We are nearing the mid-way point of this year’s First Committee debates on all issues related to disarmament and international security. The general debate was once again a largely static affair. Though the tone was much more positive than in recent years, with most delegations welcoming the “positive momentum” created by the renewed interest in establishing a nuclear weapon free world, little has been proposed in the manner of concrete action.

 

In an effort to encourage forward-looking debate on nuclear disarmament that leads to concrete steps toward abolition, Reaching Critical Will in the opening week urged delegations to consider and discuss the humanitarian merits of nuclear weapons, removed from the rhetoric of military utility. Some have already begun to engage this topic.

 

Norway’s representative, Mr. Steffen Kongstad from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, emphasised, “There can be no doubt that nuclear weapons are the most inhuman and indiscriminate weapons ever created. Nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation are essential from a humanitarian perspective.” He also argued, “advancement in the field of disarmament and arms control can only be achieved if states listen to, learn from and include strong voices from civil society that advocate change. Such advocates for change must include field-based organisations, women’s organisations and representatives of the people affected by the continued stalemate over these issues.”

 

Speaking out as an organisation that endeavours to prevent human suffering by promoting and strengthening humanitarian law and principles, the International Committee of the Red Cross addressed the issue of nuclear weapons for the first time in its statement to the First Committee. On behalf of the ICRC, Mr. Robert Young argued, “Nuclear weapons are unique in their destructive power, in the unspeakable human suffering they cause, in the impossibility of controlling their effects in space and time, in the risks of escalation and in the threat they pose to the environment, to future generations, indeed, to the survival of humanity.”

 

Every step on the non-proliferation and disarmament agenda must be geared toward ensuring the security and survival of humanity.

 

Reaching Critical Will hopes more delegations will speak out about nuclear weapons and human security as First Committee continues. We look forward to hearing proposals this week that turn the positive atmosphere into positive action.

 

In peace,
Ray Acheson, Project Director

1) News from First Committee

1 October 2009

Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors:

The UN General Assembly held its general debate from 23–29 September. Many high-level officials from governments used the opportunity to call for a world free of nuclear weapons, reductions in military spending, and an end to globalised militarism, illicit arms trading, and the industrial economy that perpetually undermines peace, security, and development. Reaching Critical Will, with the assistance of the PeaceWomen project, tracked all references to peace and security at this year’s UNGA general debate, focusing on disarmament and weapons. Two indeces, by country and by topic, are available online. PeaceWomen also maintains an index on gender and women.

At the same time, the UN Security Council held a presidential meeting on nuclear non-proliferation and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Article XIV Conference held its sixth meeting, both at the UN in New York. The increased activity around nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation put these issues firmly on the agenda of many governments addressing the General Assembly this year, which hopefully means that the UN General Assembly First Committee on Disarmament and International Security beginning Monday, 5 October will be an exciting and engaging opportunity for to advance both nuclear and conventional disarmament.

The First Committee provides space for each state to discuss their positions and interests related to disarmament issues and to work together to craft resolutions for the General Assembly that promote disarmament, non-proliferation, peace, and security. If you haven’t already subscribed to Reaching Critical Will’s weekly newsletter, the First Committee Monitor, now is the time.

As we find ourselves immersed in the second busy season of 2009, Reaching Critical Will asks for your financial support. We depend on those who use our resources to sustain our work. We are able to provide our services for free through the generosity of those who use them. You can donate online, with a just few clicks, through safe and secure PayPal. Or, you can mail a cheque to our office (made out the Jane Addams Peace Association, with RCW in the memo line). Or, you can transfer money directly to our bank account. Any amount is welcome; donations are tax-deductable for US donors. For details, please see our website.

In peace,
Ray Acheson, Project Director

1) UN General Assembly: Disarmament highlights
The UN General Assembly held its general debate from 23–29 September. Many of the same issues that dominated the debate last year—the converging crises of food insecurity, climate change, rising poverty, financial collapse—framed the debate again this year. Due to the Climate Change Summit held at the UN the day before the general debate began, most states included their priorities or positions on the climate in their statements. However, issues related to weapons, disarmament, and non-proliferation also received much greater attention than they did in 2008. For example:

Snapshot
2008: 19 countries referred to disarmament
2009: 80 countries referred to disarmament

2008: 19 countries referred to non-proliferation
2009: 71 countries referred to non-proliferation

2008: 17 countries referred to nuclear weapons
2009: 73 countries referred to nuclear weapons

2008: 18 countries referred to WMD
2009: 28 countries referred to WMD

2008: 21 countries referred to conventional weapons
2009: 31 countries referred to conventional weapons

Nuclear weapons
The vast majority of the 73 countries who spoke about nuclear weapons called for their complete elimination. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon led the debate, requesting that 2009 be “the year we agreed to banish the bomb.” While welcoming the UN Security Council’s Resolution 1887 on non-proliferation, many states at the General Assembly recognized the need for balance. Germany’s representative noted, “Our clear commitment to ridding the world of all nuclear weapons is the best way to strengthen the international non-proliferation regime.” Indonesia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs argued, “In a truly democratic world order, the nuclear powers will live by their commitment to the Non-proliferation Treaty by slashing their nuclear arsenals and abiding by the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. In turn, we non-nuclear countries continue to refrain from developing nuclear weapons.” In order to strike a legally-binding balance, the delegation from Kazakhstan suggested the development of a universal “Comprehensive Horizontal and Vertical Nuclear Weapons Non-Proliferation Treaty.”

Conventional Weapons
Six states highlighted their support an Arms Trade Treaty, compared with four last year. The low-level attention given to this initiative does not match the support its resolution garners in the General Assembly. Similarly, only seven governments noted their support for the Convention on Cluster Munitions and five for the Mine Ban Treaty—far from representative of the attention these two instruments will receive during the General Assembly’s First Committee on Disarmament and International Security in October.

However, 31 governments spoke about small arms and light weapons this year, up 10 from 2008. Most countries highlighted the domestic and international instability caused by the illicit trade and rampant proliferation of small arms. Nigeria’s Minister for Foreign Affairs reminded the Assembly that such weapons “become weapons of mass destruction—destroying lives, property, economies, and dreams— as well as the undermining of national and regional efforts at development.”

Reducing militarism by reducing military spending
Some high-level officials from governments used the opportunity to call for an end to globalised militarism and the military-industrial complex that perpetually undermines peace, security, and development. Most of these focused on reductions in military spending. Costa Rica’s President argued, “the gradual and progressive reduction of military spending is not only a good strategy for allocating resources, but also a moral imperative for developing nations.” He encouraged the international community to adopt the Costa Rica Consensus, an initiative that “would create mechanisms to forgive external debt, and support with international financial resources, developing countries—poor, or middle-income—that invest more in environmental protections, education, health, housing, and sustainable development for their peoples, and less in arms and soldiers.”

Likewise, the President of Paraguay argued that most countries routinely “trade a rifle for a container of vaccine,” always putting “defence” expenditures above the true interests of their citizens. Declaring, “Paraguay will not mortgage its daily bread to dance the daily blind waltz of the warlords,” he called for disarmament to put an end to the “industry of death and barbarism” and urged citizens to question their politicians’ budget priorities. Similarly, the President of the Marshall Islands called for a new “moral attitude” toward weapons and war, noting, “Banning nuclear weapons alone will not remove the root cause of war. Important as it may be, it does not exert an enduring influence. People are too ingenious to invent yet other forms of warfare. The world craves for something much more deep-seated than pure pragmatism. They yearn for permanent peace that springs from an inner state supported by a moral attitude.”

2) Report on the UN Security Council Summit on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament
Full report and other materials available online

Yesterday, US President Obama chaired a UN Security Council meeting on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament. It was a great opportunity for the five permanent members and nuclear weapon states—China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States—to make concrete commitments to nuclear disarmament and lay out the steps toward a nuclear weapon free world.

Unfortunately, these governments instead used the Summit to lay out their vision for stricter requirements for non-nuclear weapon states to prove they are not seeking to acquire nuclear weapons. As UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said during his General Assembly statement: “Britain will insist that the onus on non-nuclear states is that in future it is for them to prove they are not developing nuclear weapons.”

Yet despite rhetoric to the contrary, the five permanent members did not extend any new commitments for themselves to eliminate nuclear weapons in compliance with their legal obligation to do so.

• The Summit resolution emphasised non-proliferation over disarmament, requesting new requirements for non-nuclear weapon states to prove their status and intent.
• Most of the nuclear weapon states did not reference their previous commitments to steps toward nuclear disarmament nor set out new ones.
• The Summit promoted nuclear power as a safe, clean, source of energy that will help combat climate change.

However, many of the non-permanent members of the Council recognised the problem with this approach to non-proliferation and disarmament and outlined several concrete proposals to advance both agendas in a balanced manner.

Read Reaching Critical Will’s report on the Summit for details of these suggestions!

The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom released a statement before the meeting, calling on the UN Security Council members to make serious commitments to disarmament along with their requests on non-proliferation. WILPF continues to call upon Council members—and all other members of the United Nations—to work toward a nuclear free world through real, concrete actions and commitments. For example:

1. The UN Security Council should call for a halt to development, production, design, modernization, and acquisition of nuclear weapons and their delivery systems.

2. It should also fulfill its commitment to formulate a plan for disarmament with the least diversion of the world’s human and economic resources toward weapons, as it is instructed to do in Article 26 of the UN Charter.

3. The context of all non-proliferation measures should be designed as steps toward the elimination of nuclear weapons, not toward their indefinite possession by an elite group of states.

4. The UN Security Council should urge governments to accelerate and enlarge their support for development of commercially viable renewable and non-carbon emitting sources of energy and to phase-out nuclear power, as a measure strengthening both non-proliferation and disarmament efforts.

Please help WILPF continue pressuring governments on these points.

Write a letter to your head of state, your foreign minister, your UN ambassador, your local or national media, telling them about the Council Summit and your disappointment that disarmament was not given proper attention. Use Reaching Critical Will’s Government Contacts for contact information.

Donate to Reaching Critical Will, the nuclear abolition project of WILPF. Since 1999, Reaching Critical Will has been advocating for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons. It provides insight to disarmament processes at the United Nations to grassroots activists, so that they have the information they need to do their work.

Subscribe to Reaching Critical Will’s free email lists.

Join WILPF, a membership-based organisation founded in 1915, with Sections in 35 countries and growing!

Work in your community for nuclear disarmament, reduction of military spending, and social justice. Connect to other people and groups work on these issues. See Reaching Critical Will’s NGO Contacts to help find groups near you interested in working for the abolition of nuclear weapons.

For more details on the Summit:

• Reaching Critical Will’s Report on the Summit
• WILPF Statement to the UN Security Council
• Governmental Statements
• Resolution 1887, adopted at the Summit
• Official UN Summary
• UN Press Release
• NGO Press Releases and Backgrounders
• News Articles and Interviews

3) Report on the CTBT Conference
The biennial Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) Article XIV Conference on 24–25 September 2009 was held amidst a focus of international attention spurred by the UN Security Council Summit on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament. In his opening remarks to the CTBT Conference, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed the need to seize the new momentum towards a world free of nuclear weapons, saying, “Let us make history by making the need for this conference history.”

The Conference is held to help facilitate the Treaty’s entry into force. Opened for signature in 1996, the CTBT still awaits nine essential ratifications before it enters into force. The nine hold outs, the so-called “Annex II” states for their listing in Annex II of the Treaty, are China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Pakistan, and the United States.

Statements by non-ratifying states
For the first time in thirteen years, the US delegation attended the Conference, led by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. She explained that the administration would work towards US ratification of the Treaty and urged other Annex II states to move forward with ratification as well.

Several other non-ratifying states spoke. China’s delegation said it is “the Treaty’s consistent supporter and abides by its commitment to moratorium on nuclear test.” Indonesia’s delegation, while remaining cognisant of its indispensable role in ratifying the Treaty, held “firm the view that the qualitative development of all nuclear weapons must stop, and therefore seek universal adherence to the CTBT, first and foremost, by all Nuclear Weapon States.” [Emphasis added]

Israel’s ambassador reiterated his government’s “unequivocal support” for the Treaty but said that the CTBT verification regime and International Data Center needs to be completed and tested to a greater degree, “necessary for entry into force”. He also indicated that Israel’s ratification is at least partially contingent on its admittance to the CTBTO’s Middle East and South Asia regional grouping or its Executive Council—which has been blocked so far by other CTBTO states.

Egypt’s ambassador explained that while Egypt was among the first states to sign the CTBT, its existence was in part motivated by the adoption of the NPT 1995 Review and Extension Conference package that included the resolution on establishing a nuclear weapon free zone in the Middle East. He indicated that the implementation of this resolution would “open the doors for a new horizon to the CTBT.”

Moving toward entry into force
While numerous States warmly welcomed and stated they were encouraged by the participation of United States in both the CTBT Conference and the UNSC Special Session, the representative of Ireland also notably urged States, “not to wait for the US to act but to show leadership themselves in moving to a world where the testing of nuclear devices is unacceptable.” Indeed, if the eight other Annex II states ratified the Treaty without waiting for the United States, they would isolate the United States as the sole outlier. Governments should in fact be wary of the process leading to US ratification of the Treaty and take note of some of internal dynamics at play. All current Washington discourse indicates that the price of US ratification will be high—too high.

Several delegations pointed to the value of the CTBT in halting the modernization of existing nuclear weapons, as well as serving a valuable role in the prevention of the qualitative development of new weapons and delivery systems. Indeed, this is a core value and intent of the Treaty. However, the deals being discussed in the US Senate point towards the possible exchange of CTBT ratification for modernization of the US nuclear arsenal and sustaining related infrastructure indefinitely.

In its statement to the CTBT Conference, WILPF called on all Annex II states to ratify the Treaty, but cautioned that there is such a thing as a price too high for ratification. Any deals given in trade for ratification will only serve to undermine the Treaty and cannot be accepted.

The entry into force of the CTBT would constitute an important step towards an equitable and secure nuclear free world envisioned by the vast majority of the world’s citizens and governments. The CTBT provides measures both to determine compliance with the Treaty (ie. to detect nuclear tests) and to remedy any situation of non-compliance. It is thus one of the best tools the international community currently has at its disposal to establish a process of complete nuclear disarmament. The Treaty should thus be ratified without undermining the Treaty’s goals of preventing the development of new or “better” nuclear weapons.

For more details on the Conference:

• Official CTBTO Website
• Governmental Statements
• WILPF Statement
• NGO Statement to Conference
• Official Documentation

Rahma Hussein and Joanna Hruskoci, Reaching Critical Will interns, contributed to this report.

4) Disarm Now! Mobilizing Call for the NPT 2010 Review Conference
Thanks to the American Friends Service Committee for circulating the following:

Next May the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty Review Conference will take place in New York. Given the continuing urgent need to prevent nuclear war, global demands that the nuclear powers finally fulfill their Article VI commitments to negotiate the elimination of the world’s nuclear arsenals, and the hopes for abolition aroused by President Obama, popular demands that NPT Review conclude with a commitment to begin negotiations on a nuclear abolition treaty can have a powerful impact and can help build our movements for the future.

Recall that Obama has been clear that in order to create change, including a nuclear weapons free world, the people and the social movements have to demand it. We have to make it politically possible, unavoidable, for the U.S. and other nuclear powers to eliminate the genocidal and omnicidal weapons.

We are writing to ask that your organization sign the attached call, initiated by eight international and nineteen national organizations which are organizing a series of inspiring and powerful activities at next April and May to impact the NPT Review Conference. Those activities include a massive global petition campaign (the U.S. petition can be found at http://www.peace-action.org/nukes/campaigns/nptpetition.htm; movements in other nations are circulating petitions that best meet their needs,) an international peace conference (April 30 and May 1,) and an International Day of Action for a Nuclear Free World (May 2.)

Please arrange for your organization to join by signing our call and by planning to join in our activities. As Quakers would say, this is not a time “to hide our light under a bushel.” If we are to change the course of history our voices must become louder and omnipresent. Unless we deepen our commitments and extend ourselves in educating, organizing and mobilizing, the powers that be will be free to act as recklessly as they will.

Our call needs to be as broad and strong as possible. We need many organizations from many countries and movements to sign it and to engage in the NPT Review Conference. Please also share our call with other organizations in your networks and your country so that they can join in too.

We can reach a world without nuclear weapons. The next step to be taken at the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty Review Conference 2010 in New York.

Endorsements of the call should be sent to npt[at]ialana.de. You can further contact us at AFSC, 2161 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, Ma. 02140 and IALANA, Schützenstrasse 6a, 10117 Berlin, Germany, as well as by contacting any of the other participating organizations.

The call:

Disarm Now! Mobilizing Call of the NPT Review 2010

Today our world is facing crises on an unprecedented scale - global warming, poverty, war, hunger, and disease. They threaten the very future of life as we know it, and on a daily basis bring death, sorrow and suffering to the majority of people on our planet. Yet these problems are almost entirely the results of human action and they can be equally be resolved by human action. We have an unprecedented opportunity to create the political will to manage the riches and natural bounty of our world in such a way as to meet the needs of all peoples, and to enable us to live together in peace and justice

Such is the desire of the overwhelming majority of peoples, yet we face a situation today where global military spending - money for killing - has now reached a total of $1.46 trillion in 2008. Furthermore, nine countries maintain arsenals of nuclear weapons - all together, over 23,000 warheads. These uniquely destructive weapons can not only destroy life on our planet many times over, but they are also used as political weapons of terror, reinforcing an unjustifiable global inequality. The eradication of these weapons will not only end the threat of global annihilation and this hierarchy of terror, but it will unlock enormous resources to address climate change and mass poverty, serve as the leading edge of the global trend towards demilitarisation, and make advances in other areas of human aspiration possible.

In spite of treaty obligations and international resolutions and rulings over the decades since the criminal atomic bombings of Japan by the United States in 1945, the nuclear weapons states have failed to eliminate their nuclear arms. Their continued possession of these weapons, together with modernisation of systems and increasingly aggressive nuclear use policies in recent years, have contributed to an increasing tendency towards their proliferation - and a greater likelihood of nuclear war.

The nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) requires both non-proliferation and disarmament, and must be supported and strengthened - yet it lacks a concrete process for achieving these essential goals. Furthermore, there are grave problems with its Article IV. This guarantees the right to peaceful nuclear energy but overlooks the inextricable link between nuclear power and weapons technologies and their health and environmental costs.

