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December 10
      1) General Assembly votes on First Committee resolutions
      2) International Women's Day Disarmament Seminar 2008
      3) Iran news and analysis
      4) Updated RCW resource on missiles
      5) NGO activism on the US-India deal
      6) Disarmament Calendar 2008
      7) Good news: Ireland bans uranium exploration

November 30
      1) Reports from the CCW meetings: Getting rid of cluster munitions
      2) Voting Results Chart from First Committee now available
      3) Update on Iran: IAEA Report
      4) 2008 NPT Preparatory Committee: Preliminary information for NGOs
      5) Internship positions available at RCW
      6) New RCW resource on SSOD IV
      7) Students for a Nuclear Weapons-Free World

November 13
      1) First Committee closes
      2) Dr. Randall Caroline Forsberg, leader of the Nuclear Freeze, passes away
      3) Global Fissile Material Report 2007 released
      4) Scotland aims to keep nuclear submarines out

October 10
      1) First Committee begins
      2) Keep Space for Peace Week
      3) Depleted Uranium conference closes
      4) UN Secretary-General Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters releases report

September 20
      1) CTBT Entry Into Force Conference concludes
      2) CD closes its third and final session of 2007
      3) UN General Assembly - RCW's Disarmament Index and First Committee Monitor
      4) Space Security Index 2007 just released by Project Ploughshares
      5) Heads up for other disarmament and non-proliferation conferences in October

August 30
      1) Updates for NGO participation at the CTBT Article XIV Conference
      2) UN General Assembly General Debate - Heads up for the Disarmament Index
      3) UN General Assembly First Committee - How to get involved
      4) New resources available from Reaching Critical Will

August 3
      1) Information for NGO participation in the CTBT Entry-Into-Force Conference
      2) Hiroshima and Nagasaki Commemorative Events
      3) The Conference on Disarmament opens its third and final session
      4) Think Outside the Bomb gears up for its National Grassroots Conference
      5) More on ODA

July 17
      1) Introducing the new Acting Project Associate for Reaching Critical Will
      2) The Department of Disarmament Affairs (DDA) is now the Office of Disarmament Affairs (ODA)
      3) Mr. Sergio de Queiroz Duarte of Brazil is appointed High Representative for Disarmament
      4) The Conference on Disarmament closes its second session without progress
      5) The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty begins preparing for the fifth Entry-Into-Force (Article XIV) Conference
      6) UN Treaty Event highlights disarmament treaties this year

May 31
      1) Non-Proliferation Treaty Preparatory Committee closes: Final News in Review online
      2) Model Nuclear Inventory: Accountability is Democracy, Transparency is Security
      3) Conference on Disarmament: China blocks negotiations
      4) Nuclear Disorder or Cooperative Security? Civil society analysis of the current disarmament regime
      5) Reaching Critical Will Project Manager is leaving
      6) International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)
      7) Women’s Role in Peace and Disarmament

March 8
      1) Civil Society helps save the Department for Disarmament Affairs: What's next?
      2) Iran and the Security Council: another resolution on the horizon
      3) Open Debate on Security Council Resolutions 1540 and 1673: criminalizing weapons of mass destruction
      4) Updates and Reminders about the Non-Proliferation Treaty Preparatory Committee

February 6
      1) NGO Accreditation to the NPT: Aide Memoire now available
      2) News in Review Submissions
      3) NGO Presentations to the NPT PrepCom
      4) Update on the UN Department for Disarmament Affairs
      5) Conference on Disarmament opens, agrees to an Organizational Framework for 2007     

January 18
      1) Invitation to NGOs to attend the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Preparatory Committee (NPT PrepCom)
      2) NGO Accreditation and Registration
          A) Aide Memoire from the Department for Disarmament Affairs (with info on accreditation and registration)
          B) Registration form--Due March 26
      2)What is the role of NGOs at the Preparatory Committee?
      4) NGO Statements to the delegates
      5) NGO side events
      6) Housing Options for NGO representatives
      7) News in Review: the daily NGO newsletter
      8) What can I do if I can't get to Vienna?
      9) Links for more information
      10)Security Council Sanctions Iran

January 12
      1) Urgent! Support Disarmament at the UN!

December 10

Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors:

"The acceptance of a core of universal, human values does not mean a submission to the consumerism of any empire." - Prime Minister Ralph E. Gonsalves, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, General Assembly General Debate, 28 September 2007

The holiday season is upon us, the season supposedly of peace and "goodwill toward man" [SIC!] - and for some, gifts.

However, as reported in the 1998 UNDP Human Development Report, "Today's consumption is undermining the environmental resource base. It is exacerbating inequalities. And the dynamics of the consumption-poverty-inequality-environment nexus are accelerating. If the trends continue without change—not redistributing from high-income to low-income consumers, not shifting from polluting to cleaner goods and production technologies, not promoting goods that empower poor producers, not shifting priority from consumption for conspicuous display to meeting basic needs—today's problems of consumption and human development will worsen."

Instead of engaging in what the Prime Minister Gonsalves describes as "a shallow consumer ethic driven by multinational corporations whose sole interest is to create a standardised population of global purchasers," why not contribute to one of the most instrumental projects working for the abolition of nuclear weapons, complete and general disarmament, and the reduction of militarism and military spending? There is still time - always time - for you to give a much-needed, immeasurably appreciated, tax-free (in the US) donation to Reaching Critical Will.

WILPF created the Reaching Critical Will project to serve YOU - the global community of disarmament experts, analysts, and activists, and members of the general public who want to know what goes on inside the UN and other multilateral fora on matters of disarmament. You understand how crucial the RCW project is to our community; it is up to you to help ensure RCW's ability to continue providing the services we do, especially as we gear up for the next NPT PrepCom.

Consider giving yourself, your family, or your friends a holiday gift by donating to Reaching Critical Will. A gift in the amount of $100, $500, or $1000 will help RCW follow through with our NPT plans, which include:

- publishing an updated and more comprehensive edition of the Model Nuclear Inventory;
- daily reporting in the News in Review;
- coordinating and publishing the NGO presentations;
- facilitating side events at the PrepCom;
- organizing an NGO orientation session at the start of the PrepCom;
- holding daily briefings between NGOs and government delegations;

and much, much more.

RCW is also going to be active in the upcoming Commission on the Status of Women, in February-March 2008. We are teaming up with WILPF's PeaceWomen project to produce a variety of materials about military spending in comparison to spending on gender equality and the advancement of women. We also intend to continue updating and improving our resources on critical issues such as Iran, outer space security, the military-industrial complex, disarmament and development, and more.

