
us today.
2. NPT Resources
The Reaching
Critical Will website hosts one of the most comprehensive online
repositories of NPT resources available. On our site, you can find
a full set of official documentation, including the agenda, the
final document, statements from the General Debate, Closing Debate
and all three committees, working papers, reports, non-papers and
reports of the committees.
(To add your post-RevCon analysis to the site, contact
the Project Manager.)
3. Conference on Disarmament Begins
Second Session
The Conference
on Disarmament opened its second session of 2005 on June 2.
With the failure of the NPT Review Conference set against the growing
crisis of nuclear proliferation, non-governmental attention and
pressure on the Conference on Disarmament is more crucial than ever.
Stay abreast of the CD's proceedings through "The CD Report,"
the only non-governmental reporting service on the Conference. Subscribe
today or read archived
reports on our site.
Click
here for the CD Report from June 13. We welcome all comments,
questions and feedback.
4. NGO Forum
On 23-24 June, the UN is sponsoring informal interactive hearings
with NGOs, civil society and the private sector to hear non-governmental
responses to "In Larger Freedom," the report of the Secretary-General.
The purpose of these hearings is to influence the Millennium+5 Summit,
to be held in New York, 14-16 September 2005. On June 3, Member
States released the of the summit, and negotiations on this draft
continue.
Many governments (see Canada's
closing Review Conference statement) are hoping that the summit
will be the next opportunity to reassert disarmament as the key
nonproliferation tool, since that opportunity was so harshly squandered
this May at the RevCon. However, disarmament advocates have already
been given their first challenge to overcome; at the NGO forum,
there will be no speaker on nuclear weapons.
All of us in the disarmament community must now rely on our own
lobbying and advocacy mechanisms and focus our efforts directly
at the Missions. We must work together to ensure that the final
document of the summit includes strong language for reinforcing
the disarmament and nonproliferation regime. The next few weeks
is a crucial time for lobbying and providing input into this document
and all discussions at the Millennium+5 Summit surrounding weapons
of mass destruction.
While the NPT Review Conference struggles to overcome the procedural
disagreements that have prevented any substantive work, the NGOs
remain hard at work. Morning caucuses of the Abolition 2000 network
take place every day; we continually meet with various delegations
to push for concrete progress on disarmament; newsletters from New
York are translated into local languages and sent back to communities
across the world; and delegations are benefiting from the myriad
of NGO publications that are distributed daily at the Conference.
We'd like to use this opportunity to alert you to a few new changes
and additions to the Reaching Critical Will project and our website,
which attracts over 10,000 hits a day!
In this E-Advisory:
1. Model Nuclear Inventory: Accountability is Democracy,
Transparency is Security
2. RCW Project Associate position opening
3. NGO Presentations to the NPT Review Conference
With only two weeks left until the close of the Review Conference,
NGO support and attention to the proceedings is needed more than
ever. If there is any other type of information that you and your
organization would find useful, please do not hesitate to contact
us.
Best wishes,
Rhianna Tyson
Project Manager
Please feel free to disseminate this E-Advisory widely.
1. Model Nuclear Inventory: Accountability is Democracy,
Transparency is Security
The Inventory, an updated and upgraded version of our annual "NGO
Shadow Report," is a comprehensive database of all nuclear
materials, both military and civilian, in 41 States recognized as
having a significant nuclear capability.
With the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty perceived to be in crisis,
what is needed now is a course to strengthen both disarmament as
well as non-proliferation obligations. The Women’s International
League for Peace and Freedom, with the contribution and assistance
of non-governmental organizations around the world, offer this Model
Nuclear Inventory as a tool toward the achievement of a nuclear
weapon-free world.
As such a tool, the Model Nuclear Inventory must also include an
assessment of the legal- as well as the technical- aspects of the
international disarmament and non-proliferation regime. Therefore,
the Model Nuclear Inventory also includes a chapter that analyzes
the Nuclear
Weapon States’ implementation of the Practical Steps to Disarmament,
as unanimously agreed upon at the Sixth Review Conference of the
NPT in 2000.
By tracking and securing fissile materials around the world, we
can help prevent illegal acquisition of these materials. Likewise,
irreversible, verifiable disarmament can be possible only after
a full accounting of existing stockpiles is taken.
You can download the entire
report here or click on the individual chapters to the right.
Copies of the Model Nuclear Inventory are available to purchase
for $20. Contact
Reaching Critical Will to order your copy.
2. RCW Project Associate position opening
The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF)
Reaching Critical Will Project seeks full-time project associate
for the UN Office in New York City, USA.
In addition, we are seeking two Project Associates for the Peace
Women project. for more details.
Organization and Project Description:
The Reaching Critical Will (RCW) Project is a project of the Women's
International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) United Nations
Office, in New York City, USA.
The RCW Project Has Five Aims:
•Centralize and disseminate information about intergovernmental
meetings that discuss nuclear weapons and their elimination;
•Maintain a centralized electronic repository of information,
and information services through our website www.reachingcriticalwill.org;
•Increase the quality and quantity of NGO preparation and
participation in these processes;
•Increase the quality and quantity of NGO interaction with
governments and the United Nations and its family of Specialized
Agencies;
•Provide logistical support in facilitating activities before
and during these fora tailored for policy-makers and the public.
The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom created
the RCW project in 1999, in order to increase the quality and quantity
of civil society at international disarmament fora, such as those
that take place at the UN. We believe that nuclear disarmament will
require coordinated and sustained effort on the part of governments,
non-governmental organizations and the United Nations. Reaching
Critical Will is WILPF's initiative to encourage people to act and
contribute to a variety of international fora. For non-governmental
organizations and concerned individuals to act, they need information,
primary documents and analysis. Reaching Critical Will collects,
packages and often translates disarmament related information into
terms ordinary people can understand.
WILPF is the oldest women's peace organization in the world. It
is an international Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) with National
Sections in 37 countries, an International Secretariat in Geneva,
and a UN Office in New York City. Its aims and principles are: to
bring together women of different political beliefs and philosophies
who are united in their determination to study, make known and help
abolish the causes and the legitimization of war; to work toward
world peace; total and universal disarmament; the abolition of violence
and coercion in the settlement of conflict and its replacement in
every case by negotiation and conciliation; to support the civil
society to democratize the United Nations system; to support the
continuous development and implementation of international and humanitarian
law; to promote political and social equality and economic equity;
to contribute towards co-operation among all people; and to enhance
environmentally sustainable development.
For more information about WILPF, visit:
Project Associate’s responsibilities include:
A. To oversee the development and maintenance of www.reachingcriticalwill.org;
B. To produce and distribute bi-monthly General E-News Advisories;
C. To produce and disseminate the weekly CD Report on the Conference
on Disarmament in Geneva, coordinated with our Geneva office (January-September);
D. To coordinate the NGO Working Group on the General Assembly First
Committee on Disarmament and International Security and edit the
weekly publication First Committee Monitor (September-November);
E. To coordinate NGO participation at international disarmament
fora, including the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Article XIV Conference
(September);
F. To develop and expand RCW activities surrounding the Prevention
of an Arms Race in Outer Space;
G. To liaise with Conference Secretariats and international civil
society;
H . To help develop position papers, oral interventions, and analyses
targeted at governments, UN entities and NGOs regarding nuclear
disarmament, in particular gender and disarmament analyses;
I . To organize presentations for civil society groups and governments
on international nuclear disarmament policy;
J. To manage the extensive RCW databases and subscription lists;
K. To supervise interns.
A more detailed job description for the position is available upon
request.
Salary: Commensurate with experience
Education: Undergraduate or advanced degrees in political science,
international relations or other related fields, as well as experience
and fluency with gender perspectives on international disarmament.
Languages: Oral and written fluency in English required; other
UN languages a plus.
Eligible candidates must possess the following skills and capabilities:
1. Experience in policy and advocacy work;
2. Knowledge of and commitment to gender and peace issues;
3. Knowledge of international disarmament, nonproliferation and
arms control issues;
4. Strong oral and written communication and analytical skills;
5. Ability to present complex themes in a brief but comprehensive
manner; and
6 . Experience with MS Office, PowerPoint; experience with Quark,
Dreamweaver or related web-design programming preferred.
Last day to apply: 15 June 2005
Please submit a resume, a statement of intent (1-2 pages), contact
information for two references, and a brief academic or work-related
writing sample on a theme related to international peace and security
to:
Rhianna Tyson, RCW Project Manager
WILPF UN Office
777 UN Plaza, 6th floor
New York, NY 10017
Fax: (212) 286-8211
Email: rhianna@reachingcriticalwill.org
No phone calls, please.
3. NGO Presentations to the NPT Review Conference
On Wednesday, May 11, non-governmental organizations delivered
statements to the NPT Review Conference. These statements, drafted
by a coalition of over 30 organizations, are now available on the
Reaching Critical Will website.
Front page article from the News in Review, the daily
NGO newsletter from the Seventh Review Conference of the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty
No. 9, May 12, 2005
The full PDF of this edition of the News in Review can be found
here.
Nearly every seat in the conference hall was filled; most every
State party had several delegates sitting behind their respective
nameplate. The observer galleries were overfilled with NGOs and
journalists. The statements delivered were chock full of substantive
information, views and recommendations for moving the international
disarmament and nonproliferation regime forward.
If only the governmental plenaries were conducted in this manner.
On Wednesday, the Conference held its official session dedicated
to presentations from international civil society. These 15+ statements
had been drafted, edited, re-written, re-written and re-written
amongst dozens of NGOs. The speakers represented only a fraction
of the amount of people who had been working on these statements
for months, in an open process that took place online in listserves,
conference calls and in-person meetings.
Xanthe Hall of the International Physicians for the Prevention
of Nuclear War opened the session by outlining seven truths that
demonstrate “Why Nuclear Weapons are Obsolete.” “If
you point nuclear weapons at anyone,” said the British-German
representative of IPPNW, “then they are pointed at you.”
Sometimes these simple, obvious facts are the much-needed splash
of cold water needed to wake the delegates up from their procedural
sleepwalk.
WILPF’s Alexandra Sundberg spoke on the issue of transparency,
highlighting the need for increased reporting and NGO participation
in and access to the NPT meetings. Judging by the way the delegates
swarmed the new table of NGO information papers, Sundberg’s
call for increased interaction with NGOs resonated well with States
parties, which have been equally thirsty for more interaction with
NGOs than had previously been accorded at this Conference.