The newly-launched International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) provides an opportunity to phase out nuclear power, superseding the Article IV guarantee. This said, the NPT continues to provide the framework for advancing towards an essential new initiative - a timetable for the elimination of nuclear weapons so urgently sought by the global majority.

The NPT Review Conference in May 2010 presents a precious opportunity to take that initiative. It is an opportunity that must on no account be missed. After the spiralling aggression of the Bush era, the Obama presidency provides a new context for our campaigning. President Obama's commitment - alongside that of President Medvedev of Russia - to global abolition of nuclear weapons is greatly welcomed, and their first steps towards bilateral reductions and support for treaties restricting nuclear developments are positive. However, the goal of global abolition cannot be postponed into the indefinite future, for only a defined, achievable and timetabled process can halt the proliferation that threatens us all.

To this end, to secure a future for humanity and our planet, to help create the conditions for a world of peace, justice and genuine human security, we urge the 2010 NPT Review Conference to make an unambiguous commitment to begin negotiations on a convention for the time-bound elimination of all nuclear weapons - a Nuclear Weapons Convention.

Such a step will not happen without the active encouragement of civil society, giving voice to the yearning of the global majority for a world free from the fear of nuclear annihilation. We urge all those who share this vision to join us in mobilising for the international peace conference in New York on May 1st and the International Day of Action for a Nuclear Free World, in New York and globally, on May 2nd, as well as for the presentation of petition signatures to the NPT Review Conference.

5) International Nuclear Weapon Free World Day
The final declaration of the recent UN Department of Public Information (DPI)-Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Conference in Mexico City declared 27 October as the annual International Nuclear Weapon Free World Day. Reaching Critical Will welcomes this declaration and hopes that this day, which would be held during Disarmament Week, will afford civil society, the UN, and governments the opportunity to promote, highlight, and advance the abolition of nuclear weapons.

The government of Kazakhstan has also proposed the establishment of an International Nuclear Weapon Free World Day! As home to the Semipalatinsk test site, Kazakhstan knows too well the perils of nuclear weaponry. Kazakhstan was a leader in the creation of the Central Asian Nuclear Weapon Free Zone treaty, having made the unilateral decision to renounce the arsenal it possessed as a result of the dissolution of the USSR. However, Kazakhstan has proposed the Day be celebrated on 29 August, to mark the date of its renunciation of nuclear weapons. Welcoming Kazakhstan’s initiative, some civil society organisations have noted that in August, schools and parliaments are not in session and the UN and other organisations are working at reduced capacity. These groups argue that in October, the Day would have the best opportunities to engage in educational and lobbying activities at schools, universities, parliaments, and other legislative bodies and to engage with prominent civil society advocates, government diplomats, and UN personnel.

Support for 27 October as the International Nuclear Weapon Free World Day does not negate our collective responsibility to officially recognize Kazakhstan for its noble efforts. A win-win situation, whereby Kazakhstan receives the recognition it deserves, while ensuring the most effective International Nuclear Weapon Free World Day, is possible.

For more information about the campaign to establish an International Nuclear Weapon Free World Day, please contact Rhianna Tyson Kreger <rtkreger[at]gsinstitute.org> at the Global Security Institute.

6) Australian parliamentary inquiry into nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation treaties
Thanks to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) for the following report:

On 17 September, the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties in Australian federal parliament released the inquiry report into nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation treaties. The report calls clearly and unequivocally for the support of a Nuclear Weapons Convention. The wording on the Nuclear Weapons Convention is as follows:

Recommendation 8
The Committee recommends that the Australian Government make clear in international fora its support for the adoption of a Nuclear Weapons Convention.

Recommendation 9
The Committee recommends that the Australian Government allocate research and consultation resources to the development of a Nuclear Weapons Convention with a clear legal framework and enforceable verification.

The report also addresses and makes recommendations on:

• The CTBT
• FMCT
• Multilateral fuel bank
• International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament
• 2010 NPT Review Conference
• The role of Parliamentarians

As a general good sign, the report calls for:

Recommendation 21
The Committee recommends that the Parliament adopt a resolution on the Parliament’s commitment to the abolition of nuclear weapons.

The Committee received 87 submissions (including one from the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom) and over 90 exhibits, and examined 30 witnesses at public hearings conducted in Melbourne, Sydney, Darwin, and Canberra from February to May 2009.

You can see the report in full (all 200 pages) online.

7) Upcoming Conferences

International Conference on Nuclear Disarmament in Stockholm
On 6–8 November 2009, the Swedish Network for Nuclear Disarmament, in cooperation with ABF Stockholm, IPB, Pugwash Sweden, and UNA Sweden, will hold an international Conference on Nuclear Disarmament. The conference constitutes an arena for civil society organizations, politicians, and professionals to meet in preparation for the 2010 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference.

A new version of the Conference Program is now available! It is now possible to register at www.nucleardisarmament.se, or contact info[at]nucleardisarmament.se. Please forward this information to colleagues and friends. for the Conference. The fee of participants is $25 / €20.

International Peace Bureau’s Annual Conference
Rolling back militarism: a task for the global movement

IPB’s annual conference will be held at Georgetown Univ. in Washington, DC from Nov. 14-18. It is co-organized with Peace Action, America’s largest grassroots peace network. This event is an invitation to engage in a strategic process, to examine our campaigning priorities and options, to explore new ways to challenge the militarism we see around us, and to build international connections and partnerships. The programme includes a central conference and a day-seminar on military spending, plus the annual IPB Council meeting and a planning session for the NPT Review next May. It will also be the occasion for the award of the IPB’s annual Sean MacBride Peace Prize.

See the latest news on venues, accommodations, a basic flyer, and draft program online.

Registration is now open. Note: you need a credit card to process your payment. Otherwise please write to the Conference Coordinator at ippn[at]igc.org. To register online, go to www.peace-action.org.

8) Featured News

Iran building second uranium enrichment facility
The Iranian government revealed to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) last week that it has been building a second uranium enrichment facility underground. The site is reportedly at a mountain site located on a secret Iranian military installation near the city of Qom and capable of housing up to 3000 centrifuges used to enrich uranium. The United States, United Kingdom, and France accused Iran of violating its safeguards agreement with the IAEA and have threatened tougher sanctions against the country.

However, the Iranian government argues that it is in compliance with its IAEA agreement, insisting that it no longer needs to provide early notification of the construction of nuclear facilities. The specific agreement in question, “modified Code 3.1,” was accepted by Iran in 2003 but not ratified by its parliament. In March 2007, Iran informed the IAEA that it had “suspended” implementation of the Code and would revert back to the implementation of its earlier, 1976 version. This original Code only requires the submission of design information for new facilities “normally not later than 180 days before the facility is scheduled to receive nuclear material for the first time.” However, the IAEA argues that the modified Code, which indicates that “countries must notify inspectors as soon as a decision is made to build a nuclear plant,” is still applicable to Iran. The Agency says that states who adopted the modified Code cannot unilaterally revert to the old Code.

The Iranian government has invited the IAEA to inspect the site. President Ahmadinejad reiterated Iran’s position that Iran is not interested in developing nuclear weapons. Today, US and Iranian officials held their first direct talks in 30 years on the margins of a meeting between the P5+1 (China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Germany) and Iran in Geneva. Details of the meeting are not available, though the parties agreed to a second round of talks by the end of the month. The US government expressed its interest in “a process that leads to a resolution of the concerns that we have,” noting that “the process will take some time, and we’re not going to make a snap judgement ... As the President has said, at the end of the year, we will be in a position to evaluate any progress that has been made over the course of this period of time. And in that – then we’ll be in a better position to evaluate what we should do next.”

Obama rejects first draft of the Nuclear Posture Review
Obama rejected the Pentagon’s first draft of the US Nuclear Posture Review as being too timid, and has called for a range of more far-reaching options consistent with his goal of eventually abolishing nuclear weapons altogether, according to European officials.

White House scraps plans to install a missile “defence” system in Poland and Czech Republic
In a news release welcomed by many, the Obama administration announced its decision on 17 September not to go forward with plans from the former administration to establish a missile defence system in Poland and the Czech Republic. However, in this announcement, US President Obama also noted that his new plans for missile “defence” in Europe would be more “comprehensive than the previous program” and would be “enhanced” by NATO involvement.

Bruce Gagnon of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space explains:

Secretary of War Robert Gates ... concluded that the original plan was no longer the best military “architecture” for the current “threat” from Iran. Thus instead of missile defense interceptors that would target offending missiles in their mid-course of flight, and that had a series of bad test results, the Pentagon now wanted to deploy in northern and southern Europe missile defense systems that had a proven testing record and were more appropriate for the kind of threat now expected from Iran.

In short, Gagnon concludes, the change is one of adjustment in strategy due to technological realities, rather than a change in attitude towards missile defence in general.While the change in strategy will help ease tensions with Russia it will not alleviate wasteful spending on the development of offensive technologies.

9) Recommended Reading

Tilman Ruff and John Loretz, “Seeking nuclear protection from another state is deceptive,” The Age, 18 September 2009.

15 September 2009

Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors:

21 September marks the International Day of Peace. Among other significant initiatives and campaigns, Reaching Critical Will would like to highlight two in particular. One is the Global Summit for Ministries and Departments of Peace, meeting from 17–21 September in Costa Rica. Founded in 2004, the Global Alliance is a worldwide community of civil society organizations, committed citizens, and government officials from 35 countries, working to establish governmental structures that support a culture of peace. The Global Summit will give them a chance to integrate the peace building skills and regional/international networking necessary to increase their campaigns’ potential for success. Another significant International Day of Peace event is the culmination of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s WMD-We Must Disarm campaign. Leading up to 21 September, the Secretary-General has sent Twitter messages listing reasons to abolish nuclear weapons. There is still time to sign the WMD petition and join those calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons.

During the recent UN Department of Public Information (DPI)-Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Conference in Mexico City, Secretary-General Ban argued that the “world is over-armed and peace is under-funded”. Both of the above initiatives strive to change the priorities of militarization rooted in culture and operationalized by government and international structures. Another new initiative, included in the Final Declaration of the DPI-NGO Conference, declared 27 October as the annual International Day for a World Free of Nuclear Weapons. Reaching Critical Will hopes that this day, held during Disarmament Week, will afford civil society, the UN, and governments the opportunity to promote, highlight, and advance the abolition of nuclear weapons.

In this E-News, you can find more information about the DPI-NGO Conference, the UN Security Council meeting on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, and other upcoming UN and civil society events.

In peace,
Ray Acheson, Project Director

1) Reminder: First Committee side event deadline is 25 September
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. NGO side events are becoming increasingly popular with both diplomats and civil society.

Please note: The procedure for scheduling side events this year has changed. Every event must be co-sponsored by either the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs or a member state. Please contact RCW for details. If you are seeking sponsorship from UNODA, we have a standardized form that you must fill out and submit by 25 September.

A calendar of events is available online. Please note that dates, times, and locations are tentative and subject to change. Please check back regularly for updates. If you have already booked your event through other means, please let RCW know so that we can add your event to the calendar, which is the number one resource for all those looking for updates on the First Committee.

2) General Assembly debate begins next week
The 64th session of the General Assembly will open with a general debate on Wednesday, 23 September 2009. Find out what your government says about disarmament, peace, and security with Reaching Critical Will's Disarmament Index by Country and Topic.

WILPF’s PeaceWomen project will also compile a gender index from the general debate.

3) UN Security Council summit on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament
The UN Security Council is scheduled to hold a summit on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, chaired by US President Obama, on 24 September 2009. The summit will be held in the morning of the 24th. During a press conference on 2 September, US Ambassador Susan Rice articulated the purpose of the summit, noting that it is an opportunity for the Council to give impetus to national, bilateral, and multilateral efforts on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament. She said that the UN Security Council could show that it was “united in support of effective steps to ensure nuclear non-proliferation, and committed to appropriate progress on nuclear disarmament.”

In anticipation of the summit, the US government circulated a draft resolution for consideration by the Council. While the document covers a wide range of important issues, it focuses nearly exclusively on strengthening existing non-proliferation measures and advocating new, more stringent commitments for non-proliferation, while at the same time maintaining the status quo (i.e. no progress) on nuclear disarmament.

WILPF urges the UN Security Council to use this opportunity to constructively contribute to nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation by taking steps toward a nuclear weapon free world and the promotion of collective human security and security for all life on this planet.

A WILPF statement on the UN Security Council summit and draft resolution will be released soon. Statements by Abolition 2000, the Lawyers’ Committee on Nuclear Policy, and the Middle Powers Initiative have been circulated.

4) DPI-NGO Conference in Mexico City on disarmament and development
From 9–11 September 2009, the 62nd annual UN Department of Public Information (DPI)-Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Conference convened in Mexico City. The theme of this year’s conference was, For Peace and Development: Disarm Now! Participants from around the world gathered to discuss how they can contribute to reducing arms while advancing peace.

The official website has many resources available, including press releases, photos, webcasts, and the final NGO declaration:

Conference News
Webcasts
Radio News & Features
Photo Gallery
NGO Declaration: Disarming for Peace and Development
Welcoming Address by Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, President of the 63rd session of the UN General Assembly (video)

5) Keep Space for Peace Week: 3–10 October
Each year, civil society celebrates the UN's World Space Week by holding events across the world marking Keep Space for Peace Week through days of protest against the militarization of outer space. Check out the official website for events near you, or post your event on the site. Download posters and advertisements and find speakers or entertainers for your events.

For more information on the militarization and weaponization of outer space, see Reaching Critical Will’s resources on preventing an arms race in outer space (PAROS). Also consider joining the PAROS Working Group, hosted jointly by the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space.

6) Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament conference: 10 October
On 10 October, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is hosting an international conference from 10:00 AM to 5:30 PM called “Making nuclear disarmament happen: ideas and action in a changing world.” The event will be held at Mary Ward House, Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9SN.

Opening Plenary 10.30-12.30
Prospects for Nuclear Disarmament: the global context
Rebecca Johnson (Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy, UK)
Marian Hobbs (former Minister for Disarmament, New Zealand)
Judith Le Blanc (United for Peace and Justice, USA)
Victor Kamyshanov (International Federation for Peace and Conciliation, Russia)
Caroline Lucas MEP
Chair: Kate Hudson
 
Lunch: 12.30-1.30
 
1.30-3.15
Opposing NATO: ending the cycle of war and nuclear weapons
Reiner Brown (INES, Germany)
Pierre Villard (Le Mouvement de la paix, France)
Jane Shallice (Stop the War Coalition, UK)
Jeremy Corbyn MP
Chair: Rae Street
 
Tea break: 3.15-3.30
 
3.30-5.30
Global Disarmament: the next steps
Kate Hudson (CND, UK)
John Loretz (IPPNW and ICAN, USA)
Sharon Dolev (Greenpeace, Israel)
Achin Vanaik (CNDP, India)
Zia Mian (Princeton University, USA)
Yayoi Tsuchida (Gensuikyo, Japan)
Chair: Dave Webb
 
All are welcome to attend. Entrance: £10.

For further information and details about how to register, visit www.cnduk.org or call 020 7700 239.

7) Recommended Reading

Darwin BondGraham, “Anti-Nuclear Imperialism: The New Face of Nuclear Armed Empire is Quickly Taking Shape,” Sung A Lot of Songs, 1 September 2009.

Ray Acheson, “Nuclear Weapons and Security Discourses,” presentation to the 62nd annual DPI/NGO Conference For Peace and Development: Disarm Now!, Mexico City, 11 September 2009.

Thalif Deen, “No Slowdown for Weapons Industry,” CommonDreams.org, 11 September 2009.

1 September 2009

Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors:

Yesterday, the Conference on Disarmament (CD) in Geneva gave up trying to implement its programme of work. It had adopted the work programme—its first in a decade—back in May and has been struggling since then to adopt the practical modalities necessary to implement it. These modalities consisted of a document listing the approach the CD would take in implementation, appointing the working group chairs and special coordinators for each of the agenda items, and laying out a schedule of activities for the remainder of the 2009 session. Only the Pakistani delegation objected to the document, in essence arguing that it was not adequate to protect states’ national security interests. Other delegations expressed confusion and frustration over this position, for Pakistan had previously agreed to the programme of work, which is where the real policy lies. After extensive consultations, the CD’s presidents declared on Monday that consensus could not be reached and they would now turn to the remaining work on the Conference’s agenda—drafting a report for the General Assembly.

To overcome the difficulties faced this year in the CD, 2010’s session will require some truly “outside the box” thinking. Reaching Critical Will looks forward to engaging with governments toward this end and encourages other NGOs to press forward with us in finding creative solutions.

September brings many opportunities for NGO engagement with disarmament at the United Nations. From 9–11 September, the UN Department of Public Information is hosting a conference on human security and disarmament in Mexico City. Later in the month, the UN General Assembly will open its 64th session. Reaching Critical Will will track all references to disarmament, peace, and security at the general debate. Concurrently, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organisation will hold its bi-annual Entry Into Force Conference and the UN Security Council will hold a special meeting on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, to be chaired by US President Obama. See below and previous RCW E-News for information on how to get involved and follow the action.

In peace,
Ray Acheson, Project Director

1) Reminder about the UNGA First Committee
Information on the 2008 United Nations General Assembly First Committee on Disarmament and International Security is available at http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/1com09.html

To book, list, or view side events, please see the First Committee Calendar at
http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/1com09/calendar.html

Subscribe online to the First Committee Monitor, a weekly NGO newsletter published during First Committee.

2) Recommended UN Security Council actions to advance nuclear disarmament
The New York-based Lawyers’ Committee on Nuclear Policy has published a two-page paper recommending actions for the UN Security Council to advance nuclear disarmament at its 24 September meeting on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament to be chaired by US President Obama. The paper calls on the Council to, inter alia:

• Reaffirm and strengthen positive and negative security assurances to non-nuclear weapon states against the threat or use of nuclear weapons;
• Support the establishment of a UN registry of nuclear disarmament to which states possessing nuclear arms would provide information concerning the size of their arsenals, stocks of fissile materials, and disarmament achivements;
• Pursuant to Article 26 of the UN Charter, formulate a plan for nuclear disarmament to be submitted to UN member states;
• Examine the contribution the Council can make to achieving and sustaining the verified and enforced elimination of nuclear weapons;
• Affirm that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought and that the use of nuclear weapons would cause unacceptable harm to life, economy, and environment; and
• Declare the threat or use of nuclear weapons to be a threat to or breach of international peace and security and contrary to humanitarian and other international law.