But we need your help. A donation to Reaching Critical Will is an easy, powerful way to give support to the entire international disarmament community.

We have a PayPal account available on our site, to make your credit card gift easy and safe. Please visit:
http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/about/donate.htm

We also welcome cheques made out to:

Jane Addams Peace Association
777 UN Plaza, 6th floor
New York, NY 10017

(Be sure to put RCW in the memo line.)

Happy holidays to RCW - and to the planet.

In peace,
Ray Acheson, Project Associate

1) General Assembly votes on First Committee resolutions
On 5 December 2007, the General Assembly took action on First Committee resolutions. The results have been posted on the RCW First Committee resolutions page, at http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/1com07/res/resindex.html. In addition, the NGO Committee on Disarmament, Peace and Security teamed up with RCW intern Anna Walther to update the Voting Results Charts, which are available as follows:

Security Council members: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/1com07/res/voteindexSC.html
CD members: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/1com07/res/voteindexCD1.html

2) International Women's Day Disarmament Seminar 2008
On 5-6 March 2008 in Geneva, the Geneva Forum and the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom are co-sponsoring the International Women's Day Disarmament Seminar: At What Cost? Wars, Weapons, and Conflict Prevention.

WILPF and the Geneva Forum are working together in 2008 to mark International Women's Day and the 30th anniversary of the First Special Session on Disarmament of the UN General Assembly, which in 1978 produced a visionary document at a high point of international consensus and alarm around the dangerous waste of human and economic resources on armaments.

A panel discussion will take place on 6 March 2008 at UN Headquarters in Geneva, during which experts and prominent persons will provide new analysis and shocking facts on the financial, political, environmental, and opportunity costs of military security versus human security. In addition, WILPF, as a vibrant member of the Geneva NGO Working Group on Peace and NGO Committee for Disarmament will organize a day of information, training, and lobbying on 5 March 2008.

These events will honour the late Dr. Randall Caroline Forsberg, a woman who left a remarkable legacy to those working for peace, disarmament, and conflict prevention. She studied and made known global military policies, arms holdings, production and trade, and arms control and peace-building efforts. Randy combined expertise, passion, and action, the very elements required today to prevent conflicts, to freeze and reverse the wasting of human and economic resources on weapons that kill and mutilate in wars that pollute and destroy.

Please mark these dates in your calendar and start planning your participation. For more information, contact the Geneva Forum at mccarthy@hei.unige.ch or WILPF at inforequest@wilpf.ch.

3) Iran news and analysis
On 3 December 2007, a new National Intelligence Estimate, representing the consensus view of all 16 US spy agencies, said that Iran is not currently seeking nuclear weapons, nor will it be capable of producing enough highly enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon until at least 2010. The report concludes that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and that the program remains on hold, contradicting an assessment two years ago that Tehran was working "inexorably" toward building a bomb.

Mainstream media has either presented this report as undermining neoconservative arguments for war with Iran, or, as justifying sanctions against Iran and as evidence that Iran has a "latent" intention to develop nuclear weapons. US President Bush said the report was a "warning signal" and his view that a nuclear Iran would be a danger "hasn't changed," adding "Iran was dangerous, Iran is dangerous and Iran will be dangerous if they have the know-how to make a nuclear weapon." Meanwhile, in remarks to reporters outside the Security Council, US Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, said, "the NIE says that there was a covert military dedicated nuclear weapons program."

However, as Michael Spies of the Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy points out, "Scant evidence exists in the public domain to back up the administration's assertion that Iran had engaged in the determined pursuit to acquire a credible nuclear arsenal. It is crucial to also note in this context that the IAEA has affirmed that the NIE account corroborates with their dramatically less alarmist understanding of Iran's nuclear capacity and past program."

Spies further argues, "The important question that doesn't get asked isn't so much whether Iran had a nuclear weapon program but what does the NIE mean by Iran had a nuclear weapons program. Obviously we aren't taking about the Manhattan project here. In this context, it is equally important to emphasize what we haven't seen in Iran, which are signs of a large-scale military-industrial effort to weaponize nuclear materials. The bottom line is that there's little evidence to suggest much beyond paper studies and laboratory scale experiments in Iran related to possible nuclear weapons. Moreover, far short of the NIE's triumphalist conclusion that any change in Iranian policy is attributable to an aggressive US posture -- pressure tactics and the threat of sanctions and force -- a more honest narrative of Iran's nuclear program would note that Iran originated its clandestine nuclear fuel cycle program at the height of its war with Iraq (a country that was pursuing nuclear weapons and had been using chemical weapons against Iran) and that Iran ended its alleged weapons work subsequent to the US invasion of Iraq."

Furthermore, sanctions were not applied against Iran in 2003. Three EU states - France, Germany, and the UK - offered Iran technical cooperation with its nuclear program in exchange for full transparency. Talks between Iran and the EU3 and the IAEA continued on-and-off August 2005; the matter was not referred to the Security Council until February 2006.

For more information and analysis about the Iran nuclear situation, please see RCW's Nuclear Iran? page at http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/iran.html

4) Updated RCW resource on missiles
RCW has updated its online resources about missiles to include information on the Third Panel of Government Experts and recent debate over missiles in the General Assembly First Committee. The pages also offer a history of missile control regimes, an overview of export controls, the Missile Technology Control Regime, and the Hague Code of Conduct, and links to further reading. If you or your organization would like their work on missiles posted, please send links to ray[at]reachingcriticalwill.org.

Missiles: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/missiles/missilesindex.html

5) NGO activism on the US-India deal
The Arms Control Association, the Abolition 2000 Secretariat, and the US-India Working Group of Abolition 2000 are circulating a letter to Nuclear Supplier Group governments and governments represented on the IAEA Board of Directors about the US-India Deal, and have asked for organizations to sign-on:

Crunch time is approaching for the US-India nuclear deal. Recognizing that they only have a small window of opportunity to finalize the deal before the US Presidential election gets in the way, the governments of both countries are mounting a last ditch effort to clinch a safeguards agreement with the IAEA and gain a special India-specific exemption from the guidelines of the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). The IAEA safeguards agreement and the NSG exemption are required before the US Congress can approve the bi-lateral agreement.

We have launched this international sign-on letter, because we are gravely concerned about the implications of the US-India nuclear deal for nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. Reports suggest that the deal could be pushed through the IAEA and NSG as early as January 2008, so we are aiming to collect as many organizational sign-ons as possible by 20 December and to send the letter to governments at the beginning of January 2008.