Two US affiliates of the International Association of Lawyers Against
Nuclear Arms tag-teamed a presentation on Nuclear Weapon State (NWS)
Compliance to Article VI. Jackie Cabasso of Western States Legal
Foundation tackled the first segment of Article VI- the cessation
of the nuclear arms race; Michael Spies of Lawyers’ Committee
on Nuclear Policy (LCNP) analyzed the NWS’ compliance to nuclear
disarmament; and John Burroughs of LCNP assessed their compliance
to the final segment of Article VI- general and complete disarmament.
These three presentations, supersaturated with evidence of NWS vertical
proliferation, should have confirmed (if anyone was still in doubt),
that the international disarmament regime is facing its greatest
crisis of noncompliance in its history.
Helen Caldicott decried the dangers of nuclear energy while Tony
de Brum offered his perspective, as a Marshall Islander, on the
nuclear age. Lou Zeller, of the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense
League, outlined the dangers of reprocessing military plutonium
wastes into fuel- a very timely speech given the massive radioactive
spill at the UK’s Sellafield reprocessing plant that occurred
just two days ago.
Two young women, Natalie Wasley and Tina Keim, delivered a riveting
speech on behalf of the youth of the world, followed by an overview
of NATO nuclear sharing, delivered by the British-American Security
Information Council’s Carol Naughton.
The Conference also heard a psychological take on the nuclear age,
a plea from the religious community, a heart-wrenching appeal from
hibakusha as well as concrete plans for keeping Northeast Asia nuclear-free.
Felix Fellmer of the International Law Campaign offered 4 straight-forward
recommendations: make commitments in good faith; transition from
nuclear energy to renewable energy; criminalize all nuclear weapons
as immoral and illegal (by States as well as non-state actors);
and start negotiating abolition. These recommendations were intended
to supplement the more lengthy set of concrete recommendations,
distributed to all delegates as an appendix to the presentations,
which we hope they will take back to their capitols.
At the end of the three-hour session, and following a brief break
for a short meeting of the General Committee, President Duarte announced
that, at long, long last, there was agreement on an agenda and that,
after another brief General Committee meeting tomorrow morning,
substantive work of the Conference will commence immediately.
There is something beautifully symbolic about the timing of this
announcement. It was if all the Conference needed to jump start
substantive negotiations was the humanitarian injection that only
civil society can provide.
Imagine that– a conference, with every delegation present,
paying rapt attention to the speaker on the microphone, buttressed
by a critical political will to move issues forward and work toward
saving the world from the scourge of nuclear weapons.
Now that, distinguished delegates, is a conference.
- Rhianna Tyson, WILPF
*************************
May 9
Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors,
Whether you came to New York for the massive May 1 demonstration,
you're planning on coming for the final week, or whether you are
organizing your own disarmament efforts in your community, you can
follow all of the events at the Seventh NPT Review Conference through
the News in Review, the
daily updates from Reaching Critical Will.
Now, you can easily download the daily briefing in HTML format,
archived on our site. Below is the briefing
from Monday, May 9.
In addition to the daily briefing, the full PDF editions also include
reports from NGO side events, feature articles from disarmament
experts around the world, interviews with diplomats, artwork, announcements,
reviews and more.
Subscribe today!
Best,
Rhianna
"'In Light of' Consensus"
Front page article from the News in Review, the daily NGO newsletter
from the Seventh Review Conference of the Nuclear NonProliferation
Treaty
No. 6, May 9, 2005
"Consensus,” said Conference President Duarte last Friday,
“is a very important tool in our work, and I would not sacrifice
that.”
And consensus President Duarte almost had by the close of last
week. In the world of international disarmament diplomacy, however,
“almost” just doesn’t quite cut it.
With objections in the language of document NPT/CONF.2005/CRP.2,
the document that the president is to read upon the adoption of
the agenda, consensus remains just out of reach.
Until recently, most of the disagreement lay in the language contained
in the agenda itself (document NPT/CONF.2005/CRP.1); many States
parties were not willing to capitulate to the demands of the US
and France to exclude references to the Final Document of 2000.
Eventually, however, a watered down version (based on a proposal
from China) seemed to have been generally accepted; this proposal
would have provided the Conference with a mandate to simply “review
the operation of the Treaty”, without specific reference to
past Conferences and their outcomes, as was proposed by the Chairman
of the Third Preparatory Committee in document NPT/CONF.2005/PC.III/WP.30.
As part of this compromise, President Duarte would have announced
that “the review will be conducted in the light of the decisions
and the resolution of previous Conferences, and allow for discussion
of any issue raised by States Parties.”
While many States are unhappy with all references to past Review
Conferences completely omitted from the agenda, only Egypt took
the floor in an attempt to strengthen this statement by President
Duarte.
Egypt is insisting that the words “in light of” be
replaced with the words “taking into account”, and that
the words “and the outcomes” be added after the word
“resolution”. The latter addition would, Egypt asserted,
“cover what we have agreed by consensus”, while the
more active phrase “taking into account” would fortify
the verbal reference to previous Conferences.
With this objection, Egypt aggregates all culpability for blocking
consensus. Ironically, however, it is the power of consensus that
Egypt is seeking to preserve. For how effective is consensus if
agreements reached within its framework can be so easily discarded
a few years later? Shouldn’t more States– if not all–
also be fighting for the preservation of consensus as such a “very
important tool”?
President Duarte adjourned the meeting early on Friday, and announced
the suspension of the Conference until Tuesday.
The UN Department for Disarmament Affairs (DDA) is just about finished
finalizing the NGO applications for accreditation to the conference.
Soon you should be receiving confirmation that your application
was approved. If you do not hear from the DDA by next week, feel
free to contact either Gary deRosa (derosa@un.org)
or Rhianna Tyson (rhianna@reachingcriticalwill.org)
for further information.
If you are not accredited and you wish to participate in an NGO
side event taking place on UN grounds, the organizer of the event
must send a request for a day badge for you to Gary DeRosa ONE WEEK
prior to the event. This information is also important for organizers
who wish to bring in non-accredited speakers to their events.
Below is a message from Gary DeRosa, the NGO Liaison at the DDA:
HOW TO REGISTER ONCE YOU ARRIVE IN NEW YORK
NGOs should enter the UN at the 46th st. and 1st
avenue gate, which is the very same gate that you will use for the
duration of the conference.
Always have on hand your passport or photo ID, such
as a driver's license. It is also wise to carry along with you any
communication you have received between yourself and UN officials
in connection with the review conference.
Expect long lines and waiting time. The queue may extend out of
the gate onto 1st Avenue, winding its way in through the gate and
into the white tent on the plaza. In that white tent, you will be
checked by UN security and allowed to enter the visitors lobby of
the UN. We urge you to carry as little as possible in the way of
briefcases or knapsacks in order to facilitate the security check.
Remember, the more you carry into the UN complex the slower the
process will be for all.
Once inside the visitors lobby, you will proceed to the right,
directly under the vaulted arches to the registration corner where
DDA staff will be present to proceed with your registration.
After reaching the counter, the DDA staff will ask for your photo
ID. Your name will be located in a database (assuming that you have
met the criteria for accreditation and that you were duly informed
as such). A pass printout will then be created for you, which you
will bring to the photo stations set up right alongside the computer
stations.
There, your pass will be created providing you with access to the
relevant sections of the UNHQ complex.
For those of you coming to the UN for a specific event only, a
special side event badge will be created for you which will provide
you with access only to the room in which the event is being held
and for the time period of that event. These passes will be distributed
thirty minutes prior to the event only.
Early registration dates have been planned for 27/28/29 April from
10am to 12pm and 2pm to 4pm. New York-based NGOs as well as any
NGOs who arrive before 2 may are urged to utilize these dates to
register. It will save you considerable time and afford you access
to the complex on 2 Monday ahead of the crush of attendees expected
on the opening date.
Hours of operation for the registration counter are 9am to 5pm
on 2, 3 and 4 May. On 5 & 6 May, the counter will open at 9.30
am
During the remaining weeks of the conference, the hours of operation
will be from 930am-1230pm and 2 to 5pm.
There will be no one present at the registration counter on weekends
and it should be kept in mind that unless an open meeting of the
NPT is convened on a weekend, your badge does not permit your entry
into the building at times other than 9am-6pm weekdays.
Finally, for the security of the United Nations, all NGOs are required
to turn in their passes at the close of their final day in the UN.
We understand that you might want a souvenir of the conference but
we urge you to find some suitable alternative.
Passes providing access for individuals no longer using them are
a serious security threat that will not be taken lightly. A list
of returned cards will be kept by DDA and NGOs not following this
procedure may be denied access to future conferences.
2) Limited Seating
advisory
The General Debate (GD) will take place in the General Assembly
hall during the first week of the Conference. This room only accommodates
280 civil society representatives. With 1,000 NGOs scheduled to
come to New York, Reaching Critical Will, the NGO coordinator, is
imploring that all NGOs designate ONE representative to monitor
the GD. We further strongly encourage that if your organization
is a part of a coalition of NGOs, you coordinate the designation
of this person amongst your entire network. You don't need to inform
us about who the representative is- just please keep in mind that
there is a limit to the number of people who can attend!
The GD will be broadcast on the . If you have a laptop, you can access the Internet
via the UN's wireless server. You can also use the stationary computers
(though there are only a few) in the WILPF UN Office if they are
not currently being used by our staff. Furthermore, we are in the
process of ensuring that the GD will be aired on the UN Closed Circuit
TV. You can also monitor what your government does or does not say
through the Reaching Critical Will website at: www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/npt/nptindex1.html,
where we will be posting all statements delivered in the GD, as
well as in other open sessions of the Main Committees.
Your cooperation in this matter will be greatly appreciated. It
will help ensure that the widest possible range of NGOs will be
monitoring the debate and can report back to their constituencies
at home.
If you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate
to contact us.
3) NGO Orientation
On Monday, May 2, Reaching Critical Will will host an Orientation
Session for all incoming NGOs to the Review Conference. This session
will be held at the UN Church Center (44th St. and 1st avenue) on
the 8th floor, from 8 AM to 9:30 AM.