Reaching Critical Will urges everyone to read this paper and to use its points when discussing the Security Council meeting with their government representatives. Those with governments on the UN Security Council should write to their foreign minister (or equivalent) and copy the letter to their ambassador in New York. Relevant government contact information can be found on the Reaching Critical Will website. The current members of the UN Security Council are: Austria, Burkina Faso, China, Costa Rica, Croatia, France, Japan, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Mexico, Russian Federation, Turkey, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States, and Viet Nam.

3) ‘Against Nuclear Arms’ Exhibit at the UN
An exhibit entitled “Against Nuclear Arms” opened on Monday, 10 August in the Main Gallery of the Visitors Lobby of the UN Headquarters in New York. It will remain on display until 30 September. Composed in two sections, the exhibition portrays the destruction and terrible damage caused by the A-bomb explosions in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, and decades of nuclear arms testing in the heart of Kazakhstan.  Its goal is to deepen public understanding of the devastating consequences of the use of nuclear power and to advance the international movement to abolish nuclear weapons. For details, see the UN Press Release.

For information on the exhibit, please contact Jane Conrad, Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations, at +1 212 5211565, e-mail: jane-conrad[at]un-japan.org; and Gauhar Abdygaliyeva, Permanent Mission of Kazakhstan to the United ations, at +1 212 230 1900 ext. 14, e-mail: gauharke[at]gmail.com.

4) NATO launches public consultation on its new Strategic Concept
On 3 August 2009, NATO launched a web module on its new Strategic Concept that provides access to background information, related opinions, and a bibliography, and also includes a public discussion forum. The forum promises that comments posted there “will be periodically transmitted to both the Secretary General and the group of eminent persons as an input to their deliberations. NATO will give feedback as appropriate.” The Secretary General has also appointed a twelve member “expert group” to consult with governments, think tanks, NGOs, and international organizations on the Strategic Concept and to submit its conclusions to the Secretary General in April 2010. In order for the process of civil society input to be as informed as possible, some groups, including NATO Watch, have urged NATO to “loosen its access to information rules,” pointing to the classified status of significant background studies, such as the advice of the Military Committee, and to make public the presentation of the expert group’s analysis and recommendations and the Secretary General’s report.

5) Featured News

Egypt rejects US nuclear umbrella
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak categorically rejected an undeclared US offer to “guarantee” defence of the region against atomic weapons as part of a comprehensive Middle East peace plan. President Mubarak reportedly insisted that “what the Middle East needs is peace, security, stability and development,” not nuclear weapons. In an interview with the leading Egyptian daily, he also said, “Egypt will not be part of any American nuclear umbrella intended to protect the Gulf countries.”

6) Recommended Reading

Andrew Lichterman, “Disarmament work amidst a global economic crisis,” address outside Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Hiroshima Day, 6 August 2009.

Douglas Roche, “Obama Needs Friends on Nuclear Weapons,” Embassymag.ca, 19 August 2009.

Shingo Fukuyama and Hiromichi Umebayashi, “Japan ready for ‘no nukes’,” The Japan Times, 25 August 2009.

14 August 2009

Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors:

Greetings from New Mexico, the heartland of the US nuclear weapon complex. The anti-nuclear youth network Think Outside the Bomb is holding its annual conference in Albuquerque, home to the Sandia National Laboratories and close to the Los Alamos National Laboratory. These labs work on production, design, and maintenance of US nuclear weapons. Albuquerque is also home to some wonderful non-government organizations, such as the Los Alamos Study Group, which has consistently provided leadership on nuclear disarmament and related issues in New Mexico and at the national level. This year’s Think Outside the Bomb conference has provided a good opportunity for students and young activists to meet people working locally on uranium mining issues, nuclear disarmament issues, and alternative energy issues who are able to connect, analyze, and work toward solving many of the most important challenges facing the world today.

Across the pond, the Conference on Disarmament (CD) in Geneva has still not been able to adopt a framework for the implementation of its programme of work that it adopted in May. This programme of work allows for the commencement of negotiations of a treaty to ban the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons. There are only five weeks left in the CD’s 2009 session; three of these are tentatively devoted to consideration and adoption of the Conference’s report to the General Assembly. There is not much time left for any work in this 2009 session and the programme of work will not carry over to 2010. Reaching Critical Will encourages everyone to contact their governments’ missions in Geneva to let their representatives know they are paying attention, to ask for explanations, and to press for details about how they expect to resolve this situation before next year. To find out details of what has been happening, check out RCW’s CD Reports online and subscribe to the CD Report mailing list to keep up with the action.

Fortunately, some good news has reached the disarmament community by way of Africa. The Treaty of Pelindaba—the African Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Treaty—finally entered into force on 15 July. See below for details.

Looking ahead, Reaching Critical Will is preparing for many events at the United Nations. In September, the General Assembly will begin its 64th session and many heads of states and other high-level officials will come to New York to deliver interventions to a global audience on their positions, policies, and priorities for their countries and the world. The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization is hosting an entry into force conference during this time and US President Obama is planning to hold a high-level Security Council meeting related to nuclear weapon issues. In October, the General Assembly First Committee on Disarmament and International Security will meet to discuss all topics relevant to both conventional and non-conventional disarmament, arms control, and non-proliferation. Please read below for more information on all of these events and more.

In peace,
Ray Acheson, Project Director

1) CTBT Article XIV Conference
Deadline for NGOs to apply for accreditation: 28 August 2009

The sixth Article XIV (Entry Into Force) Conference of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) is scheduled to be held in New York City on 24–25 September 2009. NGO representatives must apply for accreditation to attend this conference. Because the Conference is being held during the UN General Assembly’s General Debate, when many heads of state will be on the premises, access to the UN building will be highly restricted. It is vitally important that anyone interested in attending the Conference submit all their necessary materials for accreditation on time and provide plenty of time for the registration process once the Conference begins.

NGO statement to the Conference
It is expected that one statement on behalf of NGOs will be made on Friday, 25 September 2009 during the afternoon session. Reaching Critical Will and the Arms Control Association are facilitating the drafting of this statement. If you are interested in participating in this process—whether or not you’ll be in New York for the Conference itself—please send a blank email to ctbt-artxiv-subscribe[at]yahoogroups.com or go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ctbt-artxiv/.

Accreditation and Registration
For those NGO representatives interested in attending the Conference, please see the information (pdf) provided by the UN. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask me. Please note that the deadline for submitting your accreditation materials to the UN is 28 August 2009.

2) Disarmament at the General Assembly
General Assembly General Debate: 21 September–30 October 2009
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) is consensus-building body, where issues of international peace and security are collectively discussed among all UN member states. Its regular session convenes in September of each year. For two weeks, heads of state, foreign ministers, or other high-level representatives have the opportunity to address the entire international community with their concerns, priorities, and opinions about a variety of topics.

During the first segment of the UNGA, the General Debate, Reaching Critical Will 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 upon which governments will be focusing during the UNGA First Committee on Disarmament and International Security, which begins on 6 October.

Fact sheet on the General Assembly
To find out more about the General Assembly, check out Reaching Critical Will’s two-page fact sheet (pdf) that explains what the General Assembly is, why its important for disarmament, and how you can make an impact. [Also available in HTML.]

3) Keeping up with the First Committee
UNGA First Committee on Disarmament and International Security: 5 October–3 November 2009
The General Assembly’s work on disarmament is conducted through one of its main committees, the First Committee on Disarmament and International Security. The First Committee provides space for each state to discuss their positions on disarmament-related matters, to build consensus on the issues or highlight divergences, and to table and adopt non-binding resolutions. Of course, the First Committee often fails to make good use of its potential, but it provides one of the best opportunities for outreach, education, and advocacy efforts on disarmament and non-proliferation issues.

All information related to First Committee 2009 will be posted on the RCW website. There are many opportunities for NGOs to get involved with the First Committee:

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 Director today. In the upcoming weeks, we will be holding a meeting to coordinate the various responsibilities required for such an effort.

We also encourage you to use the First Committee Monitor to publicize an important announcement, event, or project hosted by your organization.

• 1/4 page ad: $40
• 1/2 page ad: $60
• full page ad: $130
• back page ad: $180

We accept cheques, cash, PayPal, and wire transfers. Ads can be sent in .jpg, .gif, or .pdf format.

We also accept all forms of disarmament-themed artwork, to be sent in either a .jpg, .gif, or .pdf file. Cartoons, photographs, paintings, doodles, collage, mixed media, and drawings are all welcome.

Submit your advertisement or artwork by sending the project director the following information:

• 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

Finally, if you are interested in following events at the First Committee, subscribe to receive the First Committee Monitor in your inbox each Monday morning during October.

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. 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.

Please note: The procedure for scheduling side events this year has changed. Every event must be co-sponsored by either the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs or a member state. Please contact RCW for details. If you are seeking sponsorship from UNODA, we have a standardized form that you must fill out and submit by 25 September.

A calendar of events is available online. Please note that dates, times, and locations are tentative and subject to change. Please check back regularly for updates. If you have already booked your event through other means, please let RCW know so that we can add your event to the calendar, which is the number one resource for all those looking for updates on the First Committee.

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, see RCW’s action tips.

Organize a meeting with your representatives; listen to their opinion on nuclear issues and share yours. Find out who represents you at our Government Contacts database.

4) UN disarmament short film competition
To mark the start of the second half of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s 100-day “WMD-We Must Disarm” countdown campaign to the International Day of Peace on 21 September, the United Nations has launched a competition to find the best short film on the issue of nuclear disarmament and/or non-proliferation.

Winning films will be shown at United Nations Headquarters in New York and posted on the online platforms supporting the Secretary-General’s campaign.  The multiplatform WMD-We Must Disarm campaign began on 13 June and issues new messages on reasons for nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation daily over Twitter.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched the campaign by tweeting the first week’s messages.  He will issue a special video message on 6 August, the anniversary of the atomic bomb strike on Hiroshima.

How to Participate

The United Nations is looking for short videos from anyone, regardless of skill or experience, to submit their work by Thursday, 10 September.  All entries should be on the subject of nuclear disarmament and/or non-proliferation and no longer than three minutes in length. Films should support the Secretary-General’s multiplatform WMD-We Must Disarm campaign. Participants should upload their films on YouTube and send a link to the film to Melanie Nolte at nolte[at]un.org.

Submissions containing obscene or offensive language or imagery will not be considered for the competition, nor will overtly political references to any particular country. A panel of United Nations staff and partner organizations involved with nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation will be the judges. For further information, see www.un.org/en/events/peaceday.

Follow the campaign on Twitter, Facebook and MySpace at:
www.twitter.com/wemustdisarm
www.causes.com/wemustdisarm
www.myspace.com/wemustdisarm

5) Student essay competition on NATO
1st Place - $1,000
2nd Place - $500
3rd Place - $250
 
Bruce Roth, Founder of Daisy Alliance, will award the above cash prizes to the students who submit the best original papers on “The Role of NATO in the 21st Century”
 
This essay should be at least 2,500 words, but no more than 3,000 words excluding footnotes and bibliography.  Papers must be submitted by January 26th, 2010 in a Word file to bruce[at]daisyalliance.org. Be sure to include your name, mailing address, school name, and grade.
 
For more information or any questions regarding the scholarship or the essay contest, please email  
bruce[at]daisyalliance.org.

Essay Content

NATO’s role in extending a US nuclear security guarantee to Europe has diminished since the Cold War, and extra-regional nuclear security threats have emerged—North Korea has nuclear weapons and Iran may have them soon. Russia and the U.S. may not be on the brink of nuclear war, but tensions still exist from disagreements over missile defense, NATO expansion, and the Russian invasion of Georgia. 

Students should address the following questions:
•  How has the deterrent of the U.S. nuclear umbrella changed since the end of the Cold War?
•  What effect, if any, has this had or is it likely to have on nonproliferation and disarmament efforts.
•  What role should NATO play in the 21st century in protecting its members and possibly others against nuclear threats?
•  Is NATO still needed to provide a nuclear security guarantee to its non-nuclear members?
•  Should NATO expand its role to provide an international nuclear umbrella to include all non-nuclear weapon states?
•  Should NATO decrease or end its reliance on nuclear weapons?
•  Should NATO’s “strategic concept” take into account cyber attacks, climate change, energy security, and developments in terrorism?
•  Should NATO seek to include Russia, in order to more effectively secure against emerging nuclear threats?
•  Should NATO play a role in encouraging and/or enforcing nonproliferation and disarmament globally? 

6) Declaration of the 2009 World Conference Against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs
Call for Global Solidarity and Actions for a World Without Nuclear Weapons
 
With the passing of 64 years since Hiroshima and Nagasaki were attacked with atomic bombs, the world is at a juncture of decisive turn towards the abolition of nuclear weapons. The voices of the Hibakusha that “the humans cannot coexist with nuclear weapons” are developing into the opinion of the vast majority of the peoples around the world, and are stirring international politics. We call on all the people around the world to work in global solidarity to open a new page in history towards a nuclear weapon-free world.
 
With the movement of peoples against war and the threat of nuclear weapons and in support of a nuclear weapon-free, peaceful world, the world is undergoing a big change.

In April, US President Obama stated that as the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon, the US has a “moral responsibility to act”, and declared that it would “seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.”  We welcome his affirmation as one by the leader of the largest nuclear power for the elimination of nuclear weapons, as well as his call to the world for cooperation.  The system in which only a small number of countries keep possessing nuclear arsenal is unsustainable and dangerous.  The elimination of nuclear weapons is the only way to prevent further proliferation.  This is more and more widely supported in other nuclear powers and their allies, including some political leaders and elder statesmen.

It is a world where no country has nuclear weapons and where peace and security do not rely on nuclear weapons that the Hibakusha of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the anti-nuclear and peace movements around the world, non-nuclear or non-aligned countries, and most people around the world have long desired and demanded.  We must strengthen our action to achieve this goal.
 
A nuclear weapon-free world can be achieved only by making it a common goal, by working out an agreed legal framework, and by implementing it in good faith.  For this, we urge the US and the other nuclear weapons states to implement the “unequivocal undertaking” to eliminate nuclear weapons, and urge the next NPT Review Conference in May 2010 to take a firm step forward towards swiftly concluding a treaty, a nuclear weapons convention, to ban and eliminate nuclear weapons.

We welcome the agreement of the US and Russian leaders on the reduction of strategic nuclear weapons, and urge them to take more bold steps to move towards the goal of Zero.  We further urge an early ratification and entry into force of the CTBT, the conclusion of a verifiable Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty, the renunciation of the first use of nuclear weapons, ban on use or threat to use nuclear weapons against Non-Nuclear Weapons States, as well as the creation of a nuclear weapon-free zone in the Middle East.  These partial and specific measures of nuclear disarmament should be promoted, explicitly linked with the goal of the elimination of nuclear weapons.
 
To achieve a nuclear weapon-free world, we must break away from the notion of “nuclear deterrence” or any other fallacies that regard nuclear weapons as means for security.  Possession of enormous amount of nuclear weapons or the reliance on the “nuclear umbrella” provided by a superpower for the pretext of peace and security only leads to more tension and nuclear proliferation.  The modernization, maintenance and consolidation of existing nuclear arsenals, the increase in funding for military, the nuclear proliferation in the name of civil nuclear cooperation should be stopped immediately. 

We protest against North Korea’s nuclear weapons development and urge it to return without delay to the Six-Party Talks on the denuclearization of Korean Peninsula, abandon its nuclear development program and join the global effort to abolish nuclear weapons.

There can be no military solution to proliferation problems.  Dialogue and consultation are the only way. 

Despite being the only A-bombed country, Japan keeps relying on the U.S. “nuclear umbrella”.  This attitude places a serious obstacle in the way to achieve a nuclear weapon-free world.  We express our solidarity to the Japanese movement working for a breakaway from the “nuclear umbrella” and achieving a nuclear-free and peaceful Japan based on the “Three Non-Nuclear Principles” and Article 9 of its Constitution.
 
Moving away from a devastating nuclear horror to a peaceful world without nuclear weapons, we must make the NPT Review Conference, in May 2010, in New York, a historic turning point.

The Abolition 2000, an international network of anti-nuclear peace movements, set May 2, 2010 an “International Action Day for a Nuclear Weapon-Free World” and together with the United for Peace and Justice called for a major New York Action and a joint presentation of signatures and petitions for the abolition of nuclear weapons to the U.N.  We welcome this initiative, and call for diverse and creative joint actions from grass-roots, with the international signature campaign “For a Nuclear Weapon-Free World” as the common form of action.

We will work in solidarity with the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), the 2020 Vision Campaign by the Mayors for Peace, Nuclear Abolition Flame campaign, Scientists for a nuclear weapon-free world campaign and with all other movements leading to the abolition of nuclear weapons.
 
We work in firm solidarity with the movements of the Hibakusha of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and of nuclear victims all over the world.  The Hibakusha, despite the deep scars inscribed in their minds and bodies, have continued to appeal for the elimination of nuclear weapons as living witnesses of the nuclear destruction.  Humanity must respond to their message, draw lessons from their experiences and forge a firm will to realize a world without nuclear calamity.

We will work in solidarity with other campaigns for peace and against war; for relief of Agent Orange and other war victims; for protection of the global environment, for women’s agendas; for overcoming poverty, unemployment and hunger; and for drastic cuts in military spending.  Joining forces, let us build a nuclear weapon-free, peaceful and just world.

This is the future that humans must achieve.  We ardently support the activities of the young people, bearers of future, with full of creativity and energy, and call on them to join in this effort.  With the Hibakusha and young generation, let us rise in action now.

August 5, 2009
International Meeting, 2009 World Conference against A & H Bombs

7) New Campaign: Nobel Laureates Appeal for a Nuclear Weapon Free World
The International Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility (INES) has launched a new campaign, “Scientists for a Nuclear Weapons-Free World,” on 6 Augustwith a petition comprising 40 first signatories, 27 of them Nobel Laureates. The appeal can now be signed online at www.inesglobal.com.

8) Featured News

US “could” remove its tactical nuclear weapons from Europe
Robert Einhorn, the US State Department’s special advisor for non-proliferation and arms control, said that the United States could remove all or some of its tactical nuclear weapons from Europe to encourage Russia to consolidate its own non-strategic arsenal to help prevent the possibility of Russian weapons being seized by terrorists. Source: Martin Matishak, “U.S. Could Pull Back Europe-Based Nukes, State Department Official Says,” Global Security Newswire, 5 August 2009.