The letter is written in a way that presents some basic facts about why the deal is problematic, raises key issues for the recipient governments to consider, and makes a number of recommendations about what should/should not be done. It attempts to stake out the "maximalist" position while also trying to address the specific legal and policy questions that might resonate with the broadest range of NSG governments.

Signed:

Daryl Kimball,
Executive Director, Arms Control Association, USA

Stephen Staples,
Global Secretariat, Abolition 2000
(Director, Rideau Institute on International Affairs, Canada)

Philip White,
Coordinator, Abolition 2000 US-India Deal Working Group
(International Liaison Officer, Citizens' Nuclear Information Center,
Japan)

To receive a copy of the letter and to sign-on, contact whitecynic@yahoo.com

For more information about the US-India deal, please refer to the following web sites:

http://www.armscontrol.org/projects/india/
http://cnic.jp/english/topics/plutonium/proliferation/usindia.html

Also see RCW's US-India Deal page at http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/usindia.html

6) Disarmament Calendar 2008
RCW has created a new Disarmament Calendar, which keeps track of significant events related to disarmament, including meetings of international multilateral fora and intergovernmental organizations, as well as grassroots actions and civil society conferences. Check it out at http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/resources/disarmcal08.html - and please submit any events you would like advertised to ray[at]reachingcriticalwill.org.

7) Good news: Ireland bans uranium exploration
Using New Zealand as an example, the Irish government has decided not to allow uranium mining in Ireland. Natural Resources Minister Eamon Ryan said, "It would be hypocritical to permit the extraction of uranium for use in nuclear reactors in other countries, while the nuclear generation of electricity is not allowed in Ireland, and particularly while the Irish government continues to object to the operation of nuclear power generation at Sellafield (on the north-west coast of England) and other locations." He also pointed to the significant environmental and public health concerns surrounding uranium mining, including contamination of ground and surface water supplies and radiation levels, and explained the decision not to grant a licence followed "the example set by other countries who remain opposed to the nuclear generation of electricity, such as New Zealand."

November 30

Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors,

After First Committee finished its sixty-second session, the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom engaged with the issue of cluster munitions, by monitoring and reporting on the meetings of the States Parties to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), collecting all documents and statements, and creating an action toolkit to help other members of civil society get involved. In addition to assisting with these reports, RCW has been completing the First Committee voting results chart, keeping up to date with news and analysis of Iran's nuclear programme, and updating or creating a variety of informative fact sheets and backgrounders, available on the RCW website. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for new releases and exciting project updates.

In peace,
Ray Acheson, Project Associate

1) Reports from the CCW meetings: Getting rid of cluster munitions
Immediately after the First Committee finished its sixty-second session, most disarmament ambassadors returned to Geneva to participate in a series of meetings on the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), held from 5-13 November 2007. The central issue of the Meeting of High Contracting Parties to the CCW was whether the CCW will be able to adopt a negotiation mandate on cluster munitions. The CCW also held the First Conference of the High Contracting Parties to Protocol V of the CCW, on Explosive Remnants of War, and the First Conference of the High Contracting Parties to Amended Protocol II of the CCW, on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Mines, Booby-Traps and Other Devices. Both of these meetings also addressed the issue of cluster munitions.

Information on cluster munitions
Cluster munitions are weapons that consist of one carrier container filled with separate bomblets. A cluster bomb can contain anywhere from 9 to several hundred bomblets. When dropped, the bomb is designed to open mid-air and distribute the bomblets so that they will explode on impact, affecting an area that can be as wide as several football fields. Cluster munitions are neither accurate nor reliable. Bomblets often malfunction, and fail to explode on impact, laying in wait until some unsuspecting person disturbs it. Unexploded cluster munitions continue to kill for decades after conflicts are over. 98% of their victims are civilians.

Banning cluster munitions
There has been great interest in creating a legally-binding prohibition on the production, stockpiling, and use of cluster munitions, from both governments and civil society. However, there are a few states who are less enthusiastic about such a ban; and even among states who support a ban, disagreement over the negotiation mandate and forum abounds. Some argue a protocol within the CCW should be negotiated, others believe a separate process, such as the Oslo Process, would result in a more robust treaty that emphasizes victim assistance.

The Oslo Process was initiated by Norway after the failure of the Third Review Conference of the CCW to adopt a negotiation mandate on cluster munitions. At a Conference in Oslo in February 2007, 46 States signed a Declaration pledging to conclude in 2008 an international treaty prohibiting cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians. Now more than 80 countries are participating in the Process and will meet in Vienna in December 2007 to begin negotiations on the text of a treaty.

For more information, please see WILPF's cluster munitions resources: http://www.wilpf.int.ch/disarmament/clustermunitions/

Reports from the CCW meetings
WILPF's disarmament intern Katherine Harrison dutifully covered all three meetings, with an emphasis on their impact on the cluster munition debate. Her reports, along with government statements and official documents, are all available online:

Protocol V (Explosive Remnants of War):
http://www.wilpf.int.ch/disarmament/CCW_PV2007/CCWPV2007index.html

Amended Protocol II (Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Mines, Booby-Traps and Other Devices):
http://www.wilpf.int.ch/disarmament/CCW_APII2007/ccwapIIindex.html

Meeting of High Contracting Parties to the CCW:
http://www.wilpf.int.ch/disarmament/CCW_8MEET/MSPReport2007.html

Materials for civil society
Katherine has also prepared several resources for members of civil society to become involved with the process to ban the production and use of cluster munitions, including:

Women and Cluster Munitions backgrounder
http://www.wilpf.int.ch/PDF/DisarmamentPDF/ClusterMunitions/Gender&ClusterMunitions2007.pdf

Sample letters to send to your Foreign Ministries to encourage your government's participation in the Oslo Process:
Letter to a government currently involved in the process: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/clustermunitions/lettertogov1.doc
Letter to a government NOT currently involved in the process: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/clustermunitions/lettertogov2.doc

2) Voting Results Chart from First Committee now available
The Reaching Critical Will team compiled an online database of voting results from the 5 permanent members of the Security Council, and the 65 members of the Conference on Disarmament. Use this chart to see how your government voted in comparison with others - direct links to voting results and explanations of vote are included. When the General Assembly votes on these resolutions again in early December, we will update the chart accordingly.