At this Orientation Session, you will receive a complete package
of information that will help you in your lobbying and advocacy
work at the Conference, as well as some handy logistical info to
guide you through your stay in New York.
Seating is once again limited for this session. We will probably
not be able to fit everybody in the meeting room. Therefore, this
will be more of a brief information session and Question Answering
Resource Center than a full-on meeting. It will also be a good opportunity
to meet with old friends, meet new colleagues and strategize for
the coming week of events. Please be cognizant of other people who
may want to join in the session. After you receive your documents,
if you have no further questions, we ask that you make room for
others by making your way across the street to the Conference.
4) Women's Caucus
All women participants at the Review Conference are invited to join
a Women's Strategy Session for the NPT on May 2, 2-4 PM. The meeting
will is scheduled to be held at the Service Employees International
Union (SEIU) 1199th Branch Hall at 310 West 43rd St.
Almost 200 Japanese women from the New Japan Women's Association
are coming to the NPT Review Conference to make a women's appeal
for the nuclear abolition heard. For many of these women, this will
be the first time to go abroad, and they are very eager to have
a direct contact with women working for the same purpose in the
US and elsewhere.
Please keep checking the Calendar
of Events for changes or updates. If you have any questions,
please contact Emiko
Hirano of the New Japan Women's Association, who initiated and
organized this session.
5) News in Review subscriptions
available
If you can't make it to New York for the Conference, you can still
follow all of the events through a subscription to the News
in Review (NIR). The NIR is the only daily
publication from civil society that offers analysis on the official
proceedings, summaries of NGO side events, announcements, calendars
of events, interviews with diplomats and NGO representatives, artwork,
puzzlers and much, much more. Plus, with the indispensable help
of Ms. Dimity Hawkins- one of the truest and most creative RCW friends
and advisors- we have a brand new look for the News in Review
this crucial year.
To subscribe, simply send a message to: NIRsubscribe@reachingcriticalwill.org.
You will receive the NIR in your inbox every night- even
before the delegates get their copies!
While a subscription to the News in Review is made free
through the generous donation from the Arsenault Foundation, your
support for this publication- and for Reaching Critical Will- is
vital. Please consider contributing to the Reaching Critical Will
project today by visiting: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/about/donate.htm.
6) Meet the Reaching Critical Will
team
This year, the WILPF UN Office has one of the most exciting Reaching
Critical Will teams yet. Together, we will be carrying out all of
the services from Reaching Critical Will on which you have come
to depend, including:
- organizing the NGO Orientation meeting May 2;
- arranging daily morning strategy sessions for Abolition 2000;
- reporting for and distributing the News in Review;
- scanning and posting all statements on our website in near real-time;
- arranging daily briefing sessions with governments (see the Calendar
for the latest additions)
- staffing the office for limited NGO use;
and more. We are here to answer your questions and help make your
trip to New York as effective as possible. Joining Rhianna Tyson
for the Review Conference will be:
-Alex Sundberg, a full-time intern from Sweden who has been with
us since March. Alex was an instrumental researcher and drafter
for the Model Nuclear Inventory, RCW's annual database of fissile
material stockpiles, due to be released in the coming week.
- Naomi Gingold, currently a student at Brown University, majoring
in International Relations. With wide-ranging talents- including
computer programming and Japanese fluency- Naomi will certainly
be an indispensable member of the RCW team.
- Hongwei Chen, a native New Yorker currently a student at Dartmouth
University. With a firm grasp of the NPT and disarmament law, Hongwei
also brings web design skills and experience with grassroots activism.
For the first two weeks, we will also have Susi Snyder, the Secretary-General
of WILPF, as well as Kristin Dedmond, a WILPF fellow from California,
here to help us out.
And finally, we would like to introduce Mary Ann McGivern, the
new Director of the WILPF UN Office. Mary Ann joins us from St.
Louis where she has worked chiefly on redirection of military industry
to commercial production. She also developed a series of challenges
to corporate arms manufacturers regarding ethical criteria for foreign
sales, and research and development decisions including use of commercial
patents. She lived at a Catholic Worker shelter for homeless women,
gardened, and was a local public radio commentator.
*******************************
April 7
One thing is becoming increasingly clear to the world's governments:
the entire world will be watching the seventh Review Conference
of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and we are expecting concrete,
serious results.
With just three weeks left before the start of the conference, scheduled
to take place in New York from May 2-27, experts, analysts, policymakers
and activists are hastening their preparations and vocalizing their
concerns and expectations.
1) New publication from RCW
Reaching Critical Will is pleased to announce the release of a new
publication, "Major
Proposals to Strengthen the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty: A
resource guide". Developed in preparation for
the Seventh Review Conference of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty,
and in collaboration with the , this resource guide aims to help NGOs,
students, the media and governmental delegations understand the
issues to be debated and discussed at the Review Conference. This
publication looks at what proposals have been put forward, their
relevance to the Treaty and where key governments stand on these
issues.
To order a copy of this publication, contact Rhianna
Tyson.
For a full listing of publications from Reaching Critical Will,
see our Publications
Index page.
2) Deadline for registration
The deadline to register your NGO to the NPT Review Conference is
April 15. The Department for Disarmament Affairs will not accept
applications beyond this date. They will also not accept changes
to applications once submitted. Instructions for applying for registration
are in the DDA
Aide Memoire.
There is no limit on the number of delegates from each NGO that
can be accredited; however, the first week of General Debate will
take place in the General Assembly hall, which only accommodates
280 observers. We strongly advise all NGOs to designate one person
from their organization to monitor each open debate of the Review
Conference. If your NGO is a member of a coalition of NGOs, we encourage
you to pick one or two monitors from the entire coalition. We are
expecting hundreds of NGOs to register with over 1000 participants.
Also, there are special rules pertaining to delegates under the
age of 18. if your delegation will have members under the age of
18, you must contact Kathleen
Sullivan of Educators for Social Responsibility.
3) Side events space is still available
There are still many slots available in the NGO Conference Room
to organize an event, panel or workshop. Use of this room is divided
up into three time slots: 10 AM-1 PM, 1:15-2:45 PM, and 3-6 PM.
To schedule your own event:
1. See the Calendar
of Events to find an available date and time.
2. Send us an email
with your preferred date and time, title of your event, contact
person information and website address of sponsoring organization.
It is imperative that NGOs utilize the room reserved for us to
its utmost potential. That means organizing an event every day,
during every session, for the entire four weeks. If the room is
under-utilized, we may undermine our chances of obtaining this room
at future PrepComs or Review Conferences.
It is important to know that for those not carrying conference
badges but wishing to attend NPT side events inside the UN complex,
names of individuals must be submitted by the Organizer in one complete
listing to the NGO Focal Point (Gary deRosa- derosa@un.org)
at least one week in advance of the event.
4) Former High-Level Officials Push for Stronger NPT
By Joe Fiorill
Global Security Newswire
http://www.nti.org/d_newswire/issues/2005_4_6.html#110F2162
WASHINGTON — Twenty-one prominent former policy-makers called
yesterday on countries to recommit themselves to the 1968 Nuclear
Nonproliferation Treaty and to strengthen implementation of the
pact
In a
ahead of a treaty review conference set for next month in New York,
the ex-officials called for agreement on a program of action including
expanded U.N. powers to monitor treaty compliance, faster disarmament
efforts by nuclear weapon countries and better security for nuclear
material around the world.
Arms Control Association Executive Director Daryl Kimball, an organizer
of the effort, expressed doubts about U.S. support for the agenda
even as he called for its implementation.
Washington focuses on proliferation elsewhere, rejects calls for
quicker disarmament and “apparently is not likely to help
build agreement on such a program of action,” Kimball said
as he presented the statement to the press yesterday at the National
Press Club here. “The 2005 review conference is shaping up
to be a lost opportunity,” he said.
The international group, whose U.S. members included former secretaries
of state and defense and directors of the former Arms Control and
Disarmament Agency, said countries should also “clarify”
the pact to prevent parties from withdrawing — as North Korea
has done — after setting up civilian nuclear programs with
military potential.
“Today’s security environment requires an even more
comprehensive and robust global nonproliferation strategy,”
they wrote in the statement. “The NPT’s future success
depends on universal compliance with tighter rules to prevent the
spread of nuclear weapons, more effective regional security strategies
and renewed progress toward fulfillment of the nuclear weapon states’
NPT disarmament obligations.”
Cases such as North Korea and Iran, new terrorism and wars, the
nuclear network of Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, inadequate
stockpile security, and concerns on nuclear weapon states’
commitment to disarmament have created “rising doubts about
the sustainability of the nonproliferation regime,” the ex-officials
said. Next month’s review meeting is “an essential opportunity,”
they said, “for the parties to demonstrate their political
will to make further tangible progress to meet all of the treaty’s
objectives.”
U.S. Bipartisan Security Group Director Robert Grey, a signatory
of the statement, expressed concerns at yesterday’s event
about a failure of “American leadership” on nonproliferation
and disarmament.
“What we’re facing here,” Grey said, referring
to U.S. stances ahead of the review conference, “is a radical
departure from past American practice.”
Other signatories included former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright and defense secretaries Robert McNamara and William Perry;
former U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency General Counsel
George Bunn, who represented Washington in the original treaty negotiations,
and two former agency directors, Ralph Earle and John Holum; former
Russian State Duma Deputy Alexei Arbatov; U.S. Sept. 11 commission
Vice Chairman Lee Hamilton; and the secretary general of the international
Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission, Henrik Salander.
U.S. Representatives Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and John Spratt (D-S.C.)
plan to sponsor a resolution this week espousing goals similar to
those laid out in the ex-officials’ statement.
“The NPT embodies one of the best security bargains ever
struck,” Spratt said at the Press Club event. “The NPT
marshals the world — 186 countries — against nuclear
weapons with a collective force that the United States could not
muster on its own and provides a framework and forum for handling
the problems that continually arise. The United States has plenty
of nonproliferation programs. We need nonproliferation partners,
and the NPT helps supply them.”
5) A Plea By Nobel Laureates, Parliamentarians, the European
Parliament and NGOs around the World
32 Nobel Laureates and 237 organizations and parliamentarians from
around the world have signed a Statement of Endorsement that calls
for removing all strategic nuclear weapons from "hair-trigger
alert and "Launch on Warning" status. In addition the
Statement has been endorsed by the European Parliament and by the
Australian Senate.