Obama to chair UN Security Council meeting on nuclear issues
On 24 September, US President Obama will chair a special high-level meeting of the UN Security Council on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, during the UN General Assembly’s General Debate. US Ambassador Susan Rice indicated the meeting “will be focused on nuclear non-proliferation and nuclear disarmament broadly and not on any specific countries.” Reaching Critical Will will provide more details as they become available.

African Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Treaty enters into force
On 15 July 2009, thirteen years after it opened for signature, the African Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Treaty (Pelindaba Treaty) entered into force with the ratification of Burundi. Like other NWFZ treaties, the Treaty of Pelindaba, includes protocols for the five Nuclear have signed and ratified these Protocols, but the Russian Federation and the United States are yet to ratify. By adhering to the Protocols, NWS commit themselves to respecting the status of the zone.

The US Special Representative of the President for Nuclear Nonproliferation spoke at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy
Representative Susan F. Burk gave a talk on Strengthening the Nuclear Nonproliferation Regime: A Blueprint for Progress on 12 August 2009 in Geneva. She poke on the three pillars of the NPT, quoting largely from US President Obama's speech in Prague in April.

9) Recommended reading
Oscar Arias, “Fuel for a Coup: The Perils of Latin America’s Oversized Militaries,” The Washington Post, 9 July 2009.

31 July 2009

Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors:

July 2009 saw a few interesting developments related to a broad spectrum of disarmament issues. On the nuclear side, IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei called on NATO to reduce its reliance on nuclear weapons and in Belgium, where NATO deploys US tactical nuclear weapons, a member of parliament started preparing a bill that would ban the use, production, and stockpiling of nuclear weapons. In addition, presidents Obama and Medvedev signed a Joint Understanding for the START Follow-on Treaty and the UK government released its Road to 2010 report—while a new poll revealed that most UK voters now oppose Trident replacement.

Meanwhile, the open-ended working group on the Arms Trade Treaty  met for its second session in New York and Belgium Parliament unanimously approved a law forbidding the financing of the manufacture, use, and possession of depleted uranium weapons.

Civil society has been active, too. The International Trade Union Confederation launched a petition calling for nuclear disarmament, the youth network Think Outside the Bomb is gearing up for its fifth annual conference in August, and several NGOs, including WILPF, became co-sponsors of the International Youth Dialogue for Nuclear Disarmament in October (see below for details). WILPF and many other NGOs are also preparing for August's nuclear free future month, which marks the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States in 1945.

Please consider getting involved in some of these initiatives, and others. Also consider checking out Reaching Critical Will’s internship opportunities for September–December 2009. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until 1 September. Interns will help Reaching Critical Will monitor and report on the UN General Assembly First Committee on Disarmament and International Security. Our next E-News will feature information on NGO involvement in the First Committee.

Finally, its already time to start thinking about next year’s nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference. Decisions and positions are often set in capitals long before diplomats will arrive in New York next May, so your advocacy to influence the Review Conference needs to start now. Planning for events during the Review Conference also requires attention now—see below for details.

In peace,
Ray Acheson, Project Director

1) Planning for the NPT
The 2010 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference is scheduled for 3–28 May 2010 in New York City. Due to renovations at UN Headquarters in New York, the Review Conference will mostly be held in temporary facilities currently being constructed. Unfortunately, the new facility will not have the capacity to accommodate side events. There will be no NGO room on UN premises. Alternative options are being explored by Reaching Critical Will and others in New York City. We will list these options on our 2010 Review Conference webpage as we gather the information, with instructions on how you will be able to reserve these spaces.

It’s also a good time to start planning your advocacy for nuclear abolition leading up to the Review Conference. Use Reaching Critical Will’s Government Contacts to reach out to your foreign ministry or your government’s mission in Geneva and New York. Consider joining some ongoing civil society initiatives toward 2010, including Abolition 2000’s Abolition Flame Campaign and United for Peace and Justice’s Nuclear Free Future Month. In the coming months, more information will be available through the E-News about international initiatives. In the meantime, join groups like the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom or United for Peace and Justice to find out more about their campaigns.

Also considering joining the NPT presentations listserve. We would like folks to start discussing a new process toward developing and delivering presentations to the official meeting of the Review Conference as soon as possible. Our strategy should be set now so that substantive work can start earlier than usual. If you’re interested in participating, we invite you to join the NPT Presentations yahoo group by sending an email to npt_presentations-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/npt_presentations/. Once you have subscribed, you will receive further instructions on participating.

2) International Youth Dialogue on Nuclear Disarmament
Join the International Youth Dialogue for Nuclear Disarmament, 26–27 October 2009, and make your voice heard. The Dialogue will link students, youth and young professionals in Philadelphia, Geneva, Mexico City, Moscow, and Santa Barbara via live video conference and focus on building a comprehensive campaign for a world free of nuclear weapons and the threats they pose.

The Dialogue will feature disarmament expert Dr. Hans Blix, President of the World Federation of United Nations Associations, Alyn Ware of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and disarmament and student leaders from Physicians for Social Responsibility, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, and Ban All Nukes Generation USA. Organized by the Project for Nuclear Awareness and Ban All Nukes Generation. Co-sponsored by several organizations, including the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF).

Registration for the Philadelphia Venue and Mexico City Venue is now available.

Interested in co-sponsorship or becoming a youth leader? Have questions about the Dialogue? Contact Emily at emily.pna@gmail.com, 215 546 3030.

3) International Trade Union Confederation supports nuclear disarmament
The International Trade Union Confederation has just launched a campaign on peace and support of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). It is aiming to have a petition with millions of signatures to hand over to UN Secretary-Generla Ban Ki-Moon during next year’s NPT review conference.

The ITUC is the world’s biggest membership organisation, with 311 affiliated trade union confederations in 157 countries and representing in total 170 000 000 individual members.

The petition calls for:

• those countries which have not joined the NPT do so, and for all countries to comply with it in full;
• the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty enter into force as soon as possible;
• there be an immediate start to and rapid progress on the Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty; and
• we ask for international agreements to support nuclear-weapon-free zones.

You can sign the petition online or contact Kristin Blom for more information: +32 2 224 0200, campaigning[at]ituc-csi.org.

4) Report: Progress on an Arms Trade Treaty
Michael Spies | Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy

The following is a preliminary account of the work of the Arms Trade Treaty working group. A full report will appear in the forthcoming edition of Disarmament Diplomacy.

The second session of the UN Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) on an Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) achieved little forward progress, amid optimism that some governments might push for the adoption of a negotiating mandate as early as the upcoming session of the UN General Assembly First Committee. The group met from 13–17 July in New York, chaired again by Ambassador Roberto García Moritán of Argentina.

The UN General Assembly established the OEWG in resolution 63/240 (2009), which provided for six, one-week sessions of the group—two per year—through 2011. The mandate of the 2009 meetings of the OEWG was to further consider elements from the GGE report where consensus could be developed for inclusion in an ATT, “which provides a balance giving benefit to all, with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations and other existing international obligations at the centre of such considerations.” The second session was also tasked with sending a report to the 2009 session of the General Assembly.

Through the diligent efforts of the delegation of Mexico, in its final hours the OEWG was able to incorporate into its final report some language on substantive elements. Importantly, the group did agree that “international action should be taken to address the problem [emphasis added]” posed by the unregulated arms trade.

Due to insufficient time, however, the OEWG was compelled to drop several key elements that many, if not most, delegations would have liked to have seen in the text, including: connecting the problem of unregulated arms trade to fueling armed conflict, not just organized crime and terrorism; and acknowledging that importers and exporters have obligations to address the problem due to obligations that arise from sources other than the UN Charter. The latter element is key for ATT proponents who would like to see an ATT directly address humanitarian and human rights concerns.

In some respects, the OEWG report even appeared to backtrack on previously agreed positions. For instances, the OEWG report made no reference to preventing diversion of weapons to the illicit market, despite the fact that the expert group recognized such a need. The report also retained non-committal language regarding the negotiation of the Treaty and left open the possibility that it might not be legally-binding.

The relatively weak language in the brief substantive portion of the Group’s report disappointed many ATT proponents, who generally fear the weakened positions will lock the future work of the UN into a less comprehensive and less effective treaty that adds little to the existing patchwork of national and regional regulations on arms transfers.

5) Featured News: ElBaradei calls on NATO to reduce reliance on nuclear weapons
Sources: http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20090708_1007.php; http://www.earthportal.org/news/?p=2543

On 7 July, International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei urged NATO member countries to rely less on nuclear weapons to deter potential threats, Agence France-Presse reported.

“You have to decrease heavily your reliance on nuclear weapons,” ElBaradei said during a meeting in Brussels. “Insisting that nuclear is the supreme guarantee is the absolute wrong message to the rest of the world.”

ElBaradei issued the call as NATO began to discuss updating its “strategic concept,” which directs alliance members on military and political matters and on confronting security threats. The existing strategic concept, finalized in 1999, refers to nuclear weapons as a necessary deterrent.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer dismissed ElBaradei’s plea: “It is crystal clear that NATO will continue to have a mix of nuclear and conventional means. As far as NATO is concerned, I don’t think there will be a change.... I would not be in favor of such a change,” he added.

6) Featured News: Belgian initiative to ban nuclear weapons
Source: http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/international/news/20090724p2g00m0in002000c.html

It has been revealed that a Belgian member of parliament, Senator Philippe Mahoux, is preparing a bill that would ban the use, production and stockpiling of nuclear weapons.

Belgium is not a nuclear power, but it is a NATO member and does have U.S. tactical nuclear weapons deployed on its territory. Should Mahoux's bill pass and the three-point ban go into effect, such nuclear weapons stored on Belgian military bases would no longer be welcome.

The Federation of American Scientists believes there are 10 to 20 American B61 model nuclear bombs at the Kleine-Brogel Belgian Air Force Base in the north of the country, which would likely be carried to targets by Belgian F-16 warplanes should they be deployed. According to France's Fondation pour la Recherche Strategique (Foundation for Strategic Research), the conditions of the weapons' storage and use have been agreed to by the Belgian and U.S. governments, but these arrangements would have to be reevaluated should Mahoux's bill pass into law.

Both the Belgian Senate and House of Representatives passed a resolution in 2005 calling for the gradual withdrawal of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons, and as the argument for disarmament heats up worldwide there is a very good chance Mahoux's nuclear ban bill will pass. On top of the three points related earlier, the bill would also ban financial institutions in Belgium from lending money or providing other financial services for nuclear arms production or development.

7) Recommended Reading
Hans Kristensen, “START Follow-On: What SORT of Agreement?,” Federation of American Scientists Strategic Security Blog, 8 July 2009.

John Borrie, Maya Brehm, Silvia Cattaneo, and David Atwood, “Learn, adapt, succeed: potential lessions from the Ottawa and Oslo processes for other disarmament and arms control challenges,” Disarmament Forum, one & two–2009, Geneva: UNIDIR, 2009, pp. 19–25

Zia Mian, “Pushing South Asia Toward the Brink,” Foreign Policy in Focus, 27 July 2009.

1 July 2009

Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors:

Happy Canada Day! For those who mark the occasion, a special celebration is in order this year with the announcement of 204 recipients of the Order of Canada calling for a Nuclear Weapons Convention. See below for details. Also check out a student contest from WFUNA and plan your registration for a civil society/UN disarmament conference in Mexico City this September.

In peace,
Ray Acheson, Project Director

1) 204 recipients of the Order of Canada call for a Nuclear Weapons Convention
204 Recipients of the Order of Canada have joined an initiative led by John Polanyi, C.C., Douglas Roche, O.C. and Murray Thomson, O.C. calling for international negotiations to achieve a Nuclear Weapons Convention.

The initiative notes that:

There is a growing consensus expressed by world leaders on the urgent need for ridding the world of nuclear weapons, well expressed by the Global Zero movement.

A Nuclear Weapons Convention (NWC) is widely recognized as the best negotiating process yet devised to bring about nuclear disarmament. In a recent speech to the UN General Assembly, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stated that “All parties to the Non Proliferation Treaty could consider negotiating a nuclear weapons convention, backed by a strong verification system, as has long been proposed at the United Nations.”

However, the vision of the elimination of all nuclear weapons, put forward by President Obama and many others today, requires the political will of governments, including Canada’s, for it to be achieved.

A number of the endorsers will be working together to advance the call for a NWC through meetings with parliamentary leaders, promotion through the media, and collaboration with Mayors for Peace and Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament. This will include seeking endorsement from parliamentarians for the Parliamentarians’ Declaration supporting a Nuclear Weapons Convention.

The Order of Canada is the country’s highest civilian honour and is the centre-piece of Canada’s honours system. It recognizes a lifetime of outstanding achievement, dedication to the community and service to the nation.

For more information contact mothom[at]sympatico.ca.

2) Students for a Nuclear Weapons Free World 2009 Campaign Contest
From now through the end of July 2009, the World Federation of United Nations Associations (WFUNA) is accepting submissions for this year’s Students for a Nuclear Weapons Free World Contest. The mission is to design/develop a local campaign that educates, invigorates, and mobilizes one’s community (local, regional, national, online, or anywhere), especially youth, to become a part of the global movement to free the world of nuclear weapons. Use your resources to create your own campaign with events, materials, videos, posters, journals, web pages, social networking groups or anything you can take from imagination and bring into action.

Send WFUNA links, pictures, execution plans, journals and more! A handful of the most creative, engaging, and effective campaigns will be selected as winners. Winners will be invited to present their campaigns to the United Nations Department for Public Information and Non-Governmental Organisations (UN DPI/NGO) conference in Mexico 9–11 September 2009. The theme for the 2009 conference will be on disarmament.

For more information and directions, visit disarmamenthub.org or email hub[at]wfuna.org.

3) 62nd annual DPI/NGO Conference: “For Peace and Development: Disarm Now!”
The Government of Mexico will host the 62nd Annual DPI/NGO Conference on disarmament and peace, to be held in Mexico City from 9–11 September 2009.

This year’s conference will bring together NGOs working in the field of disarmament and also in the fields of human rights, health, education, poverty eradication, women and children’s issues.

The Conference aims to highlight effective ways in which civil society, in partnership with other actors, can contribute to the advancement of disarmament and peace, and as a result promote sustainable development.

• It will provide an opportunity to exchange ideas and experiences between the diverse experts and organizations operating in the field of disarmament and peace.
• It will provide a valuable network-building opportunity.
• Diverse representatives of NGOs, civil society organizations, grassroots constituencies, the UN System, Member States, media, academia, the private sector and other institutions will be present.
• The Conference will provide various opportunities to engage participants in sharing experiences and articulating perspectives on how to enhance their activities in the name of promoting peace and development including roundtable panel discussions, break-out sessions, interactive dialogues, workshops, and other activities and special events.

Registration is open now until 1 August 2009. Please see http://www.un.org/dpi/ngosection/conference/ for details.

4) UK network against depleted uranium weapons
In response to growing international concern over the impact that depleted uranium (DU) weapons have on civilians and service personnel, leading UK NGOs and faith groups have now joined forces to demand that the government abides by a Europe-wide call for a moratorium on their use and testing. The groups have also called on the UK government to work towards a global treaty banning the weapons, just as it did for the Oslo Process on cluster munitions.

The 11-member strong UK Uranium Weapons Network is supported by: the Campaign Against the Arms Trade, Campaign Against Depleted Uranium, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Environmental Justice Foundation, Medact, the Muslim Council of Britain, the Northern Friends Peace Board, Pax Christi, People & Planet, Quaker Peace & Social Witness and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.

For more information, please see:
http://www.bandepleteduranium.org/en/a/273.html

15 June 2009

The month of June has brought sad news, as three members of the global movement against gun violence were on the Air France flight that went missing on 1 June while flying from Brazil to France. WILPF offers its deepest condolences to the families, friends, and colleagues of Dr. Pablo Dreyfus, Ms. Ana Carolina Rodrigues, and Dr. Ronald Dreyer. Dr. Dreyfus was the Manager of Research at Viva Rio in Rio de Janeiro. Ms. Rodrigues also worked at Viva Rio, coordinating the Children in Organised Armed Violence project. Dr. Dreyer, a Swiss diplomat, was the coordinator of the Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development. We mourn the loss of those who have worked hard for peace, justice, and disarmament. Please find news about the Global Week of Action Against Gun Violence below.

 

In peace,
Ray Acheson, Project Director

On 25 May, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea conducted what it claims to be a second nuclear test. According to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization, the International Monitoring System’s (IMS) seismic stations registered a seismic event at 41.2896 degrees North and 129.0480 degrees East at 00:54:43 GMT (09:54 local time). The signal’s area of origin is largely identical with the 2006 DPRK nuclear test. The event’s magnitude is slightly higher than in 2006, measuring 4.52 on the Richter scale, while in 2006 it was 4.1. Those doing the calculations at ArmsControlWonk.com suggest the yield of the nuclear explosive device was likely around 4 KT.

WILPF issued a statement in response to the DPRK test, over which it expressed deep concern. However, WILPF remains equally concerned about previous nuclear tests of other states and their continued possession of nuclear weapons. In its formal response to the test, WILPF called on all states outside of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) to ratify it without delay or conditions and called on all states possessing nuclear weapons to immediately shut down their nuclear test facilities and to acknowledge and compensate the victims of their testing programmes.

In this statement, WILPF also noted that if the CTBT were in force, the Treaty would give greater legitimacy to international responses. Its member states could adopt sanctions against the DPRK for violating international law. Currently, the task of coordinating an international response falls to the UN Security Council, a body not entitled to enforce international norms per se, but an unrepresentative political body dominated by the interests of its five permanent, veto-wielding members: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, two of whom (China and the US) have yet to ratify the CTBT themselves.

Keep an eye on the CTBTO website for news about the test.

3) Abolition 2000 launches its “Abolition Flame Campaign”
Inspired in part by “the ‘Hiroshima Flame’ kindled 57 years ago from embers of the U.S. atomic bombing of Japan, the Abolition Flame can only be spread by you. This ‘flame’ is meant to be a symbol. Whether you are carrying a lit flame as part of the World March or organizing your own event to raise awareness about nuclear abolition, you are part of spreading the Nuclear Abolition Flame!