Security Council Chart: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/1com07/res/voteindexSC.html
CD members Chart: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/1com07/res/voteindexCD1.html

3) Update on Iran: IAEA Report
The IAEA Director General released a new report on the implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement and relevant Security Council provisions in Iran. Media spin on the issue undermines several key points of the report, including, as noted by Michael Spies of the Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy, the expanded chronology of Iran's acquisition of nuclear fuel cycle technology, placing the development of Iran's nuclear program in the context of the program started by the Shah, and, more importantly, the revised history of the 1987 offer from the Khan network and the civilian origin of the decision to pursue uranium enrichment in paragraphs 10 and 11. Also important is Iran's explanation for the development (or lack thereof) of the P-2 centrifuge, which seems to check out, and as always, the IAEA has been able to verify the non-diversion of declared nuclear material in Iran.

Despite all of this, the US is intent on imposing stricter sanctions, arguing "only a strong resolution with new and biting sanctions will give diplomacy a chance to succeed." Furthermore, the US, the UK, France, and Germany told the IAEA Board of Governors that "a wait-and-see approach is not an option," arguing that Iran has not done enough to win their trust, and that the UN should now consider tougher sanctions: "We recognize Iran has taken some steps in the right direction but we are disappointed that cooperation is of a partial and reactive nature ... all in all, the results are not encouraging."

Read the full text of the IAEA report at http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/gov2007-58.pdf

Follow the news on Iran's nuclear programme with RCW's Nuclear Iran? page: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/iran.html

And check out the latest civil society perspectives and resources on the Iran situation at: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/iranperspectives.html

4) 2008 NPT Preparatory Committee: Preliminary information for NGOs
The Preparatory Committee for the 2010 Review Conference of nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) will hold its second session from 28 April to 9 May 2007 in Geneva. RCW has posted some preliminary information for participation of NGOs on the website, including information on scheduling side events, calls for submissions of feature articles and artwork for the daily NGO newsletter, the News in Review, and information on advertising in the News in Review. See http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/npt/2008index.html for this information, and check back regularly for updates.

NGO Side Events
NGOs will reserve one conference room for their use throughout the Preparatory Committee. If your organization wishes to organize an event, we encourage you to book your time slot as soon as possible. Send an email to the Project Associate with the title of your event, the time and date, and contact information. Events will all be posted on the Calendar of Events on the Reaching Critical Will website as well as in the daily News in Review.

News in Review
The News in Review is a daily publication produced during NPT 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, a calendar of events, and more. You can access archived NIRs online.

We encourage you to submit to this year's News in Review. 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, regardless of whether or not you will be in Geneva. Articles should be between 500-1000 words. The deadline for feature submissions is 18 April. Please submit in .doc format and the body of the email. Articles will be attributed to the author and may be edited for length.

Advertising space: You can use the News in Review to publicize an important announcement, event, or project hosted by your organization. NIRs are hand-distributed to all of the delegates at the PrepCom, sent by email to more than 2000 subscribers, and are archived on our website.

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 get $30 off.)

Cartoons, photos, artwork, poetry: 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. Photos, paintings, doodles, cartoons, collage, mixed media, and drawings are all welcome.

Submit your ad, article, or artwork by sending:

* your organization's name;
* contact person;
* email address;
* phone number;
* type of submission (for ads, please specify the size of the ad, dates for it to run, and payment method); and
* the submission

to the Project Associate. The deadline for all submissions is 18 April.

5) Internship positions available at RCW
RCW is seeking qualified interns for January - May 2008. We are looking for responsible, experienced researchers to help update Reaching Critical Will's Model Nuclear Inventory, assist with administrative tasks, and help prepare for the 2008 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Preparatory Committee.

Qualified applicants will have excellent writing and research skills, knowledge of international relations, and be available for at least 12 hours a week during normal business hours.

Those interested should email (no phone calls please) the Project Associate at ray[at]reachingcriticalwill.org with:
- cover letter explaining interest in the project and the organization; also indicate availability
- resume/CV
- 2 brief relevant writing samples (2000 words or less)
- two references

Additional information is available online at http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/action/internwinter.html

Please distribute this announcement widely to your networks and friends!

6) New RCW resource on SSOD IV
In the brief gap between the end of First Committee and the next stages of the Conference on Disarmament, the UN Disarmament Commission, and the NPT review cycle, RCW has created an information resource for the fourth special session on disarmament.

A special session on disarmament is a world summit, attended by high level government officials of United Nations member states, including heads of state, foreign ministers, and technical advisors, who convene at the General Assembly to discuss and decide upon the best ways to comprehensively and effectively control, reduce, and eliminate global armaments.

A fourth special session of the General Assembly devoted to disarmament (SSOD IV) is arguably the best chance for the international community to break the current impasse in disarmament and non-proliferation. SSOD I, held in 1978, was the largest meeting of states ever convened to consider the question of disarmament. For the first time, consensus on a comprehensive disarmament strategy was reached, which was embodied in the Final Document adopted at the session. SSOD I eloquently registered the absurdity of the arms race, and represented the height of envisioning disarmament. However, the Final Document of SSOD I, and its Program of Action, are yet to be implemented. Despite two more special sessions, in 1982 and 1988, disarmament is still an aspiration, not a reality.

Find out what SSOD IV could do for YOU (and the rest of the planet) with RCW's new SSOD IV web pages: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/ssod/ssod.html

Get involved: Submit your appeals for SSOD IV to ray[at]reachingcriticalwill.org.

7) Students for a Nuclear Weapons-Free World
On United Nations Day, 24 October 2007, Dr. Hans Blix, President of the World Federation of United Nations Associations (WFUNA), launched Students for a Nuclear Weapons-Free World, to engage young people from diverse academic disciplines in preparations for the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty 2010 Review Conference. Students for a Nuclear Weapons-Free World is a program of essay writing, video interviews, and poster design, on the theme of nuclear disarmament. It aims to "inspire students around the world to do independent research and analyze the case for nuclear disarmament, and to address the following question: "What do you think can lead governments to stay away from, or do away with, nuclear weapons?" The authors of the best submissions in all three categories will be invited to present their ideas at a conference at the Palais des Nations, Geneva, in the summer of 2008.

WFUNA has also established an online forum, Global Disarmament Hub (http://www.disarmamenthub.org/) to engage young people in the discussion of disarmament issues. Use this link to find out more information about the program and for information on where to send submissions.