The Statement is being released in the warm-up to the Nuclear Nonproliferation
Review Conference in New York May 2-29 and is aimed at raising the
profile of the issue of nuclear weapons operating status at that
review.
Of the 32 Nobel Laureates signing the Statement, eight are Peace
Laureates, including the Dalai Lama, Jose Ramos Horta, Carlos Filipe
Ximenes Belo, Mairead Corrigan Maquire, Joseph Rotblat, Archbishop
Desmond Tutu, Oscar Arias Sanchez, and Betty Williams. In addition,
the International Peace Bureau and IPPNW, that have received the
Nobel Peace Prize, also endorsed the Statement.
A total of 53 parliamentarians have signed the Statement from the
UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Russia, Belgium, Germany, Brazil,
U.S.A., and Italy.
The appeal was endorsed in motions concerning the Nuclear Nonproliferation
Review Conference on march 10th by both the European Parliament
and the Australian Senate.
This project was initiated and is coordinated by the Association
of World Citizens in San Francisco and by Friends of the Earth Australia
in Sydney, with assistance from many other groups worldwide including
Abolition-2000, the International Association of Lawyers Against
Nuclear Arms (IALANA), Mayors for Peace, and the War & Peace
Foundation.
In spite of significant reductions in the number of nuclear warheads
held by the U.S. and Russia from 1990 onwards, both countries maintain
thousands of warheads on 'launch on warning' and 'hair-trigger"
alert status to this day and will continue to do so, in spite of
the Moscow Treaty, through 2012.
A recent report by the RAND corporation reported that the 4,000
U.S. and Russian strategic nuclear warheads on hair-trigger alert
could be launched in a few minutes notice destroying both countries
in an hour.
A number of terrifying 'near misses' to nuclear war have taken place,
both during and after the end of the Cold War, in which the fate
of civilization has depended on correct decision-making by highly
stressed military personnel or on presidents whose sobriety has
sometimes been questionable.
Moreover, the nuclear danger has accelerated with the acquisition
of nuclear weapons by India and Pakistan, and the evolution of centralized
command and control systems in those countries. The subcontinent
is moving toward a highly dangerous 'hair trigger' status.
Taking nuclear weapons systems off hair-trigger alert has been called
for repeatedly by the European Parliament, the UN General Assembly,
and was a key recommendation of the Canberra Commission in 1996,
and of the Atlanta Consultation, chaired by President Carter in
January of 2005.
Removing strategic nuclear weapons from launch on warning status
is seen by the Canberra Commission and the Atlanta Consultation
as a first step toward the elimination of nuclear arsenals worldwide,
as required by article VI of the NPT. The issue of removing nuclear
weapons from "hair-trigger" alert underlines the necessity
of ceasing to play Russian (or American, or Indian or Pakistani)
roulette with the entire world.
Our Statement calling for the elimination of hair-trigger policy
will be released in Melbourne, Geneva, Hiroshima, San Francisco,
New York (at the UN), and London on April 5th.
This project was initiated from the World Citizen Award presented
to Stanislav Petrov in Moscow on 21 May 2004 by the Association
of World Citizens. Petrov is credited by many arms experts as probably
saving the world from nuclear war though his singular decision when
in charge of an early-warning bunker outside of Moscow on September
26, 1983, when the system indicated the Soviet Union was under a
missile attack by the United States.
6) May 1 Demonstration
On Sunday, May 1, 2005, the day before the NPT Review Conference
begins, United for Peace and Justice and Abolition Now! are calling
for a massive demonstration for global nuclear disarmament, culminating
in a rally in New York City 's Central Park.
To end nuclear proliferation and to avert further “preventive”
wars, we urge you to join us and help build the May 1st mobilization
for immediate negotiations to ban all nuclear weapons - including
our own. As we mark the 60th anniversary of the first - and only
- use of nuclear weapons in war, we must commit ourselves once more
to the cause of nuclear disarmament. No less than our collective
survival depends upon it.
We urge you to join us and help build the May 1st mobilization
for a nuclear weapon free world:
Endorse the May 1 demonstration for global nuclear disarmament,
e-mail monika@abolitionnow.org or call (212) 726-9161
Get involved in planning and outreach: join the May Day 2005 committee
by sending a blank e-mail to MayDay2005-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Visit www.abolitionnow.org and www.unitedforpeace.org for updates
Organize buses from your region; go to New York May 1!
7) Extension of deadline for submissions to the News
in Review
We are still accepting submissions for the News in Review,
the daily publication on NGO views on the NPT Review Conference.
If your organization has a statement or analysis to offer the delegates
or the international disarmament community, we strongly encourage
you to submit it to the News in Review as a feature article.
We also encourage all NGOs organizing an event at the Review Conference
to advertise their event- or other disarmament-related books, events
and projects- in the News in Review. The NIR is
the only daily publication from civil society that reports on the
proceedings at the Review Conference. It is the place that all activists
in New York turn to in order to figure out what has happened and
what will be taking place in the coming days and weeks. It is also
avidly read by all governmental delegates, often faxed back to capitols
and received by nearly 1000+ subscribers not in New York.
1. Dates for the NGO presentations
at the NPT Review Conference
According to the draft programme of work for the Review Conference,
the NGO presentations session is scheduled to take place on May
11, from 3-6 PM in Conference Room IV.
Note that this date is tentative and is not final until the draft
agenda is adopted on the first day of the Conference, May 2.
If you are an NGO interested in working on the drafts for these
presentations, contact
Rhianna today to find out how to get involved.
A Conference of States Parties to the Nuclear Weapon Free Zones
will take place in Mexico City from April 26-28, 2005. All States
Parties to the regional nuclear weapon free zones have been invited
to participate. Other States Parties to the NPT have been invited
to attend as observers.
Representatives of non-governmental organizations in consultative
status with the UN ECOSOC and other interested non-governmental
organizations are also invited to attend the Conference as observers.
To register for the conference please contact:
Ambassador Edmundo Vargas Carreño
Secretary-General of OPANAL
Schiller 326, Piso 5, Colonia Chapultepec Morales
México, D.F., C.P. 11570
Telephone: (55) 5255-2914 y (55) 5255-4198
Fax number: (55) 5255-3748
3. New book by 1995 NPT Review and
Extension Conference President, Jayantha Dhanapala
From 17 April-12 May 1995, States parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation
of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) gathered in New York to decide on the extension
of their treaty. Born of the desire of the international community
to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and achieve a nuclear-weapon-free
world, the NPT entered into force on 5 Mach 1970 for an initial
period of 25 years, thereafter to be renewed—indefinitely
or for additional period(s)—as determined by a majority of
parties at a specially convened conference.
Although intense diplomatic activity leading to the Review and
Extension Conference (NPTREC) had seemingly forged consensus amongst
a majority of participants in favor of indefinite extension, the
permanent extension of the NPT was by no means assured, with strong
counter-currents taking shape already from the opening remarks of
the Conference. In the event, only enlightened compromise and skilful
conference management allowed the treaty to be indefinitely extended
without a divisive vote that risked damaging its legitimacy, although,
as a reminder of the ongoing challenges facing even a permanently
extended NPT, the Conference—which also served as a Review
Conference—failed to agree on a Final Declaration.
Authored by Mr. Jayantha Dhanapala, President of the 1995 NPT Review
and Extension Conference, with Randy Rydell, Multilateral Diplomacy
and the NPT: An Insider’s Account, is an analytical account
of the NPTREC, its preparatory process and its aftermath. More than
a personal memoir, the book focuses attention on the issues and
difficulties attending the NPTREC and the discussions, points of
view and understandings that made possible the indefinite extension
of the treaty without a vote, while placing these squarely within
the
context of the challenges and opportunities of multilateral diplomacy.
The NPT, contends Mr. Dhanapala, is a living treaty that has evolved
in response to the challenges of history and will continue to do
so in the future—though whose permanent extension must never
be taken for granted or put to the test.
To obtain copies of the book, contact the .
4. Reminder to NGOs to register for
the NPT Review Conference
The deadline to register for the NPT Review Conference is sooner
than you think! All NGOs must apply for accreditation at the UN
Department for Disarmament Affairs by April 15.
To apply, your organization must send:
1) A letter written on organizational letterhead requesting attendance
at the Conference. This letter should include the composition of
the delegation, and an overview of past interactions between the
organization and the United Nations in relation to disarmament and
non-proliferation issues in particular. These interactions may include
conferences attended, co-sponsorship of events, consultative status
with the Economic and Social Council-ECOSOC, affiliation with the
Department of Public Information-DPI, etc.
2) A mission statement or summary of work.
This information should be sent by fax to Gary DeRosa at: (212)
963 8892 no later than 15 April. Note that names of representatives
of your delegation cannot be changed or added once submitted, due
to security reasons.
In April, you will be notified if your application was accepted
or rejected. Once you come to New York, you must register at the
UN itself. For more information on registration, be sure to read
the DDA Aide Memoire here: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/npt/RevCon05/aide.doc.
Please note also that the DDA is unable to make any arrangements
for visas.
If you are a member of WILPF, you can register by filling out the
WILPF
registration form and faxing or emailing it to Susi
Snyder, Secretary-General.
*******************************
March 10
With less than two months before the start of the Seventh Review
Conference of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, non-governmental
organizations are working hard to pressure their governments to
formulate progressive policies to strengthen the NPT.
This NPT Advisory offers news from Australia, the European Union
and the United Kingdom on the policies and strategies of those countries
going into the Review. Item number 4 offers excerpts from the UK
parliament on a recent debate (March 8) on the NPT and the Review
Conference. Please note that emphasis is added by RCW, and is not
found in the original transcript.
What similar efforts are you and your organization working on in
your own countries? Send an email to Reaching Critical Will and
we will help work to ensure the widest dissemination of your information
as possible. What is your government planning on doing to ensure
that this Review Conference will strengthen the disarmament and
nonproliferation bargains of the treaty??
In this NPT Advisory:
1) Reminder that registration for the NPT is open
2) Notice of motion in the Australian Senate on the NPT Review Conference
3) the EU Parliament adopts resolution on the NPT
4) the UK Parliament debates the NPT
5) UK Parliamentary motions on the NPT
All NGOs wishing to participate at the NPT Review Conference must
apply for accreditation at the UN Department for Disarmament Affairs.