This web portal allows you to blog with us, telling us about your organization and your events in support of abolishing nuclear weapons. You can also help spread the flame by helping us send 25,000 letters (one for every nuclear weapon) to US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Be sure to visit the site regularly. A map will be updated regularly to keep you informed on how many people are sending the letter.

You can help “Spread the Nuclear Abolition Flame” and make the Abolition Flame Campaign a success!

SEND YOUR LETTER to Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev urging them to abolish nuclear weapons

ORGANIZE AN EVENT to support the abolition of nuclear weapons and POST your event on abolitionflame.org

SUPPORT Abolition 2000

4) DPI/NGO briefing on disarmament
On Thursday, 4 June, the NGO Relations Cluster of the Outreach Division of the Department for Public Information at the UN is hosting a panel discussion entitled, “For Peace and Development: Disarm Now!—Preparing for Mexico: New Perspectives on Human Development and Disarmament.”

Thursday, 4 June 2009
10:15 AM– 1:00 PM
UN Headquarters, New York, NY
Conference Room 2

The briefing will be held in preparation for the 62nd annual DPI/NGO Conference in Mexico City from 9–11 September 2009.

The panelists include: Daniel Prins, Chief of the Conventional Arms Branch of the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs; Frida Berrigan, Senior Program Associate of the Arms and Security Initiative at the New America Foundation; Rhianna Tyson, Senior Officer for the Global Security Institute; and Ray Acheson, Project Director of the Reaching Critical Will project of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.

You will need a UN grounds pass to attend the briefing.

5) Global Week of Action Against Cluster Bombs
A message from the Cluster Munition Coalition:

Cluster bombs scatter up to hundreds of small bomblets over wide areas. These weapons have killed and injured civilians during attacks and their deadly duds have shattered lives and livelihoods long after conflict.

Half the world banned this weapon one year ago at diplomatic treaty negotiations in Dublin, Ireland.

Now we need you to help us finish the job and get all countries to join the treaty.

This week is the Global Week of Action Against Cluster Bombs. It is your chance to tell five important countries to join the treaty: tell Brazil, Cambodia, Iraq, Nigeria and Serbia to sign by clicking here now.

You can also check what your country is doing to ban cluster bombs and sign our global petition.

6) Apply now to Think Outside the Bomb
Increasing societal militarization and the funnelling of the majority of our resources into the business of war presents major challenges for our planet and future generations. The United States continues to spend billions of dollars every year maintaining a stockpile of over 10,000 nuclear weapons and developing new weapons of mass destruction, and the Earth's human and non-human inhabitants live under constant threat of nuclear annihilation.

If the generations to come are to be free from the threat of nuclear war, disarmament must begin now, and we must organize a movement to bring about these major societal changes. The Think Outside the Bomb conferences are precisely about building such a movement, and helping young people to empower themselves with the tools and knowledge to bring about the real societal change they seek.

Stopping the construction of new nuclear power plants, ending the exploitation inherently wrought by the nuclear fuel cycle, and achieving the demilitarization of our schools and communities are all intimately connected with the cause of nuclear disarmament. Nuclear weapons are not created in a vacuum. Nor will they be abolished in one.

In August 2005, nearly 60 young people from across the United States came together at a conference at the University of California, Santa Barbara, to form the Think Outside the Bomb national network. We have had a major national conference every year since as a primary part of our effort to organize a movement for nuclear abolition. We invite you to join us!

The 2009 Think Outside The Bomb national conference is scheduled for 13-16 August 2009 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Please find the application form online.

This year, TOTB is encouraging groups and organizations (student and community) to attend the summer national conference as a group. Working collaboratively to bring new people into the movement for disarmament and demilitarization of your campuses and communities is vital to building effective opposition to the ingrained power in the nuclear/military-industrial complex. Plus, it's an excuse to hang out with a group of people from your own community and communities across the country for a week. So, work on bringing a group to TOTB! We are happy to help brainstorm ideas for fundraising, help with recruitment, or help you and your group secure sponsorship from local organizations or businesses. Just let us know what you might need in terms of help in this area.

19 May 2009

Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors:

The nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Preparatory Commmittee (NPT PrepCom) closed on Friday, 15 May after a relatively successful meeting. Though it was unable to adopt a set of draft recommendations to send on to the 2010 NPT Review Conference, it did adopt an agenda by the third day and delved into the substance of the issues during plenary meetings. For details on the PrepCom’s deliberations and outcome, please see Reaching Critical Will’s daily newsletter, the NPT News in Review and the Reaching Critical Will Blog.

The second part of the Conference on Disarmament’s 2009 session opened with a plenary meeting on Tuesday, 19 May, at which UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke—and a new proposal for work was submitted by the current CD president. Subscribe to Reaching Critical Will’s CD Report to stay up to date with this important negotiating forum in Geneva.

In peace,
Ray Acheson, Project Director

1) NPT PrepCom concludes with agenda but no recommendations
Lead editorial from the final edition of Reaching Critical Will’s NPT News in Review, “A qualified success,” written by Michael Spies and Ray Acheson.

By the abysmal standards that have typified the preparatory process—instituted in 1995—leading up to each five year review of the NPT, the third and final Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) meeting before the 2010 Review Conference (RevCon) must certainly be considered a success. The PrepCom was able to agree to an agenda for the RevCon, on its third day, no less, amid a chorus of accolades for what many described as a new, positive atmosphere in multilateral disarmament, stemming entirely from US President Obama’s 5 April speech in Prague.

However, it did not surprise many delegates—most of whom are veterans of the so-called decade of deadlock that had accompanied the Bush administration’s allergy to multilateralism—that the PrepCom would become snagged once it attempted to work through matters of substance.

The PrepCom’s failure to adopt substantive recommendations for the RevCon, a feat no previous PrepCom had ever accomplished, may have temporarily tainted the atmosphere, but was not unforeseen. During his opening remarks to the PrepCom, its Chair, Ambassador Chidyausiku of Zimbabwe, cautioned that despite recent signs of progress, in many areas the positions of states had actually grown further apart rather than closer.

With this note of caution, on Monday, 11 May, the Chair circulated a clever and concise first draft of recommendations, intended to capture specific proposals that identify concrete practical actions on implementing the Treaty, stand a reasonable chance of gaining consensus, and build upon earlier decision. Its strongest provisions dealt with moving the disarmament agenda forward and even included consideration of a nuclear weapons convention (see NPT News in Review, No. 6).

It must be noted that the vast majority of states could have accepted the first draft, including many members of NATO, with little or no modifications. Following consultations, and in particular input from the nuclear weapon states, on Wednesday, 13 May, the Chair put forward a revised set of recommendations that significantly weakened the sections on disarmament, civil society participation, and education, but bolstered those on implementing the 1995 Middle East resolution and on non-proliferation.

For some, the second draft proved to be a bridge too far. As the conference moved into its final hours, it devolved into a tense blame game that pitted western delegations against the Non-Aligned Movement and some of its more outspoken members, most notably Cuba, Egypt, and Iran. On Thursday, 14 May, the Chair advised states let the recommendations go, as to not to ruin the spirit of cooperation. Despite the Chair’s judgment that the differences in position were too vast, a large number of delegations urged the Chair to continue the process of seeking consensus (see NPT News in Review, No. 10).

The breakdown of the recommendations process
Despite the positive atmosphere, disarmament rhetoric of the US and UK administrations, and the quick adoption of the agenda, the PrepCom delegates did not find enough common ground—or at least, enough common rhetoric—to agree to a set of non-binding recommendations for next year. Breaking with the recent past, the Chair decided not to forward the recommendations to the RevCon as a working paper.

The Chair had introduced a newly revised draft recommendations on Friday, 15 May. Delegations consulted with their regional groups before resuming an informal meeting of the PrepCom. During this last attempt to reach consensus on the draft recommendations, the Chair determined that the Committee did not have a sufficient amount of time to reach agreement. Later, at a press briefing, he said the “differences were very minor; with time, we could have done it.”

The differences, as laid out by delegations during Thursday’s plenary discussion on the draft recommendations, did not seem very minor (see NPT News in Review, No. 10), though the revisions in the third draft were quite minimal. The additional changes brought on board an additional caveat to the already thoroughly conditioned preambular paragraph, further emphasized its non-binding character and marginally indicative character—a change insisted upon by the UK. Other amendments made minor changes to the sections on universality, disarmament, non-proliferation, regional initiatives, and education.

Despite the lack of time to make additional major changes to the text (delegations would have needed to consult with their capitals had the second draft text been heavily amended), western and non-aligned delegations traded blame for the impasse. Since the first draft was not agreeable to a few western states and the second was not agreeable to a few NAM states, it would be cynical and insincere to place“blame” on any particular group or delegation. Instead, the experience only serves to further illuminate the wide gulfs between states’ positions.

Paradoxically on the surface, this result came as a relief to many delegations. While the vast majority of states parties seemed ready to accept either the first or second drafts, no one was entirely content with either. Rather than becoming stuck with an imperfect text, delegations will have the freedom in 2010 to negotiate and reach agreement with a clean slate on the many fraught issues facing the NPT regime.

For more information on the third NPT PrepCom, please see:

• NPT News in Review
• Reaching Critical Will: The Blog
• Government Statements
• NGO Statements
• Working Papers
• Reports
• Agenda for 2010 NPT Review Conference
• Draft final report

2) The Conference on Disarmament opens with a new proposal for work
During the first plenary meeting of the second part of the Conference on Disarmament’s 2009 session, the current president of the CD, Ambassador Idriss Jazaïry, formally submitted CD/1863, a new proposed programme of work on behalf of the six presidents.
The new proposal differs substantially from those of 2008 and 2007. It establishes working groups on the four core issues and special coordinators on the other three agenda items. It calls, inter alia, for negotiation of a fissile materials treaty on the basis of the 1995 Shannon Mandate, for recommendations for dealing with negative security assurances, and for an “exchange of views and information on practical steps for progressive and systematic efforts to reduce nuclear weapons with the ultimate goal of their elimination, including on approaches toward potential future work of multilateral character.” (For more details, see Reaching Critical Will’s 19 May 2009 CD Report.)

Coming merely a few days after the qualified success of the third nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Preparatory Committee for the 2010 review cycle, the introduction of a more balanced programme of work for the CD not only maintains the positive spirit but increases its momentum. The call for fissile material treaty negotiations on the basis of the Shannon Mandate, while effectively winding back the clock almost fifteen years, is a substantial step forward from other recent attempts to formulate a programme of work. In addition, the significantly enhanced mandates for discussions on nuclear disarmament and negative security assurances are progressively forward-looking and will surely go a long way to alleviating non-nuclear weapon states’ concerns about the imbalanced nature of previous proposed programmes of work.

Consensus is near. Current president Ambassador Jazaïry noted that consultations are still ongoing, but the majority of delegations seem to assume that CD/1863 will be adopted very soon. After twelve years without substantive work and ten years without even a programme of work, the adoption of this document cannot come a moment too soon. Ambassador Jazaïry expressed hope that, if adopted, CD/1863 would extend beyond the current year, providing a framework for future negotiations. This is particularly important since most CD member states do not currently have the capacity at their Geneva missions to engage in negotiations. It would likely take until the beginning of the CD’s 2010 session before working group two could seriously get to work. Hopefully, the Conference will not have to worry about developing a new programme of work at that time but can rely on CD/1863 to carry forward the momentum.

High-level support for the proposed programme of work
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addressed the CD plenary meeting, as did Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey and Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci. They all urged the CD to rapidly adopt CD/1863 as its programme of work for the year. For details, please see Reaching Critical Will’s 19 May 2009 CD Report.

For more information on the CD, please see:

• Guide to the CD 2009 [PDF] [HTML]
• CD Report
• Statements
• Papers and Documents
• Press Releases

3) The Strangest Dream podcasts
The National Film Board of Canada has produced a video podcast on the nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament movement. The podcast is based on discussions following community screenings of The Strangest Dream, a recent NFB-produced documentary on the life and work Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Joseph Rotblat, the only scientist to walk away from the Manhattan Project for ethical reasons. The result is a 5-episode video podcast covering a wide range of topics facing the nuclear disarmament movement today. The clips feature discussions with some of Canada’s experts on Joseph Rotblat, Pugwash, nuclear non-proliferation and peace, including: The Honourable Douglas Roche, Chair of Pugwash Group Canada, Walter Dorn, Gordon Edwards, and Professor Erika Simpson. The podcast is produced by the NFB’s online social media site CITIZENShift.

To get the embed codes, to watch the podcast episodes, or to comment and upload your own media, you can visit CITIZENShift. You can also watch the podcast episodes and find out more about the film, including viewing the trailer and how to purchase at nfb.ca/strangestdream. At http://NFB.ca you can also view the free playlist on War and Peace, curated by The Honourable Douglas Roche, O.C. entitled, “The Strength of Peace.”

Finally, if you or anyone you know would like to organize free community screenings of The Strangest Dream, please contact Jane Gutteridge at j.gutteridge@nfb.ca or 416-954-3396.

4) US-Russian nuclear reduction talks to begin Tuesday
US Assistant Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller and Russian ambassador Anatoly Antonov, head of the foreign ministry department for security and disarmament, are meeting in Moscow for an initial two-day negotiating session on a replacement for the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which expires in December. Both sides have expressed optimism of reaching a new agreement by the deadline, though divergences still exist, including: the limits on nuclear warhead numbers; whether the treaty should cover delivery systems like bombers and missiles; verification procedures; and other issues of information sharing and confidence-building.

1 May 2009

Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors:

Welcome to the busiest time of year for Reaching Critical Will. The Disarmament Commission closed on Friday with a plenary meeting and adoption of reports. Next, on Sunday we will host an NGO Orientation for all non-government delegates coming to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty PrepCom, which starts on Monday. And during the PrepCom, we will be holding a celebration for RCW’s tenth anniversary. Find out more about all these events, and much more, in this E-News. For those coming to the PrepCom, we look forward to seeing you next week. For those following from home, please remember to subscribe to the NPT News in Review, Reaching Critical Will’s daily newsletter that provides coverage of all government and NGO meetings, feature articles, puzzles, art, and more.

In peace,
Ray Acheson, Project Director

1) Disarmament Commission closes with procedural reports
For background on this year’s UNDC session, see http://reachingcriticalwill.blogspot.com/

The United Nations Disarmament Commission (UNDC)’s 2009 session closed on 1 May after three weeks—more or less—of deliberations. Once the Commission adopted its agenda after a few days of stalemate, the working groups got started on the second week of the Commission’s three week schedule. Working Group I, on “Recommendations for achieving the objective of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons,” struggled to nominate a chair for a few days. In the end, Paolo Cuculi of Italy was elected chair. Given the limited amount of time available to the group, the chair decided to hold thematic debates on the issues and to start work on the recommendations next year.

For Working Group II, on “Elements of a draft declaration of the 2010s as the fourth disarmament decade,” the chair, Johan Paschalis of South Africa, submitted a draft non-paper (pdf) for consideration. The group got through one revision process, swelling the chair’s original four page draft to 11 pages. They reportedly got about two-thirds of the way through a second revision process and plan to continue working on this draft next year. Unfortunately, it does not seem that the elements for a declaration will be ready by January 2010, as the Commission next meets in April of that year. It is unclear whether the decade will begin without the declaration, or whether the decade will begin once the General Assembly approves a declaration, presumably later in 2010.

At the final plenary meeting, the Commission as a whole adopted the reports of Working Group I, Working Group II, and a report of the Commission. There was some discussion about an amendment proposed by the Bureau, which the Commission ultimately decided not to include. The amendment was a paragraph noting that the UNDC recommends that consideration of the elements of the draft declaration be continued during its 2010 substantive session. Pakistan’s delegate felt this confused the issue and could potentially reopen the agenda for debate next year. The rapporteur, Ambassador Piet de Klerk of the Netherlands, explained that the Bureau felt this paragraph would not change anything about the UNDC’s agenda. After a brief discussion, however, the amendment was dropped at the suggestion of India.

In his closing remarks, the Chair of the UNDC, Ambassador Andrzej Towpik, argued that the Commission needs some critical self-assessment and perhaps some adjustments to its methods of work. He suggested the Commission devote one of its meetings next year to reviewing these issues. He also lamented that the UNDC was unable to agree to invite experts to deliver presentations to the Commission, and hoped this could be considered again next year. The Pakistani delegate took the floor to disagree with the Chair’s assessment that the Commission needed to reform its methods of work. He argued that it is “not always logical to apply a corporate model to intergovernmental meetings” and that instead of “dismantling” existing machinery, states should apply increased financial and human resources to what we have now. He also argued in favour of maintaining the rule of consensus, saying its rejection may give short-term benefits but not long-term solutions.

Overall, most delegates seemed revealed to get through the first year of the Commission’s new cycle without any major blockages and with the adoption of reports, however procedural they may be. Hopefully next year the UNDC can get to work on the first day, rather than the second week, and can produce substantive recommendations in the working groups. Contact your ambassadors to let them know you are paying attention to their participation in the Commission.

2) Non-Proliferation Treaty Prepratory Committee begins on Monday
The third Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) for the 2010 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Cycle starts on Monday. For all those attending the PrepCom who do not already have UN grounds passes, please make sure you arrive at the United Nations by 8:00 AM Monday morning to complete the registration process. Please bring your filled out registration form, the provisional accreditation request that has been authorized by the Secretariat of the PrepCom, the accreditation request your organization sent to the UN (which has your name on it), and valid photo identification—a passport is strongly encouraged, drivers license is acceptable. Please come early to register and please fill out your registration form in advance. The process this year will be more tedious than in years past and will take longer than in Vienna or Geneva. If you want to attend the first plenary meeting or side event at 10:00 AM, please make sure you’re in line by 8:00 AM.

Registration will be open in the visitor’s lobby of the United Nations from 8:00 AM-12:00 PM and from 3:00-5:00 PM on Monday, 4 May and Tuesday, 5 May. Representatives arriving after 5 May must contact Ms. Silvia Mercogliana at mercogliano[at]un.org, +1 917.367.4123 or Ms. Jenny Fuchs at fuchs[at]un.org, +1 212.963.2386 to arrange for issuance of badges.

Morning meetings
There will be no Abolition Caucus or government briefing the first morning. Both of these daily events will begin on Tuesday, 5 May. At 8:00 AM, NGO representatives are invited to attend a daily strategy session organized by Abolition 2000 in Conference Room E. In the same room at 9:00 AM, Reaching Critical Will of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom will organize briefings with a different delegation each day.