November 13

Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors,

The sixty-second session of the General Assembly First Committee on Disarmament and International Security closed on Friday, 2 November 2007. It was a rather uneventful session, with a few key highlights (see below). Most delegations continued to lament the lack of progress in disarmament and non-proliferation, especially in the Conference on Disarmament (CD). They called for the adoption of the comprehensive programme of work in the CD at the beginning of 2008, and expressed hope for success at the next nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Preparatory Committee. It would be preferable if First Committee itself was used more effectively to advance the cause of disarmament and international security, rather than as a stage from which to "urge" consensus in another forum. In his remarks on 18 October, Ambassador Landman of the Netherlands paraphrased Victor Hugo, announcing that the time will come when the instruments of war, and in particular weapons of mass destruction, "will be on show in museums in the same way as today one can visit and inspect instruments of torture, fashionable in the Middle Ages and thereafter. And we would all be wondering that such weapons have existed and their use ever contemplated." To reach this point, governments, diplomats, and civil society need to not just theorize about the new (collective) security environment they envision, but to work towards it.

Best wishes,
Ray Acheson, Project Associate

1) First Committee closes
In his closing remarks on 2 November, First Committee Chairperson Paul Badji outlined the "productivity" of the 2007 session: more than 315 statements delivered and 52 draft texts adopted. If productivity can be measured by volume of paper circulated, then First Committee was extremely successful. If, however, we turn to Badji's question of whether or not First Committee "advanced the cause of disarmament and international security," the 2007 session could best be characterized as underwhelming.

However, there were some bright spots that inspire us to continue our work - draft resolutions on de-alerting nuclear weapons and on depleted uranium in armour and ammunition were introduced and adopted. Sierra Leone is pushing for human security to be added as a topic for Thematic Debate next year. And there were more panel discussions with experts than usual, leading to very interesting, candid, informal debate between delegates and panelists. For the second year in a row, civil society was invited to deliver presentations to First Committee. Five non-government organization representatives spoke about nuclear weapons, outer space security, small arms, and the Arms Trade Treaty. Read their statements online at http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/1com07/statements/statements.html#ngo.

Reaching Critical Will maintains online archives of important information from First Committee - please explore the following resources:

First Committee Monitor
To read all issues of the First Committee Monitor, including the final edition, in either PDF or HTML, go to:
http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/FCM.html

Statements
http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/1com07/statements/statements.html

Non-papers
http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/1com07/docs/docs.html

Draft Resolutions, Voting Results, and Explanations of Vote
http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/1com07/res/resindex.html

Voting Results Chart
The Reaching Critical Will team is currently compiling an online database of voting results from the 5 permanent members of the Security Council, and the 65 members of the Conference on Disarmament. The Security Council chart is online now at http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/1com07/res/voteindexSC.html. The CD members chart will be available soon.

2) Dr. Randall Caroline Forsberg, leader of the Nuclear Freeze, passes away
Dr. Randall Caroline Forsberg, executive director of the Institute of Defense and Disarmament Studies, political science professor at City College of New York, and instrumental figure in the Nuclear Freeze movement, passed away on 19 October 2007.

Dr. Forsberg consistently argued for the complete abolition of war as an aberration of humankind, and worked for a world in which weapons and war would no longer be socially-sanctioned, where they would be as obsolete and morally reprehensible as slavery. While working as a typist for the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute in Sweden, she received "a paid education in what countries were spending" on weapons and what tools of warfare they were buying. Nearly a decade after returning to the US, Dr. Forsberg launched the Nuclear Freeze movement in 1980 when she wrote the "Call to Halt the Nuclear Arms Race," a position paper that outlined the devastating potential of the arsenals possessed by the United States and the Soviet Union. Its message was to improve national and international security by stopping the superpowers' buildup of nuclear weapons, through a verifiable and mutual freeze "on the testing, production and deployment of nuclear weapons" and their delivery systems. She portrayed the freeze as the first step in a broader agenda to eventually abolish not only nuclear weapons but all national military forces. The paper unified disparate peace groups and sparked a nationwide grass-roots campaign.

Though we note Dr. Forsberg's passing with great sorrow, we are confident that her vision and work will be carried on by those who share her belief that our better nature will prevail, and that the abolition of nuclear and conventional weapons is possible—and inevitable. A memorial for Dr. Forsberg will be held in December at the City College of New York, and a scholarship is being established in her name. For more information, please email ray[at]reachingcriticalwill.org.

3) Global Fissile Material Report 2007 released
The International Panel on Fissile Materials (IPFM), an independent group of arms-control and nonproliferation experts from both nuclear weapon and non-nuclear weapon states, released its Global Fissile Material Report 2007 on 9 October. The report is available for download at http://www.fissilematerials.org/ipfm/site_down/gfmr07.pdf. An event to launch the report was held during First Committee, which was covered in the First Committee Monitor (see http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/FCM07/week2.html#fissile).

The mission of the IPFM is to analyze the technical basis for practical and achievable policy initiatives to secure, consolidate, and reduce stockpiles of highly enriched uranium and plutonium. The project is co-chaired by Dr. R. Rajaraman, Professor Emeritus, of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India and Professor Frank von Hippel of Princeton University.

4) Scotland aims to keep nuclear submarines out
As reported in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation News of the Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplamcy: "The Scottish government held a summit on Trident involving politicians, unions, environmentalists (including Acronym Institute's director, Rebecca Johnson) and church leaders in Glasgow on October 22. The Scottish government has now set up a working group to look at "the various devolved powers that could be used to stop Trident's successor being brought to Scotland". According to the Scotsman, the group will "look at international law, transport, planning and the environment as possible obstacles to the UK government's plans. The Scottish Government, for example, could refuse planning permission for a dry dock to service the nuclear submarines or use international law to prevent 'war crimes' being committed in Scotland." Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond has written to 122 NPT states parties asking them to support a request for Scotland to be given observer status at future meetings of the parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)."

October 10

Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors,

The UN General Assembly First Committee on Disarmament and International Security began on Monday, 8 October. After the first few days of General Debate, most delegations appear optimistic about the possibilities for progress before them, and are eager for the momentum created in the Conference on Disarmament this year to carry on throughout the First Committee. Unfortunately, the usual signs of resistance from certain delegations are already clear; however, as the representative from Honduras said, peace is a "constant aspiration" that should be a "permanent reality", and the First Committee is another chance to take a few small steps in this direction.

In peace,
Ray Acheson, Project Associate

1) First Committee begins
The First Committee is the UN committee of the General Assembly that deals with issues of disarmament and international security. All UN member states 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 session will run from Monday, 8 October to Friday, 2 November. Please see the First Committee timetable and schedule for thematic debate for more information, and see RCW's Calendar of Events for NGO and UN side events that will be going on during the session.