To apply, your organization must send:
1) A letter written on organizational letterhead requesting attendance
at the Conference. This letter should include the composition of
the delegation, and an overview of past interactions between the
organization and the United Nations in relation to disarmament and
non-proliferation issues in particular. These interactions may include
conferences attended, co-sponsorship of events, consultative status
with the Economic and Social Council-ECOSOC, affiliation with the
Department of Public Information-DPI, etc.
2) A mission statement or summary of work.
This information should be sent by fax to Gary DeRosa at: (212)
963 8892 no later than 15 April. Note that names of representatives
of your delegation cannot be changed once submitted, due to security
reasons.
In April, you will be notified if your application was accepted
or rejected. Once you come to New York, you must register at the
UN itself. For more information on registration, be sure to read
the DDA Aide Memoire here: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/npt/RevCon05/aide.doc.
Please note also that the DDA is unable to make any arrangements
for visas.
2) Notice of Motion in the Australian Senate on the NPT
Review Conference
I give notice that on the next day of sitting, I shall move that
the Senate:
a) Notes the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference
commencing in NY on May 1 2005 and the vital importance of the NPT
as an instrument of both nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation,
b) Expresses its deep concern over
i) the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and.
ii) the danger to humanity posed by the possible use of nuclear
weapons.Â
c) Acknowledges the significant steps taken towards nuclear disarmament
since the previous NPT Review Conference including the signing of
the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty between Russia and the
United States in 2002 and calls for the full implementation of all
relevant articles of the Treaty including Articles I and II on non-proliferation
and Article VI on the achievement of general and complete disarmament.
d) Affirms the vital importance of the unequivocal undertaking
made at the 2000 NPT Review conference by the nuclear weapons states,
to accomplish the elimination of nuclear weapons arsenals, and of
the 13 steps agreed to at that meeting.
e) Urges the Government to
i) pursue a balanced and integrated approach on both disarmament
and non-proliferation at the NTP Review Conference.
ii) call on the nuclear weapons states and nuclear capable states
not to develop new types of nuclear weapons, in accordance with
their commitment to diminish the role of nuclear weapons in security
policies;
iii) call for concrete agreed steps by nuclear weapons states and
nuclear -capable states to lower the operating status of nuclear
weapons systems in their possession, as called for by Australia's
L23 Path to a Nuclear Free World.
f) Welcomes the appeal, signed by 25 Nobel prize-winners, calling
on the governments of the United States, Russia, China, France,
and the UK, India, Pakistan, Israel, and North Korea, to support
and implement steps to lower the operational status of their nuclear
weapon systems in order to reduce the risk of nuclear catastrophe;
g) Notes and strongly affirms continued efforts by the Government
to secure universal adherence to, and ratification of, the CTBT
and urges the Government to press for the early entry into force
of the CTBT.
h) Requests that this resolution is conveyed to the foreign ministries
and UN missions of all participants in the NPT Review conference,
the UN secretary-general, the Director- General of the IAEA, and
the Chair of the 2005 NPT Review conference, as well as India, Pakistan
and Israel.
3) The EU Parliament adopts resolution on the NPT
adopted on 9 March 2005
Motion for a European Parliament resolution on Non Proliferation
Treaty 2005 Review Conference Nuclear Arms in North Korea and in
Iran
A) Taking into account and reiterating its previous resolutions
on nuclear disarmament and in particular its resolution of 26 February
2004 on the Non-Proliferation Treaty Preparatory Committee in May
2004,
B) Underlining that the European Security Strategy concept and
the EU's Strategy on Weapons of Mass Destruction, as adopted by
the enlarged EU emphasises the importance of nuclear non-proliferation
and disarmament,
C) Recognizing that all the EU Member States are States party to
the NPT and two EU Member States are Nuclear Weapons States as defined
in the NPT,
D) Recalling the UN Secretary General's High-Level Panel on UN
reform stating that "we are approaching a point in which the
erosion of the non-proliferaton regime could become irreversible
and result in a cascade of proliferation,
1. Reaffirms its position that the Treaty on the Non-proliferation
of Nuclear Weapons is of vital importance for the prevention of
the proliferation of nuclear weapons and for nuclear disarmament;,
2. Recalls that the EU's and the NPT's ultimate objective is the
complete elimination of nuclear weapons and expects the declared
and undeclared nuclear weapon states to engage actively with this
issue and to make further progress towards reducing and eliminating
nuclear weapons;
3. Calls upon the EU and its Member States - in a spirit of 'effective
multilateralism' and solidarity and in pursuit of the EU Strategy
Against the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction - to form
a common front at the NPT Review Conference in 2005, and make a
positive contribution to the discussions; urges that their statements
attach special importance to new initiatives on nuclear disarmament
and the revitalisation of the UN Conference on Disarmament;
4. Calls upon the Council and the Member States to add further
substance to their common statement that 'the Treaty on the Non-proliferation
of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) must be preserved and - in support of the
Union's Common Position on the Universalisation and Reinforcement
of Multilateral Agreements in the Field of Non-proliferation of
WMD and their Means of Delivery - to make a statement on the EU's
Common Position and the EU Strategy at the Review Conference;
5. Calls upon the Council and the Member States to work towards
the effective implementation of point 15.3. of the Final Declaration
of the 2000 NPT Review Conference in order to achieve a treaty effectively
banning the production of all weapons making use of fissile materials;
6. Calls upon the EU to work with its international partners, including
NATO, to develop and promote the principles to prevent terrorists,
or those that harbour them, from gaining access to weapons and materials
of mass destruction; asks the States' parties to fulfill their commitments
made in the UN Security Council resolution 1540 on non-state actors
and proliferation of nuclear weapons;
7. Calls upon the Council and the Commission to set up a programme
aimed at preventing the proliferation of nuclear materials, technology
and knowledge in the world;
8. Calls upon all states, and nuclear weapon states in particular,
not to provide assistance or encourage states which may seek to
acquire nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices, in particular
those states which are not parties to the Non-proliferation Treaty;
9. Stresses its strong belief that nuclear disarmament activity
will contribute significantly to international security and strategic
stability and also reduce the risk of thefts of plutonium or High
Enriched Uranium by terrorists; urges the EU to support the new
initiative at the international level on new nuclear dangers as
proposed by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and by Mohammed ElBaradei,
director of the IAEA, on the need to secure nuclear disarmament
by Nuclear Weapons States both acknowledged and unacknowledged,
10. Urges the EU to work hard for the establishment of the Model
Nuclear Weapons Convention, as has already been deposited at the
UN and which could provide a framework of steps within a legally
binding disarmament process;
11. Calls upon the Luxembourg Presidency and the Council to provide
further substance by outlining how they aim to achieve their common
objective in the EU WMD Strategy to 'foster the role of the UN Security
Council, and enhance expertise in meeting the challenge of proliferation';
and specifically how the states parties to the NPT might retain
the unique verification and inspection experience of UNMOVIC, for
example by means of a roster of experts;
12. Calls upon the Council and the Commission to come forward with
a proposal to persuade third states and the EU Member States, who
have not done so, to sign and ratify the IAEA Additional Protocols;
13. Calls upon the Council and the Member States to clarify and
step up their commitment to releasing financial resources to support
specific projects conducted by multilateral institutions, such as
the IAEA;
14. Calls upon the EU to propose, at the Review Conference in 2005,
that the appropriate subsidiary body on nuclear disarmament be established
by the UN Commission on Disarmament without further delay;
15. Calls upon the EU to develop the necessary coordination mechanisms
(the EU's WMD Monitoring Unit in liaison with the EU Situation Centre)
to ensure that intelligence is used to build solidarity and confidence
between the Member States on WMD policy;
16. Stresses the importance and urgency of signature and ratification,
without delay and without conditions and in accordance with institutional
processes, to achieve the earliest possible entry into force of
the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty; calls on the Council
and the Commission to insist on this in the dialogue with those
State partners which have not yet ratified the CTBT and/or the NPT;
17. Reiterates its call upon the USA to stop the development of
new generations of battlefield nuclear weapons (bunkerbusters) and
to sign and ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty; calls as well
on the USA to clarify the situation of the quantity and strategic
objectives of its tactical nuclear arsenals stationed on European
bases;
18. Calls on Israel, India an Pakistan to become State Parties
to the NPT;
19. Welcomes the appeal, signed by 25 Nobel prizewinners, calling
on the governments of the United States, Russia, China, France,
and the UK, India, Pakistan, Israel, and North Korea, to support
and implement steps to lower the operational status of their nuclear
weapon systems in order to reduce the risk of nuclear catastrophe;
supports the proposal made by the High Representative for Common
Foreign Security Policy (CFSP) of the EU for the establishment of
a "nuclear free zone" in the Middle East and asks that
an effort will be made to this end;
20. Renews its support for the international Mayors' campaign -
initiated by the Mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - on nuclear disarmament
and recommends the international community to carefully consider
the Campaign's 'Project Vision 2020', urging a scheduled program
of eliminiation of all nuclear weapons;
21. welcomes the inclusion of Non Proliferation of Weapons of Mass
Destruction clauses in the latest EU agreements with third countries
and actions plans; points out that such measures must be implemented
by all the EU partner countries without exception ;
22. Stresses that the prevention of any threat to the security
of any country requires a commitment by the international community;
emphasises the need for stronger regional and multilateral security
structures in the Middle East, the Indian sub-continent and North-East
Asia in order to reduce the pressure towards nuclear proliferation
and to achieve the abandonment of nuclear programmes;
23. Calls for all political and diplomatic avenues to be explored
in order to secure a peaceful settlement to the conflicts linked