Location
The official meetings of the PrepCom will take place in Conference Room 1. Most of the NGO side events will take place in Conference Room E, which is nearby. For a regularly-updated listing of side events, please see Reaching Critical Will’s Calendar of Events.

NGO presentations
On Tuesday, 5 May from 3:00–6:00 PM, NGO representatives will be delivering statements to the official meeting of the PrepCom in Conference Room 1. All NGOs are encouraged to attend this meeting.

Materials
NGOs may display their documents and other materials on a table located outside Conference Room 1, though one copy of each document/material must be provided to the Secretariat through Reaching Critical Will.

Daily newsletter
Daily coverage of the PrepCom’s official meeting and side events will be produced and distributed by Reaching Critical Will. To receive copies of the NPT News in Review in your inbox each morning, please subscribe online. Also see archived editions from previous years online. To submit articles, art, or advertisements, please email the project director.

Getting involved from afar
There are plenty of opportunities for active involvement with the PrepCom even if you can’t make it to New York:

• See where your government stands on the issues by reading their statements from the 2008 PrepCom.
• Subscribe to the NPT News in Review, the daily non-governmental NPT publication, and receive daily updates on what is happening at the PrepCom.
• Make an appointment with your Foreign Ministry or equivalent. Urge your Foreign Minister to attend the conference, reminding them that they represent you. Call your representatives in New York and Geneva, to let them know that you are paying attention, and that you are demanding nuclear disarmament. Use our Governmental Contact Database for their information.
• Call your local media. Publicize your views and your government’s policies, and let them know what’s happening in New York.
• Once the PrepCom is in session, you can read what your government did or did not say by checking RCW’s NPT page every day. We post all statements, working papers, non-papers, reports, NGO statements, and official documents on our website in near real-time.

3) NGO Orientation to the NPT
Reaching Critical Will of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and the NGO Committee on Disarmament, Peace and Security cordially invite all NGO delegations to the PrepCom to attend an

NGO Orientation

Sunday, 3 May 2009
1:00-3:00 PM
Church Center, 2nd floor
777 UN Plaza
[corner of First Avenue and 44th Street East]

The NGO Orientation will provide a brief introduction to the NPT, information on New York City and the United Nations, ideas for strategizing and for interacting with diplomats, important updates on logistics, and more.

Light refreshments will be provided.
Donations are encouraged!

RSVP to Lacy Orme
lacy[at]reachingcriticalwill.org
Names are required for building security.

4) Reaching Critical Will’s tenth anniversary
On Thursday, 7 May from 6:00–8:00 PM, Reaching Critical Will celebrates its tenth anniversary with a reception for all NGO and government delegations to the NPT PrepCom and UN staff. Please join us on the tenth floor of the Church Center, 777 UN Plaza (corner of First Avenue and 44th Street East).

This time of year also marks WILPF’s birthday (28 April), and this year WILPF turn 94! So we have more than one reason to celebrate. UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Sergio Duarte will deliver a few brief remarks at 6:15 PM, along with Ambassador Landman of the Netherlands, Dimity Hawkins of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, and a few other special guests.

RSVP is not necessary, however, we are requesting donations from all who attend to help us cover the cost of food and room. Further, please consider donating to help us keep this project running another ten years! Email Ray if you are interested in contributing to the project, or speak to her at the anniversary event.

5) European Parliament recommends complete nuclear disarmament by 2020
From 2020 Vision Campaign

Strasbourg, April 24, 2009 - Today the European Parliament approved with a majority of 177 votes against 130 an amendment introducing the “Model Nuclear Weapons Convention” and the “Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol” as concrete tools to achieve a nuclear weapons free world by 2020. The amendment was introduced by the Ana Gomes for the PES and Angelika Beer for the Greens/EFA.

The amendment received cross-party support during the Plenary vote here in Strasbourg today. Especially Frieda Brepoels for the EPP-DE and Annemie Neyts and Juul Maaten for the ALDE called to support the vision of a nuclear weapon free world by 2020. The approval of the amendment demonstrates that the EP is increasing pressure to make nuclear disarmament by 2020 a top-priority for the EU member states. Here the EP demonstrates leadership and an intention to become a visible actor following President Obama’s statements for a NWFW in Prague.

The amendment is part of the overall “Report Beer”, a recommendation to the EU Council on non-proliferation and the future of the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. The overall report was approved by 271 +, 38 - and 29 abstenstions. On May 4th 2009 all state parties of the NPT will be meeting at the UN headquarters in New York for the 3rd NPT PrepCom in New York.

The amendment introducing the “model Nuclear Weapons Convention” and the “Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol” is actively promoted by Mayors for Peace, a global network of 2,817 cities from 134 countries and regions, presided by Dr. Tadatoshi Akiba, the Mayor of Hiroshima.

The amendment was supported by the Parliamentarians for Non-proliferation and Nuclear Disarmament (PNND), and Abolition 2000 Europe, a global network counting over 2000 NGO's.

Pol DHuyvetter, an Executive Advisor for the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation, declared from the EP in Strasbourg:

The support of the European Parliament for the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol is very significant, even historic. It demonstrates that the EP is adding a concrete time-line to the recent proposals by President Obama. Members of the EP are gearing up to make a nuclear weapon free world possible in the life-time of President Obama. Furthermore the adoption of the amendment gives a clear signal to Mr. Solana and all EU member states to make nuclear disarmament a top-priority so we can free the world of all remaining 25,000 nuclear warheads before 2020. Cities can no longer be kept hostage of nuclear policies.

For more information, please see:
www.2020visioncampaign.org

6) Conference against anti-missile systems releases statement
Statement of International Conference against the Asia Pacific Missile Defense and for the End of the Arms Race
Seoul, South Korea | April 17, 2009

Here we have come together, facing a new decade in the 21st century where the history of war and strife is being repeated. We are witnessing many countries and regions, having learned nothing from the conflict and hostility-ridden Cold War era, still tenaciously pursue arms buildup. Especially the nation with military hegemony and its many followers, rather than seeking to understand the roots of conflict and finding peaceful resolution, search for new threat and enemy as a means to reinforce their military capabilities, and at times even exaggerate the threat in order to justify their arms buildup.

This is shown by the expansion of military networks and countless military bases around the globe and by the space militarization activities. However, we want to make it clear that this militaristic approach is a worn-out strategy obstructing prevention and peaceful settlement of conflict and a losing hand triggering a vicious cycle of global arms race.

We are especially observant of how the US missile defense system triggers not only space militarization but also unnecessary arms race and political and diplomatic strain between nations. Proposed missile defense installations in Czech Republic and Poland are generating massive public dissent in the region and infuriating Russia to the point of a “new Cold War.”

Planned US missile defense system in the Asia Pacific poses a burden to regional attempts to alleviate Cold War tensions, thereby further provoking confrontation between sea powers and land powers. In the Asia Pacific where the US leads the Asia Pacific missile defense efforts, supported strongly by Japan and Australia, Korea is next in line with its cutting-edge weaponry and a new set of roles. As a result, China, Russia, and North Korea all have expressed enormous opposition, fueling an arms race in the Asia Pacific. Such an arms race also risks undermining the war-renouncing Article 9 of Japan’s peace constitution, a key foundation for peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region.

The controversy over North Korea's long-range rocket launch that has become a key factor in the current tension pervading the Korean Peninsula leaves room for discussion. North Korea's rocket launch should be seen as a byproduct of both a divided Korean peninsula and the arms race in the Asia Pacific. However, this aspect has been ignored. Instead there is exaggerated interpretation of threat and stirring up of security fears, mobilizing the justification for developing a missile defense system in the region. North Korea's long-range rocket launch, on the contrary, reveals the utmost need and urgency for placing confidence building and normalization of relations among nations, as well as cooperative mutual disarmament, on top of our agenda.

Above all, we are aware that the logic behind “absolute security” through the missile defense system does not differ from other aggressive military thinking. Furthermore, the missile defense system is a risky plan which has yet to prove its effectiveness. As a project requiring astronomical costs, the system is based on the logic of unlimited military spending expansion, solely for the benefit of the military-industrial complex. This, we must not forget, sacrifices many resources to be invested for improving the welfare and the quality of life of the many people suffering from economic, public welfare, and environmental crisis.

Many nations and people throughout the world today are suffering from the economic crisis and the climate change. These crises must be taken as opportunities for each country to stop the wasteful arms race and turn its attention to the daily living of its citizens who are taking heavy blows from the economic crisis and the climate change. The development of unnecessary and offensive weapons, including the missile defense system, must be halted first. National security that neglects the safety of the people and community is meaningless.

We, therefore, resolve to act jointly against the missile defense system and the arms race which impede the peace and security of the Korean Peninsula, East Asia, and the international community. We will inform people about the falsehood of the missile defense and the damage caused by the consequent arms race and military conflict. As a member of the international community, we pledge to develop a new peace mechanism starting from where we stand, in our local communities, to bring about peaceful coexistence and conflict resolution in place of military confrontation. We declare we will do our duty and part to turn the coming decade into a period of transformation for overcoming the worn-out military paradigm.

The Korea Organizing Committee
Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
GPPAC Northeast Asia

For more information, please see:
www.space4peace.org

7) World Court Project launches new website
The World Court Project is a global citizens' coalition working for good faith implementation of the nuclear disarmament obligation upheld by the International Court of Justice in 1996. Check out the World Court Project's new website and consider joining its Affirmations of Freedom from Nuclear Weapons.

For more information, please see:
http://worldcourtproject.org/

8) Hague Appeal for Peace's tenth anniversary
It's been ten years since the Hague Appeal for Peace conference brought together 10,000 people to agree that it is Time to Abolish War and Peace is a Human Right. The Hague Agenda for Peace and Justice for the 21st Century was approved and became a UN document.

Those who were at The Hague on May 11, 1999 are welcome to see some film clips and say what inspired them at a modest gathering at 777 UN Plaza, 10th floor,on Monday May 11, 2009 from 5:30- 7 p.m. But, please let us know if we may expect you by May 7. RSVP (required) to <Lauranne@igc.org>.

15 April 2009

Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors:

Reaching Critical Will is delighted to bring you the E-News in a graphically-enhanced HTML template and to inform you that you can now find Reaching Critical Will on Facebook, Twitter, and Blogger. The new blog currently has real-time reports on the United Nations Disarmament Commission as well as a post on the speech US President Obama gave in Prague and another on the proposed US military budget for 2010. The blog is intended to supplement the reporting and analysis produced regularly by Reaching Critical Will on multilateral disarmament meetings. It will provide information on breaking events, publish RCW reports on relevant matters, and alert readers to upcoming events. We hope you find this new resource useful in the future.

In peace,
Ray Acheson, Project Director

1) Report on the UNDC plenary meetings
The United Nations Disarmament Commission (UNDC)’s 2009 session opened on 13 April. The Commission has met for three weeks every April since it was established in 1978. This year marks the first year of new three year cycle—the 2006–2008 cycle ended without agreement after three unfruitful years of debate.

Unfortunately, for the first two days of this session the Commission struggled to adopt its agenda for the new cycle.

The dispute was not over which items should be included on the agenda. Those were already agreed upon as: a) elements for a draft resolution on the declaration of a fourth Disarmament Decade (this item was requested by the UN General Assembly) and the two agenda items from the previous Commission cycle—b) recommendations for achieving the objectives of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and c) practical confidence-building measures in the field of conventional weapons.

The stalemate over the agenda arose because states could not agree to the order in which these topics would be addressed. The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) urged for the first year of the Commission to focus on the elements for the draft declaration on the Disarmament Decade, in order to have these elements prepared before 2010, and on the item related to nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. The NAM’s proposal suggested the items by addressed as follows:

• Recommendations for achieving the objective of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons;
• Elements of a draft declaration of the 2010s as the fourth disarmament decade; and
• Practical confidence-building measures in the field of conventional weapons, upon conclusion of elements of draft declaration (preferably by 2010 and in any case no later than 2011).

The US delegation reportedly argued that the agenda must be “balanced” and thus must include a working group on conventional weapons at least by 2010. Other delegations wondered if the US delegation even had any instruction from capitol on the matter. The US government has not appointed anyone to deal with multilateral disarmament matters and thus the US delegation to the UNDC might not have any instructions to agree to anything.

For two days, the UNDC met for informal meetings—which NGOs are not allowed to attend. Finally this morning, on 15 April, the Commission adopted its agenda immediately upon opening. The text of the agenda, which will be released as an official document tomorrow, is the same formulation as that initially proposed by the Non-Aligned Movement.

The UNDC is expected to set a tone of compromise, trust, and cooperation for the upcoming nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Preparatory Committee (NPT PrepCom), which starts immediately after the UNDC finishes in May 2009. Unfortunately, the Commission’ struggle to adopt an agenda does not set a positive mood for the NPT PrepCom, which is supposed to come up with an agenda for the 2010 NPT Review Conference. Reaching Critical Will welcomes the adoption of an agenda in the UNDC had hopes the Commission can engage in substantive, cooperative work throughout the remainder of this cycle. However, it is unclear to us what the basis for the stalemate truly was. We hope things will run smoothly from here and throughout the PrepCom.

General statements have begun and will be posted on the Reaching Critical Will UNDC web page.

For detailed accounts of the last two days of deliberations, please see the Reaching Critical Will Blog.

2) Jayantha Dhanapala urges nuclear disarmament
Jayantha Dhanapala, “Remove, don't reset, the nuclear button,” Asahi Shimbun, 1 April 2009

It was the winter of discontent for the disarmament community. But surely spring cannot be far away?

The administration of President George W. Bush, with Dick Cheney serving as vice president, is widely regarded as one of the most unpopular ever. More importantly for the world, it was one of the most negative in recent history as far as making progress goes on nuclear disarmament and nuclear nonproliferation.

Barack Obama was decisively elected president of the United Sates on a platform of change. This has been universally welcomed.

The change we need must now come in the vital security area of nuclear weapons, which ranks equally with the global financial crisis, climate change and the achievement of the U.N. Millennium Development Goals. These issues, the critical challenges of our times, are inextricably linked to the threat of terrorism waged by international networks like al-Qaida.

Based on statements Obama made during his campaign, expectations of America’s first black president are exceptionally high.

These expectations were justified by the confirmation hearings of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who promised to resubmit the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) to the Senate and engage Russia in negotiations for new nuclear arms reduction treaties. With the U.S.-Russian summit due to be held April 1 in London, Clinton called for the button to be reset in U.S.-Russia relations.

As for U.S. policy regarding nuclear weapons, what is needed is a more radical step—removal of the nuclear button.

Under the Clinton administration, the State Department's Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA) was dismantled in a Faustian bargain with the Republicans. While it has not been restored, Obama has managed to nominate experts who are knowledgeable on nuclear disarmament issues to key positions.

Meantime, the nuclear weapons lobby has not been inactive. Suddenly, a rash of articles started appearing that argued the U.S. nuclear weapons arsenal is aging and requires renovation; that those with weapons expertise are retiring and need to be replaced; and that U.S. security can only be ensured by a credible nuclear deterrent.

We have even had the extraordinary spectacle of a serving general, Kevin Chilton, who heads the U.S. Strategic Command for the Air Force, contradicting his commander-in-chief, Obama.

Usually moderate scientific groups are no longer using the language of the Wall Street Journal op-ed pieces penned by George P. Shultz, secretary of state under President Ronald Reagan, and company. They talk of coming down to 1,000 nuclear warheads and modest steps like ratifying the CTBT, replacing START 1 and refurbishing the U.S. nuclear stockpile.

To add to this, Dr. Henry Kissinger, secretary of state under President Richard Nixon, has written equivocally about the message conveyed in the op-ed pieces he co-authored with Shultz, former Senator Sam Nunn and William Perry, defense secretary in the Clinton administration, emphasizing an incremental approach to the problem.

Admittedly the global financial crisis triggered by U.S. fiscal indiscipline and Wall Street greed has preoccupied Obama’s attention. But when the nuclear weapons complex is estimated to cost $52 billion a year (more than what the U.S. government spends on international diplomacy and foreign assistance), the arguments for deep cuts make as much economic sense as the notion they serve international security needs.

An article at the beginning of 2009 in the magazine Foreign Policy in Focus by Darwin Bond-Graham, a sociologist, and Will Parish, an expert on nuclear issues, titled “Anti-nuclear Nuclearism” warned: “The Obama administration is likely to continue a policy that we call 'anti-nuclear nuclearism.' Anti-nuclear nuclearism is a foreign and military policy that relies upon overwhelming U.S. power, including the nuclear arsenal, but makes rhetorical and even more substantive commitments to disarmament, however vaguely defined.

“Anti-nuclear nuclearism thrives as a school of thought in several think tanks that have long influenced foreign policy choices related to global nuclear forces. Even the national nuclear weapons development labs in New Mexico and California have been avid supporters and crafters of it.”

William Walker, a professor of international relations at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, in a paper for the Institut Francais des Relations Internationales (IFRI), walks us through four reasons for the re-emergence of the debate over nuclear weapons and five obstacles to the elimination of nuclear weapons before concluding with lowered expectations of “the international nuclear order’s stabilization and the avoidance of nasty surprises.”

Specifically, Walker predicts that at the end of Obama’s first term there will have been “no military use of nuclear weapons anywhere, no threshold-crossing by Iran, no discovery of additional clandestine programs, no resumption of serious arms racing among the great powers (including in space) and a record of co-operation with Russia, China, France, India and Britain in pegging nuclear arsenals to low numbers of weapons; a reasonably successful NPT Review Conference in 2010; progress in bringing the CTBT into force and negotiating the FMCT (Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty); and a strengthened export control and IAEA safeguards system.”

So is this what the cumulative effect of the campaign for a nuclear weapons-free world will be four years hence?

As if to confirm our worst fears over the cozying up of the Obama administration to the nuclear arms lobby, not a word was expressed in the president's inaugural address on nuclear weapons issues unless you count “With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat” as a promise to reduce, let alone eliminate, nuclear weapons. Nor did the impressive rhetoric of the State of the Union address contain a reference to nuclear weapons.

Efforts to smuggle in funding for the nuclear weapons program in the financial stimulus package were fortunately detected in time and excluded. The language of Obama administration officials is also reverting to Cold War postures and of the nuclear arms controllers with no hint of concrete plans to reach a nuclear-free world which will be, as before, the stated “ultimate goal” for the dim and distant future.