Following the failure in the Conference on Disarmament to agree to a program of work yet again, there is hope that the First Committee will use this session to urge progress on the impasse. The First Committee has the procedural advantage of voting, giving it options unavailable to the deadlocked Conference on Disarmament (CD), which operates by consensus. While the resolutions adopted in the First Committee and General Assembly are not legally-binding, they can be normative—that is, they can indicate the establishment of customs, standards, and guidelines for appropriate behavior. In the past, disarmament and arms control treaties have also been put forward to the First Committee. Resolutions adopted by consensus also indicate substantive areas of agreement that are ripe for negotiation and can enable the creation of new treaties and the emergence of international legal norms. Furthermore, they demonstrate global governmental opinion, showing which governments support, and which choose to remain outside of or even impede, the development of international cooperative security. (For more information, please see RCW's General Assembly fact sheet: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/resources/factsheets/ga.pdf)

Reaching Critical Will monitors the First Committee and catalogs all statements, non-papers, and resolutions. We have already started posting the statements from the General Debate. RCW also coordinates NGO reporting on the First Committee, and publishes issue-based summaries in the weekly First Committee Monitor. The first edition will be published Monday, 15 October. The HTML version is chock-full of hyper-links to more information, treaty texts, and organizations, and the PDF version prints into an accessible, attractive newsletter. We encourage you to use this easy resource to see what your government is saying and doing on disarmament in the international arena. There is no other source following these issues as closely. To receive this weekly newsletter by email, send an email to ray[at]reachingcriticalwill.org with "subscribe First Committee Monitor" in the subject line - and please indicate whether you prefer the HTML or PDF version, or both.

Advertising space: You can use the First Committee Monitor to publicize an important announcement, event, or project hosted by your organization. Monitors are hand delivered to all of the delegates at the First Committee every Monday, distributed through a free email subscription list, and are archived on our website. By placing an ad in the Monitor, you will be able to get your message across to hundreds of well-informed members of the disarmament community. Please contact the Project Associate for advertising rates and requirements.

2) Keep Space for Peace Week
WILPF is once again co-sponsoring Keep Space for Peace Week (October 4-13) with Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space. The week will be full of events and protests, listed on the Global Network website. The weaponization of space will lead to an increase in geopolitical tensions, a decrease of transparency and international security, and the proliferation of space debris, which, after 50 years of space activity, already poses a considerable hazard to spacecraft. For more information, please see RCW's backgrounders on the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space and the Aerospace Industry, Global Network's video resources, and the WILPF Keep Space for Peace statement.

3) Depleted Uranium conference closes
On 2-3 October 2007, the Fourth International Conference on Depleted Uranium ( DU) Weapons was held in New York City. This conference was hosted by the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons (ICBUW), and covered a range of topics from scientific studies on the effects of DU to legal perspectives on banning DU weapons and armour. RCW drafted a report on the conference, which is available online at http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/resources/factsheets/du.html#report.

For more information on DU, please see Reaching Critical Will's backgrounder, available online at http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/resources/factsheets/ du.html, and the recent report on DU Weapons published by WILPF Norway, available at http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/resources/factsheets/ du.html#wilpf.

4) UN Secretary-General Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters releases report
The report recommends the Secretary-General raise awareness on disarmament and non-proliferation; suggests the establishment of a high-level panel on the issue of outer space; discusses newly emerging weapon technologies, regional approaches to disarmament, and more. The report also references the NGO publications Securing Our Survival and Nuclear Disorder or Cooperative Security?.

September 20

Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors,

Both the Conference on Disarmament and the CTBT Entry Into Force Conference concluded in September, while the General Assembly has just opened its 62nd session. As the General Assembly begins its work, the challenges and issues are clearly laid out. WILPF believes that through confidence-building measures, the strengthening of verification systems and regimes, and strict adherence to international law, nuclear disarmament is possible. We do not have to reinvent the wheel—we just have to support, use, and reinforce the existing viable and effective tools we have already created through diplomacy and multilateralism. It is imperative that the citizens of the world continue monitoring, questioning, and pressuring their governments to support the strengthening of international treaties such as the CTBT and fora such as the CD, with faith that international law will prevail over the absurdity of nuclear militarism.

Best wishes,
Ray Acheson, Project Associate

1) CTBT Entry Into Force Conference concludes
The fifth Article XIV Conference was held 17-18 September 2007 in Vienna, Austria. Member states adopted the Final Declaration and Measures to Promote the Entry Into Force of the CTBT on 18 September, in which states "affirmed the importance and urgency of signatures and ratifications without delay to achieve early entry into force of the Treaty as one of the practical steps for the systematic and progressive efforts towards nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation". They also called upon all states to sustain the voluntary moratorium on nuclear explosions, and to "refrain from acts which would defeat the object and purpose of the Treaty. In addition, the document outlines eleven practical measures to promote the Treaty's entry into force.

Other key statements included those by CTBTO Executive Secretary Tibor Toth, Conference Presidents H.E. Ursula Plassnik (Foreign Minister of Austria) and H.E. Bruno Stagno Ugarte (Foreign Minister of Costa Rica), and Ambassador Jaap Ramaker, Special Representative to promote the CTBT ratification process. Many of the speakers emphasized the universal importance of the entry into force of the CTBT as a tool of international, regional, and national security and of human security. H.E. Ugarte of Costa Rica noted that the CTBT "also helps prevent further devastation of human health and the global environment," and that it's entry into force "would greatly reduce the climate of distrust and discontent which has been penetrating the field of disarmament, which distorts all discussions and which makes it even more difficult to address some of today's key challenges posed by the threats of nuclear proliferation."

The NGO statement was delivered on 18 September. The statement was endorsed by 42 organizations. The full version is available on the RCW website, as is the WILPF statement. Along with the rest of the international community, WILPF urges China, Colombia, DPRK, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Pakistan, and the US to sign and ratify the CTBT. Every state has more to gain by ratifying the Treaty than by remaining outside of the international cooperative security regime.

For more information on the Conference and the CTBT in general, and access to the statements to the Conference, please see the RCW website.

2) The CD closes its third and final session for 2007
The CD's annual report was adopted by consensus in the last formal plenary on 13 September. The report reflects the progress of the 2007 session towards consensus on a program of work, chronicling the development of the "Presidential Proposal", making note of the intensive consultations between the P6 and delegations held before, between, and throughout the 2007 sessions, and outlining the P6 decision to appoint Coordinators to chair informal meetings on each of the seven agenda items. The report also notes the situation that developed in the CD when certain Member States continued to block consensus on the Proposal while the majority of the Conference was ready to move forward. Looking ahead to continuing the progress made in the CD this year, many delegations took the floor to express their frustration and hopes for achieving a consensus on the L.1 package. Governmental statements and the final CD Report can be accessed on the RCW website.