with nuclear proliferation;
on Iran
24. notes with concern that Hassan Rowhani, secretary of the Iranian
Supreme National Security Council, reiterated on 27 February 2005
that Teheran would not give up its "right under the NPT to
enrich uranium" and calls upon the Iranian authorities to stop
making confusing and contradictory statements;
25. takes note that Russia and Iran on 27 February 2005 signed
a nuclear fuel supply agreement paving the way for Iran to start
up its first atomic reactor in Bushehr next year and obliging Teheran
to repatriate all spent nuclear fuel to Russia;
26. Calls the Council to take an initiative with the Government
of the Russian Federation to obtain guarantees that its recent agreement
with Iran on the delivery of nuclear material is solely intended
for civilian use, and to ensure support for the EU diplomatic efforts;
counts on the International Energy Agency (IAEA) to monitor closely
the fuel transfers between Russia and Iran;
27. Welcomes IAEA Director Mohamad ElBaradei's declaration at the
end of January 2005 about the progress being made by the agency's
nuclear safeguard inspectors over the last 15 months in understanding
the nature and scope of Iran's nuclear programme;
28.Reaffirms its full support for the Paris agreement of 15 November,
in which Iran made the commitment to suspend its uranium enrichment
programme, and to the EU 3 approach of dialogue with the Iranian
authorities in order to ensure a peaceful and diplomatic solution
to the nuclear issues concerning this country and calls for objective
guarantees from the Iranian government as to the non-military nature
of its nuclear programme;
29.Calls upon Iran to reaffirm its commitment to the NPT and to
make permanent its decision to suspend uranium enrichment, thus
providing lasting confidence in the peaceful nature of Iran's intentions
and paving the way for a cooperative partnership between the EU
and Iran; insists that the negotiations on a Trade and Cooperation
Agreement should be seen in parallel with a satisfactory conclusion
of the nuclear issue and the establishment of reassuring verifications
measures;
30.Calls on the Council and the Commission to enter into negociations
with the Iranian authorities on the transfer of technology and know
how as well as financial support for renewable energy;
31.Calls on the Iranian Parliament to conclude the parliamentary
ratification of the additional protocol to the Non-Proliferation
Treaty;
32.Calls on the US government to fully support the EU diplomatic
approach to resolving this problem, considers this question as essential
for a renewed transatlantic agenda and welcomes the recent US statement
on this matter, as well as earlier assertions not to engage in preventive
military action against Iran;
On North Korea
33. is deeply concerned that North Korea on 10 February 2005 declared
that it possesses nuclear weapons and suspended its participation
in the six-party-talks on its nuclear programme for an indefinite
period of time;
34. Notes the North Korean statement that their 'end objective
is a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula' and urges it to abide by its
obligations under NPT and its government and other parties involved
to take concrete steps in negotiations and to adopt a constructive
approach;
35.Urges North Korea to rejoin the NPT, to revoke its decision
to withdraw from the six-party-talks and to allow the resumption
of negotiations in order to find a peaceful solution to the crisis
in the Korean peninsula;
36.Urges both North Korea and the US to enable a speedy resolution
of the current crisis, initially by offering to recommence the supply
of Heavy Fuel Oil in exchange for a verified freezing of the Yongbyon
plant, to avoid further deterioration of the current situation;
37. Urges Council to reconsider paying Euro 4 million of suspension
costs for KEDO to South Korea, taking into account that this initiative
played a significant role in the recent past and recognises that
it could well serve to supply conventional energy in the future;
38. Believes that the EU should support renewed efforts to enable
the DPRK to renounce the further use of nuclear energy in exchange
for guaranteed energy supplies;
39. Calls on Council and Commission to offer financial support
for heavy fuel oil supplies to remedy North Korea's primary energy
needs and asks Commission and Council to make the necessary approaches
regarding EU participation in future 'Six Party Talks' at the same
time making clear that 'No Say, No Pay' is a principle which the
EU will follow regarding the Korean Peninsula;
40. Is aware that central to the ongoing crisis are the claims
that North Korea has firstly a full fledged Highly Enriched Uranium
Programme and has supplied Uranium to Libya; however, considering
that neither of these claims have been substantiated, asks for a
public hearing in the European Parliament to evaluate the claims;
++++++
41. Calls upon both the Council and the Commission to present a
progress report to the European Parliament on the outcome of the
NPT Review Conference in due time after the end of the Conference;
42. Decides to establish an official delegation to attend the NPT
Review conference;
43. Invites its President to forward this resolution to the Luxembourg
Presidency, the Commission, the Council, the governments and parliaments
of the Member States, the UN Secretary-General, to both governments
and parliaments of Iran and North Korea, to all States Parties to
the Convention as well as to the IAEA.
end
4) The UK Parliament Debates the NPT 8 Mar 2005
Non-Proliferation Review
2 pm
(This segment was featured in the original March 10 Advisory but
is not archived here for space purposes. If you wish to read this
segment, contact the Project
Manager.)
5) UK Parliamentary Motions on the NPT
EDM 637
NUCLEAR ABOLITION TOUR 01.02.05
Llew Smith
Ms Diane Abbott Mr Harry Barnes Mr Harold Best
Mr Ronnie Campbell Mr Martin Caton Mr David Chaytor
Mr Michael Clapham Harry Cohen Mr Iain Coleman
Mr Tony Colman Mr Michael Connarty Frank Cook
Jeremy Corbyn Mr Jim Cousins Tom Cox
Mrs Ann Cryer Mr Tam Dalyell Mr Ian Davidson
Sue Doughty Mr David Drew Julia Drown
Mr Bill Etherington Mr Mark Fisher Paul Flynn
Dr Hywel Francis Mr Neil Gerrard Dr Ian Gibson
Mr Roger Godsiff Mr Win Griffiths David Hamilton
Dr Brian Iddon Glenda Jackson Lynne Jones
Mr David Lepper Mr Terry Lewis Alice Mahon
Chris McCafferty John McDonnell Mr Kevin McNamara
Mr Austin Mitchell Julie Morgan Dr Doug Naysmith
Linda Perham Adam Price Angus Robertson
Joan Ruddock Phil Sawford Mr Brian Sedgemore
Alan Simpson Mr Marsha Singh Mr Simon Thomas
Dr Jenny Tonge Dr Desmond Turner Dr Rudi Vis
Mr Robert N Wareing Mr Michael Weir Mrs Betty Williams
Mr Mike Wood
59 signatures
That this House warmly welcomes the national tour being conducted
in February and March by the veteran and inveterate peace campaigner,
and CND Vice-President, Bruce Kent, to draw attention to the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference taking place in New York
in May; supports the theme of the tour, as organised by the Campaign
for Nuclear Disarmament, to build the conditions to 'Abolish all
nuks now', recognises that the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
(NPT) has since 1968 formed the basis for a near universal non-proliferation
regime, with a commitment to nuclear disarmament at the heart of
this; recalls that under the NPT, the nearly 200 non-nuclear weapons
states promised not to obtain nuclear weapons in exchange for disarmament
by existing nuclear weapons states, which unfortunately has not
been implemented despite the requirements of Article Six of the
NPT upon the nuclear weapons signatory states, comprising the UK,
US, Russia, China and France; recalls that, at the 2000 NPT Review
Conference, the nuclear weapons states made 'an unequivocal undertaking'
towards nuclear disarmament and agreed on 13 steps towards disarmament;
and calls upon the Government to honour this commitment.
EDM 871:
PRESIDENT BUSH AND THE NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATION TREATY 09.03.05
Llew Smith
Ms Diane Abbott Mr Harold Best Mr Ronnie Campbell
Harry Cohen Jeremy Corbyn Mr David Drew
Mr Neil Gerrard John McDonnell Mr Robert N Wareing
10 signatures
"That this House welcomes President Bush's statement of 7th
March in support of nuclear non-proliferation and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty (NPT); agrees with his observation that the NPT `represents
a key legal barrier to nuclear weapons proliferation'; notes his
reaffirmation of the determination of the United States `to carry
out its treaty commitments'; agrees with his assertion that NPT
parties `must take strong action to confront the threat of non compliance
with the NPT in order to preserve and strengthen the Treaty's non-proliferation
undertakings'; supports his policy statement not to allow rogue
states that violate their commitments and defy the international
community to undermine the NPT's fundamental role in strengthening
international security; therefore calls on the United States Administration
to honour its commitment under Article 1 of the NPT that `each nuclear-weapon
state party to the Treaty undertakes not to transfer to any recipient
whatsoever nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices or
control over such weapons or explosive devices directly, or indirectly'
and thus to cancel any further collaboration on the Trident nuclear
WMD system; and also calls upon President Bush to honour Article
6 of the NPT that binds each of the parties to the Treaty to undertake
to `pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating
to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear
disarmament'; and calls upon the UK Government similarly to honour
its equivalent commitments.
EDM 873:
NON-PROLIFERATION TREATY REVIEW CONFERENCE 2005 09.03.05
Mr David Chaytor
Jeremy Corbyn Mrs Ann Cryer Alice Mahon
Angus Robertson Alan Simpson Llew Smith
Mr Simon Thomas
8 signatures
"That this House recognises the overriding importance of the
forthcoming Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference to be held
between 2nd and 29th May; welcomes the visit to the United Kingdom
of the Chairman of the Conference, Ambassador Sergio de Queiroz
Duarte of Brazil; is deeply concerned about the Foreign Office's
decision to rename the former Non-Proliferation Division as the
Division for Counter Proliferation; is further concerned about the
recent decision of the United States Administration to seek substantial
budget increases for a new generation of small scale nuclear weapons;
regrets that the United Kingdom has not yet implemented its unequivocal
undertaking at the 2000 NPT Review Conference to work towards the
total elimination of its nuclear arsenals by ruling out the replacement
of the Trident nuclear weapons system at the end of its current
operational life; and urges the Government to co-operate as closely
as possible with Ambassador Duarte to ensure that the 2005 NPT Review
Conference reinforces the progress that was achieved at the 2000
conference.
*******************************
March 1
Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors,
This Saturday marks the 35th anniversary of the nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty (NPT). What better time to receive an E-News advisory containing
some very important information for all NGOs wishing to participate
in the upcoming NPT Review Conference? We've also included, for
good measure, some other important information from the WILPF UN
Office.
Reaching Critical Will is always looking for ways to amplify civil
society's voice(s) at the Conference, whether or not you can get
to New York, so be sure to pass this email along to any interested
activists you know!
In this E-News advisory:
1) NGO accreditation information
2) New publication from RCW: "Nuclear Disarmament: What NOW?!"