Perhaps the strategy will be to kick the can further down the road when the Nuclear Posture Review mandated for 2009-10 is due. Meanwhile the message being put out is that we should lower our expectations.

The recent mid-Atlantic collision between nuclear-armed submarines of France and Britain reminds us of the scary potential of nuclear accidents. The global disarmament community, especially in civil society, must be vigilant of this trend to use the old language of the nuclear arms controllers and resist the fundamental change toward a nuclear-free world which Obama’s campaign statements had led his supporters to expect in an “audacity of hope.”

Anti-nuclear nuclearism will certainly not ensure the success of the NPT Review Conference of 2010, let alone prevent the feared cascade of proliferation, especially to terrorist groups. More immediately, it will not help make the first Obama-Medvedev summit on April 1 a success.

* * *
Jayantha Dhanapala is a former ambassador of Sri Lanka and a former U.N. undersecretary-general for disarmament affairs who is currently president of the Pugwash Conferences on Science & World Affairs. The views expressed here are the author's own.(IHT/Asahi: April 1,2009)

3) What is the NPT? A Brown Bag Lunch Event
On Wednesday, 29 April, the NGO Committee on Disarmament, Peace and Security presents an event on the NPT as part of their Brown Bag Lunch Series.

WHAT IS THE NPT?
Understanding the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
Wednesday, 29 April 2009
12:30–2:00 PM
Presbyterian Conference Room, 7th Floor
UN Church Centre, 777 UN Plaza [East 44th Street at First Avenue]

If you are interested in a world free of nuclear weapons or current disarmament issues join this panel discussion. PrepCom? RevCon? NPT? The jargon used by specialists in any field can be confusing for non-experts and the subject of nuclear weapons is no exception. The nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is at the heart of realizing the reduction and abolition of nuclear weapons. May 4-15, diplomats, activists and many others will convene at the United Nations in preparation for the 2010 Review Conference of the NPT. This panel discussion will facilitate understanding of the treaty, its history and identify the main challenges to its successful implementation. The panelists will also explain the expectations and role of civil society at NPT conferences, and how one can get involved.

Speakers

• MS. RAY ACHESON, Reaching Critical Will of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF)
• MR. JIM WURST, Middle Powers Initiative

Please feel welcome to bring your lunch.

4) Missile “defence” in Europe and Obama
Despite the fact that the Czech Republic’s government was forced to postpone a legislative vote to ratify a treaty allowing a US missile “defence” radar base to be built on Czech territory, and depite the fact that lawmakers voted to dissolve the government of Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, a leading champion of the shield, US President Obama is still talking about installing anti-missile equipment in the Czech Republic and Poland.

As a Washington Post Foreign Service article noted, Czech Prime Minister Topolanek “remains in power for the moment but is a lame duck until elections can be held, likely in October. Analysts said a new government, mindful of public skepticism of the missile shield, will probably let the unratified treaty lay dormant, if not kill it outright.”

Yet, during President Obama’s speech in Prague, he said, “As long as the threat from Iran persists, we will go forward with a missile defence system that is cost-effective and proven. Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile activity poses a real threat, not just to the United States, but to Iran's neighbours and our allies.” He hailed the “courageous” Czech Republic and Poland for “agreeing to host a defence against these missiles.”

The Telegraph spoke with Petr Sramek, 33, who “was among those disappointed that Mr Obama had not dropped a policy that was opposed by more than two thirds of Czechs.” Mr. Sramek said, “I really liked the clear message on nuclear disarmament but I am against the missile defence system. It is more about geopolitical influence then defence against missiles.” Arena Protivinska, 30, described herself as a “big fan” of Mr. Obama but accused him of “hypocrisy” for urging world peace while also pushing forward with the missile shield. “He sounded like George W Bush saying that we should be afraid in order to justify missile defence.”

The Washington Post Foreign Service author spoke to Jan Tamas, a leader of the Non-Violent Movement, a coalition that has lobbied against the shield. “The truth is, the treaties are not dead. They can be brought back to life. That’s the strange thing about it. We have our own politicians who have already gone completely against the will of the people, so who knows what they’ll try to do.”

Jan Glivicka, a spokeswoman for another group called the No Bases Initiative, said many Czechs think highly of Obama and have been encouraged that he has expressed doubts about the missile shield. But she said she doubted Obama would go so far as to bury it. The only way to do that—or at least to ensure that the Czechs play no role in the project—is to pressure Czech lawmakers to kill the treaty, she said. “We really want to win this battle at home in the Czech Republic,” Glivicka said. “It’s not just a question of foreign policy. It’s a battle for democracy. We can vote down this relic of the Bush administration on our own.”

For more information, please see:
Craig Whitlock, “Obama Arrives in Prague Amid Shield Protests,” Washington Post Foreign Service, 4 April 2009.

Toby Harnden and Bruno Waterfield, “Obama Goes Ahead With Missile Defense Shield Despite Disarmament Pledge,” The Telegraph, 6 April 2009

5) Critiques of Prompt Global Strike
Elaine M. Grossman, “Russian Experts Question Role of Conventional ‘Prompt Global Strike’ Weapons,” Global Security Newswire, 7 April 2009.

WASHINGTON -- Two Russian security experts yesterday suggested that U.S. plans to develop fast-flying, long-range conventional weapons might pose a snag for nuclear arms negotiations between Moscow and Washington (see GSN, April 1).

Speaking at a conference sponsored by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Alexei Arbatov and Vladimir Orlov separately raised the notion that U.S. President Barack Obama might consider a broader disarmament agenda that includes limits on conventional weapons, as well as those that are armed with nuclear warheads.

The U.S. Defense Department is exploring technologies for “Prompt Global Strike” weapon systems that might be launched on a moment's notice against faraway targets, such as a nuclear missile being readied for launch by a rogue nation or a terrorist leader located in a safe house (see GSN, Nov. 7, 2008). Pentagon leaders have said such new combat systems could allow them a viable alternative to launching a nuclear weapon.

“There are very few countries in the world that are afraid of American nuclear weapons,” said Arbatov, a scholar in residence at the Carnegie Moscow Center. “But there are many countries which are afraid of American conventional weapons. In particular, nuclear weapons states like China and Russia are primarily concerned about growing American conventional, precision-guided, long-range capability, [or] Prompt Global Strike systems.”

Russian defense leaders have expressed their worries about these developmental weapons in meetings with their U.S. counterparts, particularly in regard to a now-shelved plan to fit Navy Trident submarine-based missiles with either nuclear or conventional warheads (see GSN, Sept. 5, 2006).

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill warned that launching such a system could trigger dangerous ambiguity, because Moscow could not rapidly discern what type of warhead a missile in flight was carrying.

Posing a question from the audience to panelists discussing “The Nuclear Order—Build or Break,” Arbatov added that “threshold states” are similarly concerned about U.S. conventional capabilities. Those are nations with unannounced potential for developing a nuclear weapon.

“Without addressing these issues, it will be very difficult to move forward both in nuclear disarmament ... and nuclear nonproliferation,” he said. “How do you think America would suggest addressing these issues?”

In the interest of nuclear disarmament, some over the past two decades have urged the United States to “find other capabilities to fill some of those [nuclear] missions,” responded panelist Brad Roberts of the Institute for Defense Analyses. “The commitment to non-nuclear strike [or] Prompt Global Strike goes back to the late 1980s.”

He said any apprehension about the details might be worked out through further U.S.-Russian discussions.

The issue could be “much trickier” in the context of Chinese or smaller nations’ worries about U.S. conventional power, Roberts added.

“After all, we want them to be concerned,” he said of the smaller states, particularly those eyeing the possibility of acquiring their own arsenal. “We don't want them to be so concerned [that] they’re getting nuclear weapons. But we see ourselves as having security commitments to allies which require our power projection.”

Speaking on a subsequent panel, Orlov said Moscow might raise the issue of conventional weapons in an anticipated follow-on phase of U.S.-Russian negotiations over deeper nuclear arms reductions, which could begin after an initial treaty is completed by this December. Of particular concern, he said, are “strategic weapons which can be used not only in nuclear but in conventional” modes.

Washington’s efforts to ease international anxieties about Prompt Global Strike should be just the beginning, Orlov suggested.

“Very dramatic reductions in military expenditure in the world: This is where the United States clearly—even more than in nuclear disarmament—should take the lead,” Orlov said. “And they really don’t do that.”

6) IANSA Women confront issues of men, masculinity, and guns
From 30 March to 3 April 2009, women from the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) participated in the Global Symposium Engaging Men and Boys in Gender Equality, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to highlight the gendered impacts of gun violence.

They presented the paper, ‘Men, masculinity and guns: can we break the link?’, which argues that because the majority of men do not own or use guns: gun use must therefore be understood as a choice. A combination of social, economic and political factors combine to create the notion that gun violence is a legitimate option for a man.

The paper examines how constructions of masculinities and femininities work to legitimate the belief that an acceptable and adequate man is one who is willing and able to coerce others by violent means. It also looks at how the association between power and violence in broader social structures serves to perpetuate gun violence. It argues that a violent masculinity is not inevitable.

For more information or to make comments or suggestions, please contact Sarah Masters, IANSA Women’s Network Coordinator:

Development House
56-64 Leonard Street, London, EC2A 4LT
Ph + 44 207 065 0876
Fx + 44 207 065 0871
Email: women[at]iansa.org
Website: www.iansa.org/women

7) Advances in banning depleted uranium weapons
Alexander Mora Mora, President of the Latin American Parliament’s Human Rights Commission, has introduced the text of his draft law proposal for a domestic ban on uranium weapons in Costa Rica to the Latin American Parliament. It is hoped that the Parlatino’s members will consider the draft text before issuing a resolution in a few months time.

Members of Scottish Parliament from the Scottish Nationalist, Labour, and Liberal Democrat parties are calling on Scottish ministers to try and stop depleted uranium (DU) from being used by the UK government in future conflicts. They also want an end to the testing of DU shells at the Dundrennan military firing range near Kirkcudbright. The Scottish government has strongly opposed the test firing of DU shells on Scottish soil. But under the terms of the devolution settlement, it has no powers to prevent it.

Belgium’s Senate has voted to ban the financing of companies that manufacture or sell uranium weapons, in a move that will compliment the country’s imminent ban on their manufacture, testing, use, sale and stockpiling.

For more information, please see:
International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons

8) NPT articles, art, and advertisements
The NPT 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 and subscribe to receive this year's editions.

We also encourage you to submit to this year's NPT News in Review. The guidelines are as follows:

Feature articles: In addition to the daily analysis of the proceedings of the PrepCom, the NPT 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 19 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 NPT 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: $40
1/2 page ad: $60
full page ad: $130
back page ad: $185

Run your ad twice and get $5 off. Run your add three times and get $10 off. Run your ad four times and get $15 off.

Cartoons, photos, artwork, poetry: The NPT 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 to the Project Director:

• 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

The deadline for all art, article, and advertising submissions to the News in Review is 19 April 2009. The earlier, the better.

1 April 2009

Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors:

The Conference on Disarmament (CD) finished part one of its 2009 session last week, with the Canadian delegation introducing a working paper it drafted with the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research called “Getting the Conference on Disarmament Back to Substantive Work: Food for Thought.” The paper quite comprehensively reviews the CD's relevance, working methods, rules of procedure, and engagement with civil society, offering some suggestions and recommendations for moving forward now. Reaching Critical Will hopes the other delegations will examine the paper over the break and that they will be inspired when the CD resumes on 18 May. In the meantime, another conference that has suffered stalemate in the past, the United Nations Disarmament Commission (UNDC), will begin the first round of its new three year cycle on 13 April in New York. NGOs are permitted to attend plenary meetings of the UNDC, so watch the E-News for reports during its course. Statements and papers will be posted on the RCW website.

In peace,
Ray Acheson, Project Director

1) Civil society prevents missile "defence" bases in Czech Republic
On 17 March 2009, the Government of the Czech Republic sent a proposal to ratify two treaties on the placement of an American anti-missile radar on Czech territory to the Chamber of Deputies. After a failed day of intense politicking the government did not even wait the lawmakers to vote and withdrew its ratification proposal.

Furthermore, the Czech Parliament subsequently voted no-confidence for the Czech government, calling the government to fall. Writing from Prague, movement leader Jan Tamáš said, “For us it is a great victory; we knew that the only way to stop the installation of the US radar base was the fall of the government and we worked for more than 2 years in this direction with permanence and coherence.” He explained that the movement's work “has been fundamental in encouraging the members of Parliament who already were against the radar and to spread doubts in the ones who were in favor. And it was just the change of mind of some deputies that made the fall of the government possible.”

The No Bases Initiative will maintain organizing protests against the installation of the foreign military base. The next planned event is the demonstration against the radar on the occasion of US President Obama's visit to Prague. The protest will take place on Sunday, 5 April 2009 at 3:00 PM on the Wenceslas Square in Prague. Contact Jana Glivická of the No Bases Initiative for more information.

2) Call to Action: Urge your governments to engage at the NPT
For those that have attended nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty meetings in the past, or for those who have followed from afar by reading statements and Reaching Critical Will reports, the redundancy of the “general debate” will be well known. Delegates read their prepared statement, often providing very little new information, and do not usually deviate from the script.

This year, in anticipation of the familiar pattern, Reaching Critical Will calls on everyone to contact their diplomatic representatives now, in the few remaining weeks leading up to the third Preparatory Committee (4-15 May), to encourage them to engage with each other in an interactive manner. Every year, the Chair of the meeting will try to encourage informal debates among delegates, urging them to ask each other questions, question each others' assertions, and otherwise acknowledge that the meeting does not take place in a vacuum where statements drafted in capitals have the ultimate relevance for what is happening day to day at the meeting itself.

We want you to ask your government representatives to respond to their surroundings and engage with their colleagues. In the past, when this has been accomplished, it has led to very informative, helpful, and progressive dialogue. But there are usually not enough diplomats willing to sustain the debate. Encourage them to start it, participate in it, and keep it going whenever possible!

For a full listing of contact information for your diplomatic representatives, please see Reaching Critical Will's Government Contacts. Many of the Missions will be bringing staff to New York from Geneva for the NPT PrepCom, so contact both Missions to be sure your message gets to the right person. Send Reaching Critical Will a note if you want to let us know you've taken this action.

3) IPPNW appealed for nuclear abolition to Obama and Medvedev
More than 300 of the world’s top physicians have called on US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitri Medvedev to “end the nuclear weapons era once and for all.”

The letter, signed by senior faculty and deans of medical schools, heads of medical associations, health ministers, medical journal editors, and Nobel laureates from 38 countries, was delivered to Presidents Obama and Medvedev today by International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), its US affiliate, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and Russian Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War.

Dr. Ira Helfand, a US physician who was a principal organizer of the campaign, said that the 25,000 nuclear weapons in the world’s arsenals are “the most urgent and immediate threat to the health and survival of humankind. And, unlike the other major health threats of our time—climate change, poverty, AIDS and other epidemic diseases—this one can be eradicated with nothing more than a firm decision to do so.”

Noting that a world without nuclear weapons is now championed by experts and diplomats across the political spectrum, the physicians called on the US and Russian presidents to lead the world by starting negotiations on a worldwide agreement “that will abolish all nuclear weapons.”

Presidents Obama and Medvedev will meet for the first time in London on April 1, on the eve of the G-20 summit. Nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation measures, including proposals for substantial reductions in US and Russian nuclear arsenals, are expected to be high on their agenda.

In making the letter public today, IPPNW urged the leaders to put recent strains in US-Russian relations aside and to make the most of “what may be the best and last opportunity we have to rid the world of the only weapons capable of destroying all humanity.”

“A thousand years from now,” the signatories to the letter told Presidents Obama and Medvedev, “no one will remember most of what you will do over the next few years; but no one will ever forget the leaders who abolished the threat of nuclear war.”

The text of the letter and a complete list of signatories are available at www.ippnw.org.

4) France to finally compensate nuclear test victims
From “France to finally compensate nuclear test victims,” Pacific Islands News Association, 25 March 2009 and “Questions over French compensation for Pacific nuclear tests,” Pacific Islands News Association, 26 March 2009

In March 2009, the French government announced it will compensate victims of nuclear testing carried out in French Polynesia and Algeria. An initial sum of 10 million euros has been set aside for military and civilian staff as well as local populations who fell ill from radiation exposure. Some 150,000 civilian and military personnel took part in the 210 nuclear tests carried out in the Algerian Sahara desert and the Pacific between 1960 and 1996.

One of the world's five declared nuclear powers, France carried out 17 nuclear tests in Algeria in the early 1960s including four atmospheric trials. The first test code-named “Gerboise Bleue” (Blue Gerbil) took place on February 13, 1960 in Reggane, southern Algeria, some 15 years after the United States ushered in the age of nuclear weapons with its test in New Mexico. Over four decades, 193 tests were carried out near the French Polynesian islands of Mururoa and at Fangataufa until 1996 when president Jacques Chirac declared an end to the programme.

A bill is expected to be presented to parliament next month that will set up a nine-member commission of physicians, led by a magistrate, who will examine individual claims for compensation. Veterans expressed concern however that the defence minister would have the final say on awarding compensation instead of the independent commission. They also said it remained unclear how the government would go about compensating native populations, since the populations “will have to prove that they lived there when the tests occurred.”

The organisations which represents former workers at France's nuclear test site in the Pacific have questioned the motives behind the French Government decision to compensate those suffering radiation-related sicknesses, noting that France had been reluctant to recognise a link between the tests and illness. The association which supports those who worked on the tests at Mururoa Atoll, Moruroa E Tatou says the French Government is insincere about its change of position. President Roland Oldham told Radio Australia the money it’s offering isn't enough. “For 30 years of nuclear testing, for the thousands and thousands of people who had been working there. For the many people who have had cancer. It is a real bad joke.”

5) NATO Counter-Summit planned for 60th anniversary
On 21 March, activists from all over Belgium and abroad participated in an act of civil disobedience against NATO headquarters in Brussels, in which they tried nonviolently to enter NATO to seal gates, windows, and doors in a symbolic burial of the complex. This action was coordinated ahead of the NATO Summit marking the Organization's 60th anniversary, to be held 3-4 April in Strasbourg.

From 1-5 April, an international action camp will be organised as a home base for actions and demonstrations and an international counter summit will start on 3 April. It will be a platform for a broad range of speakers and groups to express their opposition and criticism against NATO and military globalisation. These actions will be organised by a coalition of German, Frenc,h and international groups.