As this year's session of the Conference on Disarmament draws to a close, it is evident that there is a sense of pragmatic and cautious optimism in the Conference chamber about the coming year. While many delegations are frustrated and disappointed that the CD was unable to reach consensus on a program of work, there is a clear sense of wanting to build on what the CD was able to accomplish this year, to continue the momentum into next year's work, and to achieve concrete results.

3) UN General Assembly - RCW's Disarmament Index and First Committee Monitor
The UN General Assembly opened its 62nd session on Tuesday, 18 September. The General Debate will begin on Tuesday, 25 September. Heads of state, foreign ministers, or other high-level representatives will address the entire international community to express their state's concerns, priorities, and opinions. During the General Debate, RCW complies all references to disarmament, peace, and security, and creates an online index by country and by topic. The statements from the General Debate will give us an idea of the issues on which governments will be focusing during the General Assembly First Committee, which begins on October 8.

The Index will be available following the General Debate on the RCW website:
By country: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/1com07/disarmindex.html
By topic: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/1com07/disarmindextopic.html

First Committee Monitor
Reaching Critical Will follows the General Assembly First Committee (beginning Monday, 8 October) and publishes issue-based summaries of the negotiations, resolutions, and votes. We send our First Committee Monitor to our email lists in HTML and PDF form, and make it available online. The HTML version is chock-full of hyper-links to more information, treaty texts, and organizations, and the PDF version prints into an accessible, attractive newsletter. We encourage you to use this easy resource to see what your government is saying and doing on disarmament in the international arena. There is no other source following these issues as closely. To receive this weekly newsletter by email, send an email to ray[at]reachingcriticalwill.org with "subscribe First Committee Monitor" in the subject line - and please indicate whether you prefer the HTML or PDF version, or both.

Advertising space: You can use the First Committee Monitor to publicize an important announcement, event, or project hosted by your organization. Monitors are distributed to all of the delegates at the First Committee every Monday, through a free email subscription, and are archived on our website, www.reachingcriticalwill.org . By placing an ad in the Monitor, 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.)

Submit your ad by sending:

* your organization's name;
* contact person;
* email address;
* phone number;
* type of submission (for ads, please specify the size of the ad, dates for it to run, and payment method);
* and the submission (in PDF format)

to the Project Associate.

4) Space Security Index 2007 just released by Project Ploughshares
Space Security 2007 is comprehensive source of data and analysis on space activities and their cumulative impact on the security of outer space.The report is part of an annual series produced the Space Security Index, whose partners include the Cypress Fund for Peace and Security, the Institute of Air and Space Law at McGill University, Project Ploughshares, Secure World Foundation, the Simons Centre for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Research at the University of British Columbia, and the Space Generation Foundation. It is supported by the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and the Ford Foundation.

The Space Security 2007 publication is available as a free download at www.spacesecurity.org/publications.htm along with an overview of the survey results. Hard copies can be purchased from Project Ploughshares, which coordinates the Space Security Index project.

For more information, or to purchase a hard copy of the report, please contact Jessica West, jwest[at]ploughshares.ca.

5) Other disarmament and non-proliferation conferences in October
On 2-3 October, the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons is holding its 2007 Conference, on "Uranium Weapons: Contributing to a Dangerous World." The conference will take place in the Church Center, 777 UN Plaza, 2nd Floor, New York, NY, 10017. The program is posted online at http://www.bandepleteduranium.org/en/a/136.html. For further information, and to register for the Conference, please contact Doug Weir at office[at]bandepleteduranium.org.

In Florence, Italy, from 3-4 October, several NGOs including the International Network of Engineers and Scientists and the International Peace Bureau are hosting a conference called "Nuclear Proliferation, Historical Appraisal and Present Problems." For the program, please visit http://www.inesglobal.com/Conferences/Florence/Florence_Conference_1.pdf.

August 30

Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors,
As RCW gears up for another busy September and October here at the UN in New York, we are asking you to support the work we do and the resources we provide for the global community of disarmament experts, analysts, and activists.

With your support, our work in the upcoming 2007 UN General Assembly First Committee on Disarmament and International Security will be even stronger. We will:

* Index every disarmament statement made at the UN General Assembly General Debate and post it so you can access it on line and know what your government is saying on a myriad of issues;
* Report on the disarmament-focused debates in our First Committee Monitor in topic based weekly summaries;
* Provide the only online access to all First Committee statements, resolutions and papers;
* Keep you updated on any disarmament action-items via our General E-news list;
* Coordinate a NGO Working Group for the duration of the First Committee to collectively strengthen our advocacy; and
* Facilitate access to rooms at the UN for NGO side events during the First Committee.

We need your support to continue our full range of reporting and advocacy work!

The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom created the Reaching Critical Will project in 1999 to "improve the quantity and quality of NGO engagement in multilateral disarmament decision making fora", to serve your needs, and to increase global transparency on global security by connecting you to information about multilateral disarmament processes and the governments that drive them. We are asking the community that knows the value of our work and uses it regularly to contribute give a tax-deductible (for US residents), end of the summer, here comes that First Committee sprint, contribution to the project.

Please help us keep up our work for global disarmament, and serve you better. You can either send us a cheque made out to:

Jane Addams Peace Association
777 UN Plaza, 6th floor
New York, NY 10017 USA
(Be sure to put RCW in the memo line of the cheque!)

Or contribute via PayPal by clicking on the Donate Now! button here: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/about/donate.htm and putting "RCW" in the "note to seller" line that comes up on the review page after you submit your donation and continue to checkout.

Thank you for your continued support!

Best wishes,
Ray Acheson, Acting Project Associate

1) CTBT Article XIV Conference
NGO Statement
As in past years, NGOs are given the opportunity to make one statement to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Entry Into Force conference, to be held at on 17-18 September 2007 at the Hofburg Congress Centre, Heldenplatz, A-1014, Vienna, Austria. (For more information on the conference, please see http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/ctbt/ctbtindex.html#2007 .)

A first draft of the for-the-record statement is now available for review, and its authors are seeking your input. A shortened version will be presented in a 5 to 7 minute speech at the conference.

The draft statement is available at http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/ctbt/NGOdraftstatement2007.doc . Please submit your edits by September 7th to Alex Bollfrass of the Arms Control Association at alex@armscontrol.org. We will do our best to represent your point of view, but cannot guarantee that every suggestion will make it into the final draft. Once we have incorporated your input, we will send the statement out again and you can sign on your organization. We would appreciate receiving only one set of comments per organization.