3) News in Review submissions
4) NGO Campaigns for the NPT
5) NGO Shadow Report: Accountability is Democracy, Transparency
is Security
6) WILPF at the "Reaching Nuclear Disarmament" workshop
in Stockholm, February 25-27
7) WILPF event on Women, Peace and Security and Militarism
8) IAEA Expert Panel Report on Multilateralizing the Nuclear Fuel
Cycle
9) In memoriam: Satomi Oba
As always, this E-News advisory is archived along with all other
advisories at: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/action/Advisories05.html.
We welcome all comments, questions or concerns you may have regarding
this or any other service from Reaching Critical Will.
Best wishes,
Rhianna
1) NGO accreditation information
All NGOs wishing to participate at the 2005 Review Conference of
the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty must apply for accreditation
through the UN Department for Disarmament Affairs.
To apply, your organization must send:
· A letter written on
organizational letterhead requesting attendance at the Conference.
This letter should include the composition of the delegation, and
an overview of past interactions between the organization and the
United Nations in relation to disarmament and non-proliferation
issues in particular. These interactions may include conferences
attended, co-sponsorship of events, consultative status with the
Economic and Social Council-ECOSOC, affiliation with the Department
of Public Information-DPI, etc.
· A mission statement
or summary of work.
This information should be sent by fax to Gary DeRosa at: (212)
963 8892 no later than 15 April. Note that names of representatives
of your delegation cannot be changed once submitted, due to security
reasons.
In April, you will be notified if your application was accepted
or rejected. Once you come to New York, you must register at the
UN itself. For more information on registration, be sure to read
the DDA
Aide Memoire here.
For more information on NGO participation at the NPT Review Conference,
see our NPT
page.
2) New publication from RCW: "Nuclear
Disarmament: What NOW?!"
Reaching Critical Will, with the co-sponsorship from the International
Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, Campaign for Nuclear
Disarmament, the Middle Powers Initiative, Rissho Kose-kai and Svenska
Läkare mot Kärnvapen (Swedish affiliate of IPPNW), offers
a new publication, Nuclear
Disarmament: What NOW?!, now available on our
website.
This booklet is intended to assist disarmament activists as they
take on their own advocacy and outreach on the nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty. A sequel to the 2000 publication, "Nuclear
Disarmament: What Next?", the 2005 edition features 13
prominent disarmament experts' views on the status and future of
the 13 Practical Steps to Disarmament, and includes a rousing introduction
by Mr. Jayantha Dhanapala, former Under-Secretary General of the
UN Department for Disarmament Affairs.
This booklet paints a picture of a way forward, while acknowledging
the challenges facing the Treaty negotiations in 2005. It will be
distributed widely as a peace education tool for use in formal school
curricula, and in the informal public education work done by NGOs.
If you would like to order copies of this publication, contact
us today.
3) News in Review submissions
There is still time remaining for you to submit to the daily NGO
newsletter, the News in Review! The News in Review is one of the
best ways for NGOs to get their views across to all delegates at
the conference, as well as to the 1000+ subscribers who receive
it in their inboxes every day.
We are looking for feature articles (no more than 1000 words) highlighting
any aspect of the negotiations including nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation,
"peaceful uses", national issues relating to NPT, and
more. We are also looking for cartoons and artwork- a vital part
of the NIR! We are glad to reprint articles and artwork
that you have already written or published. We are also still accepting
submissions for advertisements.
4) NGO Campaigns for the NPT
NGOs are working on a variety of campaigns to build media and public
attention to the Review Conference. From grassroots mobilization
campaigns to media talking points, a successful Review Conference
depends on a large variety of civil society initiatives around the
world.
What are you doing to strengthen the NPT Review Conference??
RCW is in the process of compiling an easy-to-reference
resource page on the myriad of campaigns and projects currently
underway. If your organization is working to build attention to
the Review Conference, build public support for the disarmament
obligations under the NPT or encouraging your community to engage
in the process, we want you to send us information on your activities
to post on our site.
5) NGO Shadow Report: Accountability
is Democracy, Transparency is Security
Each year since 2002, Reaching Critical Will offers the NGO
Shadow Report: Accountability is Democracy, Transparency is Security,
as a part of our efforts to promote a culture of reporting on nuclear
disarmament undertakings. Reporting, an important confidence-building
measure, was outlined in the Final Document of the 2000 NPT Review
Conference, whereby States parties agreed to submit "Regular
reports, within the framework of the NPT strengthened review process...on
the implementation of Article VI..."
The Shadow Report offers a comprehensive database on all fissile
materials, both military and civilian, in the 44 countries listed
in the Annex II of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty identified
as having significant nuclear programs. The report is quickly becoming
an invaluable reference guide to anybody interested in disarmament
and nonproliferation.
RCW will be publishing the 2005 edition in the coming weeks- but
we need your input! If you have information on the nuclear holdings
of your country or your neighboring countries, contact
us today. We are also looking for information to update the
chapter on Nuclear
Weapon States' compliance with the 13 Steps. The 2005 edition
is well underway, and in order to make it as comprehensive a tool
as possible, we need your knowledge and expertise.
Such an inventory serves both disarmament and nonproliferation
goals and would strengthen the NPT regime as a whole. In order to
secure all nuclear materials, prevent their acquisition by non-state
actors and strengthen the yet-to-be-negotiated Fissile
Materials Treaty, we must first undertaken a comprehensive accounting
of all fissile materials. Likewise, the irreversibility of disarmament
will be enhanced with the tool of such an inventory.
Contribute today! 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.
6) WILPF at the "Reaching Nuclear
Disarmament" workshop in Stockholm, February 25-27
The Swedish network of nuclear disarmament organizations held a
conference in Stockholm this past weekend on Reaching Nuclear Disarmament.
WILPF was there in full force. Felicity Hill (former WILPF UN Office
Director and founder of the RCW project) and Merav Datan (interim
Director of the UN Office) spoke on a panel the opening night with
Dr. Hans Blix, the former Chair of the UN inspections team in Iraq,
and RCW Project Manager Rhianna Tyson spoke on a panel the next
day.
For more information from this fantastic event, see:
7) WILPF event on Women,
Peace and Security and Militarism
Under the auspices of the UN Commission on the Status of Women,
the world's governments are currently meeting to review and appraise
the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action adopted at the Fourth
World Conference on Women in Beijing, 1995.
The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom will be
hosting an event this Friday, March 4 on "Women, Peace and
Security in a Militarized Context." Co-sponsored by Canadian
Voice of Women for Peace, Global Action to Prevent War and Kayan-
Feminist Organization (Haifa, Israel), the discussion will focus
on questions such as:
- what is militarism?
- how does gender affect militarism?
- how does militarism affect women?
- what can gender perspectives contribute to demilitarization and
disarmament?
- what can demilitarization and disarmament contribute to peace
and security?
We will also hear perspectives of women from zones of conflict
and militarism and from women working on militarization, disarmament,
peace and security and the prevention of war.
For more information, contact Merav
Datan, Interim Director of the WILPF UN Office.
For more information on the Commission on the Status of Women,
contact PeaceWomen Project Associate Kara
Piccirilli or see: .
8) IAEA Expert Panel Report on Multilateralizing
the Nuclear Fuel Cycle
Multilateral control of the world's civil nuclear fuel cycle is
essential for curbing "burgeoning and alarmingly well organized
nuclear supply networks" and preventing such materials from
falling into the hands of terrorists, according to a report commissioned
by the United Nations atomic watchdog agency.
"The decades-long nuclear non-proliferation effort is under
threat," says the study, Multilateral Approaches to the Nuclear
Fuel Cycle, commissioned last June after the Director-General of
the ), Mohamed ElBaradei, suggested that
wide dissemination of the most sensitive parts of the nuclear fuel
cycle could be the "Achilles' heel" of the non-proliferation
regime.
Such threats come from regional arms races, non-nuclear weapon
states in breach of or in non-compliance with safeguards accords,
and incomplete application of export controls required by the Treaty
on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
But they also arise "from burgeoning and alarmingly well organized
nuclear supply networks, and from the increasing risk of acquisition
of nuclear or other radioactive materials by terrorist and other
non-State entities," according to the report, drawn up by an
expert group that included representatives from 26 countries.
The study, examining the nuclear fuel cycle and multinational approaches,
has been sent to the IAEA's 138 Member States and will be more widely
circulated, including to the Review Conference of 189 States party
to the NPT in May.
Multilateral approaches are "setting the nuclear agenda,"
the group's Chairman and former Head of IAEA Safeguards, Bruno Pellaud,
told a news conference yesterday in Vienna, Austria, the IAEA's
headquarters. He urged concerted action among governments.
"Such approaches are needed and worth pursuing, on both security
and economic grounds," he said, in summing up the group's consensus.
"A joint nuclear facility with multinational staff puts all
participants under a greater scrutiny from peers and partners, a
fact that strengthens non-proliferation and security.
"Moreover, they have the potential to facilitate the continued
use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes," he added, noting
that multilateral approaches are already followed in Europe and
merit close consideration in South Asia and other regions.
The report outlines five approaches to strengthen controls over
fuel enrichment, reprocessing, spent fuel repositories and spent
fuel storage, including reinforcing existing commercial market mechanisms
through long-term contracts and transparent suppliers' arrangements
with government backing. Examples would be fuel leasing and fuel
take-back offers, commercial offers to store and dispose of spent
fuel, as well as commercial fuel banks.
The proposals also include: developing international supply guarantees
with IAEA participation; promoting voluntary conversion of existing
facilities to multilateral nuclear approaches; and creating multinational,
and in particular regional, approaches for new facilities based
on joint ownership for uranium enrichment, fuel reprocessing and
disposal and storage of spent fuel.
Finally, the scenario of a further expansion of nuclear energy
around the world might call for the development of a nuclear fuel
cycle with stronger multilateral arrangements - by region or by
continent - and for broader cooperation, involving the IAEA and
the international community, the report said.
To read the full report, see:
9) In memoriam: Satomi Oba
Early in the morning on February 24, Satomi Oba, a renowned anti-nuclear
campaigner and peace activist died at age 54 from a sudden aneurysm
in her brain.
All of us in the disarmament community are devastated at this tremendous
loss. Satomi was a tireless and fearless activist- a representative
of Plutonium Action Hiroshima, a member of No Nukes Asia Forum,
a founding member of Abolition 2000 and the Hiroshima correspondent
of WISE International- she never shied away from speaking the truth
or fighting for what she believed was right and just. She was also
a wonderful friend to many of us around the world; words cannot
express our shock and sadness.