Side Events
Monday, 17 September 2007
Reception
Hosted by the Government of Austria. All participants invited.
Time and place: 13:30 - 15:00, Dachfoyer, Hofburg Congress Centre

Monday - Tuesday, 17-18 September 2007
PTS Exhibition:
"Verifying the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban"
Experts from the CTBTO's technical divisions will demonstrate how a seismic station works, how data is processed, and how an on-site inspection is conducted. The 2007 re-release of the CTBTO Movie "CTBT: For a Safer and More Secure World", which includes CTBTO findings with regards to the announced nuclear test by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in October 2006, will also be shown in the exhibition area.
Time and Place: all day, Dachfoyer, Hofburg Congress Centre

Tuesday, 18 September 2007
VERTIC and ACA Seminar
"The CTBT Achievements, challenges and opportunities"
The Verification Research, Training and Information Centre (VERTIC) and the Arms Control Association (ACA) will be holding a seminar on political and verification challenges and opportunities for the Treaty and its verification system.
Time and place:
13:00 - 15:00, Kleiner Redoutensaal, Hofburg Congress Centre

Official Background Document
The CTBTO has released an Official Background paper on the CTBT Article XIV Conference, available online at http://www.ctbto.org/reference/article_xiv/2007/CTBT-ART.XIV-2007-3_English.pdf.

2) UN General Assembly General Debate
Disarmament Index
The UN General Assembly opens its session with a General Debate, September 18 - October 3, wherein heads of state, foreign ministers, or other high-level representatives have the opportunity to address the entire international community to express their state's concerns, priorities and opinions. During the General Debate, RCW complies all references to disarmament, peace, and security and posts them online by country and topic. The statements from the General Debate will give us an idea of the issues on which governments will be focusing during the General Assembly First Committee, which begins on October 8.

The Index will be available following the General Debate on the RCW website:
By country: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/1com07/disarmindex.html
By topic: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/1com07/disarmindextopic.html

Fact sheet on the General Assembly
RCW has developed a two-page backgrounder on the General Assembly - what it is, and why its important for you to know! It's meant to be part of a series of backgrounders RCW will develop on disarmament machinery and issues as a way to promote awareness and understanding of this challenging field of work. This first backgrounder on the GA is available in PDF at http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/resources/factsheets/ga.pdf.

3) UN General Assembly First Committee
The General Assembly First Committee on Disarmament and International Security is to be held October 4 - November 2 in New York. The First Committee is one of the best opportunities for outreach, education, and advocacy efforts on disarmament and non-proliferation issues.

First Committee Monitor
Since 2000, Reaching Critical Will has coordinated a group of NGOs sharing the monitoring and reporting responsibilities in an attempt to make the work of the First Committee more transparent and useful for people not directly involved in the small New York disarmament community. We edit a weekly newsletter, the First Committee Monitor, covering the broad range of issues discussed by the First Committee. The Monitor is distributed to all delegates of the First Committee, and is available on our site and through a free email-based subscription service in both PDF and HTML. It has been hailed by diplomats, UN staffers, and activists as one of the most useful resources produced during the General Assembly.

If your group would like to participate in this important collaboration, contact the Project Associate today. In the upcoming weeks, we will be holding a meeting to coordinate the various responsibilities required for such an effort.

If you are interested in following events at the First Committee, subscribe to the First Committee Monitor today by sending an email to ray[at]reachingcriticalwill.org with the subject line "subscribe First Committee Monitor". Please indicate whether you would like the PDF or HTML version.

Side Events
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 are becoming increasingly popular with both diplomats and civil society. If you are planning a side event, meeting, or strategy session during the First Committee and would like to hold it in the UN, please contact RCW.

A calendar of events is available at http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/1com07/calendar.html - please note that dates, times, and locations are tentative and subject to change. Please check back regularly for updates.

What else can civil society do around the First Committee?
Media Outreach: While decisions taken on matters of disarmament and non-proliferation are some of the most critical issues to the world, there remains a lack of adequate coverage of these issues by the mainstream media. Many mainstream media agencies are subsidiaries of military corporations. These agencies are never going to give positive media coverage to groups and messages that challenge their power. Notice the correspondents in the print, radio and TV media covering nuclear or foreign policy matters. Build a data base of media contacts and keep a select group of journalists, or your entire list, informed of your activities and analysis of events and developments in this field.

Create your own media: newsletters, radio shows, video documentaries, email lists, webpages. To find out how to get involved with local independent media near you, see: www.indymedia.org.

Organize an event at home: With the First Committee in session, it is a prime teachable moment to continue your own education, outreach and advocacy efforts at home. To find out what disarmament NGOs are working in your area, check our NGO contact database.

Reach out to your representatives: Contact your representatives in New York and in your capital. Fax or email them letters urging them to support disarmament-focused resolutions. Offer them resources for more information and demand a response. For more information on writing a letter, click here.

Organize a meeting with your representatives; listen to their opinion on nuclear issues and share yours. Find out who represents you at our database of governmental decision-makers.

4) New resources available from Reaching Critical Will
RCW has been working to put out some new backgrounders on subjects relevant to disarmament, non-proliferation, and militarism. We have fact sheets on nuclear energy and the nuclear fuel cycle; updates to the indigenous fact sheets, with special sections on indigeous groups affected by nuclear testing, disasters, and waste in and by the USA and USSR; a two-page PDF backgrounder on the General Assembly; and several updated one- or two-page fact sheets on corporations involved in aerospace and/or nuclear profiteering as part of RCW's Dirty Dozen project.

These resources are available online as follows:
Nuclear Energy: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/resources/factsheets/energy.pdf
Nuclear Fuel Cycle: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/resources/factsheets/fuelcycle.html
Indigenous People: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/resources/factsheets/indigenous.html
General Assembly: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/resources/factsheets/ga.pdf
Corporate Profiteering: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/corporate/corporateindex.html

Additional backgrounders will be made available on a rolling basis; please contact RCW if you have any comments or suggestions!

In addition, the Model Nuclear Inventory, previously only available in hard copy or PDF, has been turned into HTML! The 2007 HTML edition is available online at http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/about/pubs/Inventory07.html. The Inventory is a comprehensive database of all nuclear materials, both military and civilian, in the 44 States recognized as having a significant nuclear capability. The 2007 edition was originally released in April 2007, just prior to the NPT PrepCom.

August 3

Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors,

August marks the anniversaries of the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The destructive horror of these weapons, which devastated two cities, killed 200,000 civilians by the end of 1945 and many more through cancer, mutations, and birth defects for years to come, must be stopped. Today,