Below is a brief note she and her friends contributed to a past
edition of the News in Review, during the 2003 Preparatory Committee
meeting in Geneva. To think that we will never have another heart-felt
contribution from Satomi again is unfathomable. On behalf of the
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, I would like
to express our utmost condolences to her family and friends, and
to let them know how greatly she will be missed by all.
A Message from the Axis of Hope
After a long, hectic and exhausting week of activities at the NPT
PrepCom, three NGO delegates took a day off on Sunday for a brief
tour of the French Alps. We spent a glorious day enjoying the old
Europe. We explored the market in the French village of Annecy,
hiked up the hill to the old castle, and discovered the Mysteres
et deouvertes, a most surprising art exhibition, bringing together
medieval and futuristic art installations reflecting in one way
or another the alpine landscape. The three of us found it spellbinding.
Emerging into the blazing sunlight, we pondered the spectacular
view of the snow-capped mountains towering above Lake Annecy and
watched the leisurely picture below of sailing boats and strolling
families. One of us observed, imagine that the whole world could
be this peaceful and content. As we sat together on an ancient stone
wall and posed for a photograph, we looked at each other and realized
who we were. One of us was from Germany, where nuclear fission was
discovered and ballistic missiles originated. One of us was from
the United States, the first country to develop and use nuclear
weapons. And one of us was from Japan,the first country to suffer
the devastating effects of the atom bomb. All of us were born in
the years following these events. And all of us were women. We felt
that we were the axis of hope. We sat down together to write postcards
to our friends at home. And this is the message we sent:
We have a dream...A nuclear weapons convention ratified, space
weapons banned, missiles gone,and we have loads of time to enjoy
beautiful Switzerland (and France)!
Love and peace from The Axis of Hope:
-Satomi Oba, Japan (born 1950)-Jackie Cabasso, USA(born 1952)- Regina
Hagen, Germany (born 1957).
1) Invitation to NGOs to attend the
nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty seventh Review Conference
All non-governmental organizations that work on nuclear disarmament
and nonproliferation are invited to attend the seventh Review Conference
of the NPT, to be held in New York on May 2- 27.
Ambassador Sergio Q. Duarte of Brazil 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 RevCon,
be sure to subscribe to Reaching Critical Will's General E-News
service to receive all updates and information throughout the upcoming
weeks. Fill out the form at: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/action/joinlistform.html
2) NGO Registration
NGOs wishing to attend the Review Conference must apply for accreditation
to the Department for Disarmament Affairs.
Details on accreditation will be forthcoming within the next few
weeks, but for now you should be prepared to submit:
1) a letter on organizational
letterhead requesting attendance at the Conference. Include the
composition of the delegation,
the names of all representatives, and an overview of past interactions
between your organization and the
United Nations in relation to disarmament and nonproliferation.
2) A mission statement or summary
of work.
Once these materials have been received by the DDA, you will be
notified of your acceptance mid-April. Once accredited, you must
register with the DDA when you arrive in New York. All NGOs which
will be in New York during the last week of April are strongly encouraged
to pre-register April 27-29.
DDA hopes that NGOs will give careful consideration to their delegation
lists before submitting their applications. It is very important
that you include all the names of your organization's representatives;
add-ons will not be permitted later on.
When the aide memoire is available, (further outlining the accreditation
process) it will be posted on our site and on the and will be announced through this E-News subscription
list.
3) What is the role of NGOs at the
Review Conference?
In recent years, 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 Review Conference, where
States Parties will be working to produce another consensus-based
Final Document. NGOs are needed to provide credible analysis, views
and perspectives on the global nuclear regime, support progressive
measures towards disarmament and nonproliferation and bring media
and public attention to these important 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
•working in coordination with Mayors for Peace, to bring a
new political dimension to the nuclear debate and attract media
attention
and more.
4) What do we hope to achieve?
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.
So what do we do? What are we hoping to achieve at the Review Conference?
Reaching Critical Will is moderating an NGO-only Strategy
E-Discussion, which is taking place right now. This is
a focused discussion, concentrating on 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 we collaborate to enhance our efficacy?
- How can civil society best amplify their messages so that they
are heard by our representatives?
We encourage participants to the E-Discussion to also share with
the group information, findings, questions, conclusions and salient
points that were raised at the various NPT meetings and events taking
place over the world. (For a listing of these events, see the NPT
Countdown Calendar.)
At the end of each week, participants will receive a summary of
the main points raised and discussed.
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/prepcom04/NGOpres.html.
The NGO presentations drafting process has already begun, and soon
we will be forming committees to coordinate the drafts of the various
presentations. 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!
6) NGO side events
NGOs have reserved one conference room for their use throughout
the Review Conference. Some groups have already begun organizing
events to be held in that room.
Check the Calendar of Events here: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/npt/RevConEvents.html.
If your organization wishes to organize an event, we encourage you
to book your time slot as soon as possible. Send an email to Rhianna
with the title of your event, the time and date, and contact information.
It is imperative that NGOs utilize the room reserved for us to its
utmost potential. That means organizing an event every day, during
every session, for the entire four weeks. If the room is under-utilized,
(and it never has been in the past), we may undermine our chances
of obtaining this room at future PrepComs or Review Conferences.
It is important to know that for those not carrying conference badges
but wishing to attend NPT side events inside the UN complex, names
of individuals must be submitted by the Organizer in one complete
listing to the NGO Focal Point (Gary deRosa- derosa@un.org)
at least one week in advance of the event. The deadline to organize
an event outside of the allotted NGO conference room is March 15.
Due to heightened security arrangements, no NGO or member of the
public will be permitted entry to the building for a side event
unless their name has already been submitted to Security Services
in accordance with the one-week-prior rule.
7) May Day! Disarm! A massive demonstration
for nuclear abolition
has paired up with , as well as dozens of local grassroots
groups, to organize a massive demonstration on May 1st, demanding
nuclear abolition now!
Even if you are not yet in New York, we still need your help. Send
an email to Monika Szymurska
to find out how you can help out with the organizing effort around
May 1st. .
8) Housing Options for NGO representatives
Reaching Critical Will wants as many NGOs to come to New York for
this Review Conference 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.
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 Review Conference, May 2-27. 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.
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 15th.
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 RevCon, 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: $35
1/2 page ad: $55
full page ad: $125
back page ad: $180
(Run your ad twice and get $10 off. Run your add three times and
get $20 off. Run your ad four times and you get $30 off.)
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!
Call your local media! Publicize your views and your government's
policies, and let them know what's happening in New York.
Once the Review Conference 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
In this, the first General E-News Alert of 2005, we just have a
few quick announcements for you. We'd also like to express our deepest
appreciation to all of you who donated to Reaching Critical Will
last month in response to a challenge grant from the Secure World
Foundation. Thanks to generous friends and advisors such as yourselves,
we are just a thousand dollars short of meeting the challenge grant!
If you haven't yet done so, please consider making a contribution
today by clicking on: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/about/donate.htm.
In this advisory:
1) Reminder to join the NGO NPT Strategy E-Discussion
2) Enroll your mayor in the Abolition Now! Campaign
3) Submissions for the News in Review open
This and all other E-News Advisories are archived on our site,
and the 2004 archives and 2003 archives are still available as well.
Best wishes,
Rhianna Tyson
Project Manager
1) Reminder to join the NGO NPT Strategy
E-Discussion
You still have time to subscribe to the NGO NPT Strategy E-Discussion,
moderated by Reaching Critical Will. This structured strategy discussion
will begin on January 10 and conclude on April 1st. 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 we collaborate to enhance our efficacy?
- How can civil society best amplify their messages so that they
are heard by our representatives?
We encourage participants to the E-Discussion to also share with
the group information, findings, questions, conclusions and salient
points that were raised at the various NPT meetings and events taking
place over the world. (For a listing of these events, see the NPT
Countdown Calendar.)
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.
2) Enroll your mayor in the Abolition
Now! Campaign
The year 2005 will mark the 60th anniversary of the atom bomb and
plans are underway to mark the occasion with a global effort to
create a nuclear-free world. The Mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
have organized the Mayors for Peace Emergency Campaign to Ban Nuclear
Weapons and are enrolling Mayors all over the world to join the
call for negotiations to begin in 2005 on a treaty for the total
elimination of nuclear weapons by 2020.
Abolition 2000, a network in over 90 countries, has launched a global
Campaign, Abolition Now! calling on people all over the world to
enroll their Mayors and petition their Heads of State to come to
the Non-Proliferation Treaty Conference (NPT) at the UN in May,
with their plans for nuclear disarmament. On December 2, the U.S.
anti-war coalition United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ) teamed up
with Abolition Now! to announce their plans for a massive demonstration
in New York’s Central Park on May 1, 2005, the day before
government officials begin the month-long conference to review the
future of the NPT.
“Until there is more than a vague commitment to do the planning
necessary to eliminate nuclear weapons, all our efforts at non-proliferation
will be seen as simply reinforcing a global double-standard,”
said Aaron Tovish, who manages the Mayor’s for Peace Campaign,
an effort to solicit the support of the world’s mayors in
the abolition cause. Already, over 600 mayors – including
more than 60 from the United States – have joined the campaign.
The Campaign hopes to sign up 1,000 by May and will bring a large
delegation of Mayors to the NPT conference.
As long as the United States continues to build new nuclear weapons
and modernize its lethal arsenal of over 10,000 bombs, the world
will face increasing nuclear proliferation and a state of constant
war as countries will try to acquire their own nuclear capability
to deter the US. To end nuclear proliferation and the nuclear threat,
all countries must plan for nuclear disarmament now!
To join the campaign or to find out how you can urge your mayor
to support the call for a safer world free of nuclear weapons, visit
the Abolition Now website.
3) Submissions for the News in
Review open
We are now accepting submissions of advertisements, feature articles,
cartoons, artwork and photographs for the News
in Review, the daily publication of NGO views and perspectives
on the Review Conference. We encourage all NGOs 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 RevCon, 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 15th.
Advertising space: You can also 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 RevCon, 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: $35
1/2 page ad: $55
full page ad: $125
back page ad: $180
(Run your ad twice and get $10 off. Run your add three times and
get $20 off. Run your ad four times and you get $30 off.)
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!