Elsa Rassbach reports:

Some 900 security personnel are to be flown in from the U.S. to accompany President Obama, who will be staying at the Strasbourg Hilton. More than 30,000 German and French police and military personnel have been engaged to suppress the protests in "security precautions" that even exceed those for the visits of President George W. Bush to Stralsund, Germany, in 2006 and to Heiligendamm in 2007. ... French and German citizens have been issued curfews, and many must carry special badges just to enter their own neighborhoods. Citizens have even been ordered by police to remove peace flags from their windows. There are indications that the German and French police and military are receiving their orders directly from U.S. Homeland Security.

She also notes, “The Strasbourg NATO Summit will be the official start of the discussion on a new Strategic Concept that will define the direction of NATO for the years to come,” and argues the direction does not look good:

Under U.S. leadership, NATO seeks to make decisions regarding military missions without agreement by the United Nations. In Strasbourg some NATO leaders will even seek to abolish the consensus decision-making process within NATO itself, thus forcing “unwilling” nations in NATO to go along with wars with which they disagree. At the same time, more countries are being offered NATO membership in an effort to encircle Russia and strategically important areas in the Middle East. Proponents and opponents of NATO both view the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan, to which the U.S. is committing significantly more troops, as a key test for the “out of area” intervention concept.

However, many citizens of NATO countries do not want to be drawn into wars or continue to host nuclear weapons on their soil. A brief schedule of anti-NATO protest plans from 1-5 April include:

• a camp near Strasbourg 1-5 April;
• a hearing on the war in Afghanistan in Karlsruhe, Germany on 2 April;
• a congress of leading intellectuals, activists, and representatives of European political parties in Strasbourg on 3 and 5 April;
• demonstrations and civil disobedience in Baden-Baden on 3 April; and
• civil disobedience and, separately, a peaceful demonstration in Strasbourg on 4 April.

Peace groups have also released an appeal:
http://www.no-to-nato.org/en/appeal/

For more information, please see:
http://www.bombspotting.org
http://www.no-to-nato.org/
http://www.gipfelsoli.org/
http://wri-irg.org/node/6990
http://www.vredesactie.be/article.php?id=56
http://www.natozu.de/index.php?id=28
http://www.block-nato.org/index_en.htm
http://linksunten.indymedia.org
http://www.imi-online.de/2009.php3?id=1930

6) Churches for disarmament
Issued jointly by the World Council of Churches and the Conference of European Churches

In a 30 March letter, four councils of churches urged the NATO leadership to "reinforce the vision of a world without nuclear weapons", consigning to history the notion that nuclear weapons preserve peace and instead recognizing that they make security more precarious.

An immediate step towards that goal, the churches' letter suggests, would be to update the alliance's strategic concept and security doctrine. The alliance should also show willingness to remove hundreds of US tactical nuclear weapons still placed in European countries.

The letter, signed by the general secretaries of the World Council of Churches, the Conference of European Churches, the National Council of Churches of Christ USA and the Canadian Council of Churches, comes ahead of the NATO summit of heads of State and Government to be held on 3-4 April in Baden-Baden and Kehl, Germany, and in Strasbourg, France.

"We believe security must be sought through constructive engagement with neighbors and that authentic security is found in affirming and enhancing human interdependence within God's one creation," the letter states.

The ull text of the councils of churches' letter to the NATO member states and secretary general is available at
http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=6723

7) Calling for advertisements, articles, and artwork for the NPT News in Review
The NPT 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 and subscribe to receive this year's editions.

We also encourage you to submit to this year's NPT News in Review. The guidelines are as follows:

Feature articles: In addition to the daily analysis of the proceedings of the PrepCom, the NPT 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 19 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 NPT 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: $40
1/2 page ad: $60
full page ad: $130
back page ad: $185

Run your ad twice and get $5 off. Run your add three times and get $10 off. Run your ad four times and get $15 off.

Cartoons, photos, artwork, poetry: The NPT 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 to the Project Director:

• 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

The deadline for all art, article, and advertising submissions to the News in Review is 19 April 2009. The earlier, the better.

8) Convention on Cluster Munitions signing ceremony
On 18 March, during an event at UN Headquarters in New York for countries to sign or ratify the Convention on Cluster Munitions, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic ratified the Convention and the Democratic Republic of Congo became the 96th country to sign it. For more information, see the Cluster Munition Coalition's press release.

16 March 2009

Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors:

On 5 March, the current president of the Conference on Disarmament (CD) read out the International Women’s Day Statement to the CD on behalf of the coalition of women’s organizations that prepared the statement after their seminar on 4 March. This year’s seminar focused on “Getting To Peace in the Middle East—Changing Threat Perceptions.” The statement emphasized that three parallel tracks are necessary for the consolidation of peace in the area: the political track, including the Arab Peace Initiative; the disarmament track, including the 1995 nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty Review Conference Resolution; and a human security track, “along which the governments of the region demonstrate their ability to cope with their internal problems and satisfy the needs and hopes of their peoples.”

As with all initiatives for peace, justice, and disarmament, the statement notes, “It will be impossible to maintain and implement this third track—towards shared human security—without the full and active engagement of civil society, and particularly women.” Civil society participation is essential for progress. Reaching Critical Will encourages everyone to consider what they can do to meet the increasing challenges engaging our world, to not be overwhelmed by apathy or hopelessness, and to act for change in every way possible.

Recent technical difficulties: Speaking of change, Reaching Critical Will's website has experienced some technical difficulties over the past week due to an impromptu server migration. All relevant information for the NPT is now back in order. However, some broken links remain throughout the site, particularly in our collection of Conference on Disarmament statements, and we ask for your patience as we fix these.

In peace,
Ray Acheson, Project Director

1) International Women’s Day and the global financial crisis
Reuters invited Sam Cook, Director of the PeaceWomen project of WILPF, to write a blog post in honour of International Women’s Day on 8 March 2009. Sam tied the problems of excessive military spending to those of reaching gender equality and the other Millennium Development Goals.

http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate-uk/2009/03/07/international-womens-day-and-the-global-financial-crisis/

With the global financial crisis seemingly in every headline and a looming economic meltdown foremost on everyone’s minds, the observance of International Women’s Day on March 8 may not seem of immediate relevance. But it is.

Clara Zetkin, who is credited with first putting forward the idea of an international women’s day in 1910, would likely have a lot to say about where we are today. She and other committed socialists of the women’s and the peace movements in the U.S. and Europe whose work inspired this Women’s Day would probably not be entirely surprised at what the dominant economic and political power ideologies of the last century have delivered.

Of course International Women’s Day has grown beyond its working class roots in the early 1900’s. Alongside the women’s movement, we see now that global corporations and governments actively claim support of the day and its celebrations. The official website of International Women’s Day claims this fact as a positive achievement. But, as someone who considers herself part of the peace and women’s movements, this causes me no small measure of discomfort and adds to my mixed emotions about the day.

It is not that I don’t appreciate the power and significance of an international day of observance of work for women’s empowerment and gender equality. It is not that I think we have no need of attention to these issues. It is not that I feel that all the important achievements are the ones behind us - as the bumper sticker pinned above my desk reads, “I’ll be a post-feminist in post-patriarchy.” No, I believe that International Women’s Day is an important reminder of the work that still needs to be done and it is certainly a powerful moment of solidarity across time and space.

It is fortifying to work with a sense of common cause with women from places as diverse as the cities of Latin America, the hamlets of Europe, the suburbs of North America and the villages and sprawling urban centres across Africa. It is inspiring to know that this work on a wide range of issues - from equal pay for equal work; to access to reproductive health services; and ending violence against women - is building on the work of generations of women before us. These are all reasons that make International Women’s Day a day worth celebrating. But they are also the reasons that I want to reclaim the day. Reclaim it back from the hands of empty ritual and rhetoric and from those that treat it like another public relations opportunity.

I’m not saying that governments and corporations don’t do “good things” or that they don’t invest in gender equality and women’s empowerment. But, when one looks at the bigger picture - including that revealed by this global financial crisis - those efforts seem less laudable. As with so many things, it is hard to get the true picture and see where priorities lie until you do the comparisons and look at the numbers.

As tax payers in the U.S. are aghast at upwards of $700 billion dollars going to “bail out” the financial system, little is said of the fact that this figure is also the approximate annual military budget of the U.S. Global military spending currently exceeds $1,204 billion dollars annually at 2006 prices. The combined budgets of the United Nations entities working on women’s issues amounts to approximately 0.005 percent of that.

The World Bank estimates the cost of interventions to promote gender equality under Millennium Development Goal 3 (universal access to education) to be $7-$13 per capita. The world’s military expenditure in 2006? $184 per capita. This is the financial crisis. That investing in weapons and war and creating human insecurity is prioritized over investing in peace, development and gender equality. This is what we should be questioning and working to change as we stand together on International Women’s Day. And if the governments and corporations of the world really want to show their support for this day, then ending militarism would be a good place to start.

2) Open letter on Czech missile "defence" radar
The Czech Chamber of Deputies is likely to vote this week on whether to accept the US military radar base that was originally proposed by the Bush administration. The radar, along with Interceptor missiles in Poland, would create a European "missile defence" system. Two thirds of Czechs have consistently opposed the radar.

The Campaign for Peace and Democracy has drafted the following open letter to the Czech Chamber of Deputies:

It is our understanding that after much debate in your country, the Czech Chamber of Deputies will vote very soon on the proposed agreement to accept the U.S. military radar. We are writing to let you know that we deeply believe that the radar is not in the real interests of people in either the United States or the Czech Republic. We hope you will vote to reject it.

Millions of Americans, including ourselves, are eager for a new peaceful U.S. foreign policy that advances democracy and demilitarization around the world, rather than an escalation of the arms race. Moreover, the extremely expensive missile defense program is, like so much of our country's military budget, a vast waste of resources. We would much prefer to spend our nation's wealth on education, housing, healthcare and other human needs, both domestically and internationally.

We are inspired by the fact that more than two thirds of the Czech people have repeatedly expressed their opposition to the radar. We join with them in calling on President Obama to pull back from plans to install Interceptor missiles in Poland and a companion radar station in the Czech Republic.

An end to this dangerous "missile defense" program could form the basis for a very positive and constructive relationship between the people of our two countries, and could serve as an important first step in a broader process of global disarmament.

To sign the letter, please go http://www.cpdweb.org/statements/1012/stmt.shtml.

3) Costa Rica campaign to ban depleted uranium weapons
From the International Campaign to Ban Uranium Weapons

On 4 March 2009, the President of the Latin American Parliament’s Human Rights Commission and member of Costa Rica’s legislative assembly Alexander Mora Mora released a draft for a comprehensive ban on uranium weapons in Costa Rica.

Mora Mora, a member of the Partido Liberacion Nacional and keen advocate for peace and non-violence, estimates that the bill could become law in under a year and hopes that it will attract cross party support. Parliamentarians have been inspired by Belgium’s decision to ban uranium weapons and armour in a unanimous vote passed in 2007. Belgium’s ban will come into force to become law this June.

“Every domestic campaign needs heroes and Alexander Mora Mora has stepped into this role in Costa Rica,” said an ICBUW spokesperson. “Although our member organisations here have been working closely with the legislature’s members for some time, Mora Mora is the driving force behind this text and we hope that its impact will spread far beyond the boundaries of Costa Rica.”
It is anticipated that the Costa Rican ban text will be written into a 1995 law controlling explosive weapons. If it successfully negotiates the state’s unicameral legislature, the text will ban the use, sale, transit, production and distribution of uranium weapons in Costa Rica and its exclusive economic zone.

4) Russia’s Foreign Minister addressed the Conference on Disarmament
From Reaching Critical Will's CD Report

On Saturday, 7 March, a plenary meeting of the Conference on Disarmament (CD) convened to accommodate Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s schedule. Minister Lavrov commented on the relationship between the financial crisis and disarmament; relations with the United States and next steps for bilateral reductions; measures for “strategic stability”; the proposed anti-missile system in Eastern Europe; and preventing an arms race in outer space.

Economic demilitarization
Minister Lavrov argued that the current financial and economic crises “constrict the resource base for disarmament and conversion programs,” though he also acknowledged “that under globalization the crisis cannot be overcome through military preparations or war as happened in 1930-s. Regretfully, the Cold War has ‘institutionalized’ militarization in the field of international relations.”

Many academics and activists argue that the financial crisis not only demonstrates beyond a doubt the need for conversion, disarmament, and demilitarization, but also provides an opportunity for such progress. At a recent conference in Washington, DC, “Security Without Empire,” Bruce Gagnon of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space argued that the conversion of military industries is essential to reducing military expenditures, and that popular support for conversion is essential for government action. US Congressman Barney Frank, in calling for a 25% reduction of the US military budget, has argued that the US government has “for too long indulged the implicit notion that military spending is somehow irrelevant to reducing the deficit and have resisted applying to military spending the standards of efficiency that are applied to other programs. If we do not reduce the military budget, either we accustom ourselves to unending and increasing budget deficits, or we do severe harm to our ability to improve the quality of our lives through sensible public policy.”

US-Russian nuclear reductions
Minister Lavrov recognized Russia’s “special responsibility” as a nuclear weapon state and permanent member of the UN Security Council to effectively work toward nuclear disarmament. He welcomed the “resetting” of US-Russian relations as discussed with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and emphasized the importance of a follow-on to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). He also read a statement by Russian President Medvedev, calling for a legally-binding instrument that limits warheads, strategic delivery vehicles, and the legality of deploying such arms outside of national territories.

Measures for “strategic stability”
Arguing that the elimination of nuclear weapons “can only be achieved through strengthened strategic stability and strict adherence to the principle of equal security of all,” Minister Lavrov urged the following steps:

• Advancement of nuclear disarmament by all nuclear weapon states, “with their ‘gradual’ engagement in efforts already being undertaken by Russia and U.S.”;
• Preventing of the weaponization of outer space;
• Preventing of operational deployment of strategic offensive weapons equipped with conventional warheads (building “compensatory potential”);
• Ensuring states do not possess a “nuclear upload potential”;
• Preventing attempt to use NPT membership to implement military nuclear programs; and
• Ensuring verifiable cessation of conventional capabilities “coupled with efforts to resolve other international issues, including settlement of regional conflicts.”

Minister Lavrov also called for strengthening of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty at the next Review Conference in 2010; entry into force of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty; and ratification of the International Atomic Energy Agency Additional Protocol by all countries . He welcomed the entry into force of the Central Asian nuclear weapon free zone and urged for the development of such a zone in the Middle East. He also called for development of multilateral approaches to the nuclear fuel cycle, urging, “joint work should be carried out to develop global nuclear energy infrastructure through the establishment of multilateral centers for the provision of nuclear fuel cycle services” and citing the establishment of the International Uranium Enrichment Center in partnership with Kazakhstan. Noting that the European Union has now made a similar call, Minister Lavrov reiterated the importance of developing an international agreement on the elimination of intermediate- and short-range ballistic missiles. He also said the Russian delegation to the CD is prepared to start negotiations on a fissile materials cut-off treaty.

Anti-missile system in Europe
Minister Lavrov further argued that unilateral anti-ballistic missile systems undermine efforts toward nuclear disarmament by eroding strategic stability and global parity. He proposed a “constructive alternative to unilateral plans in this crucial area”—a “package proposal” to “unite efforts of all States interested in counteracting potential missile threats.”

Despite arguing that the proposed US anti-missile system in Europe is based on unfounded fears of missile attacks by Iran—noting that Iran does not possess intercontinental ballistic missiles or nuclear weapons—the Russian government has for several years been inviting NATO and the United States to cooperate with it on an anti-missile system to “protect” both Europe and Russia. In March 2007, Russia’s ambassador to NATO urged, “Since Iranian missiles and the nuclear weapons of the ‘rogue states’ rank among our common threats, let us gather together and assess them, and let us build an antimissile system jointly.” While this suggestion was largely ignored by the former US administration, on Friday, 6 March 2009, US Secretary of State Clinton indicated that there may be an “opportunity” for Russia and the United States to “cooperate on missile defense.”

Weaponization of outer space
Minister Lavrov argued that preventing an arms race in outer space is in everyone’s interest, noting that it will help make “the strategic situation predictable and preserving integrity of orbital assets” and that it is easier to prevent the weaponization of space than to get rid of new weapon stockpiles afterwards.

Unfortunately, given the incredible amounts of money spent on space weapon technology and the “opportunities” the contracts for such technology provides for weapon profiteers, it will in fact be very difficult to prevent its development.

Minister Lavrov announced that the Russian and Chinese CD delegations will soon introduce a document summing up and responding to the comments they received on their drafty treaty on preventing the placement of weapons in outer space. For a list of comments on the treaty delivered in plenary meetings of the CD, please see Reaching Critical Will’s fact sheet on the draft treaty.

Notes from the gallery
For the first time in a long time, the CD chamber was packed with press. Before delivering his official statement, Minister Lavrov had to shoo away photographers standing in the middle of the room, saying, “We’re here for disarmament, not publicity.” Last year, Minister Lavrov’s CD address received much less media attention. We hope the increased publicity will result in increased interest in, and scrutiny of, the CD by media and the public.

To subscribe to Reaching Critical Will's CD Report, please email info[at]reachingcriticalwill.org with the subject line "subscribe cdreport". For all CD statements, papers, and other documents since 2000, please see http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/cd/cdindex.html

5) Deadline for accreditation to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Preparatory Committee
Please note that the deadline to apply for accreditation with the United Nations to attend the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Preparatory Committee in May is Tuesday, 31 March 2009. Requests for accreditation that are received by fax or email will be considered provisional until the signed letters are received by mail. You must send hardcopies to the above address.

• Instructions for accreditation and registration
• Complete NGO aide memoire
• Registration form
• Additional information for NGOs

6) Global Week of Action Against Gun Violence 2009
From the International Action Network on Small Arms

The Global Week of Action Against Gun Violence is scheduled for 15-21 June 2009. The Week of Action highlights the international campaign to stop the proliferation and misuse of small arms. Each year activists around the world use the Global Week of Action Against Gun Violence to raise awareness, campaign for better gun laws and push for stronger regulation of the global arms trade.

In 2008 IANSA members in more than 85 countries highlighted the human cost of small arms proliferation and misuse; they also demanded that governments to enact policies that put their citizens' security first. Civil society organisations taking part in the Week of Action organised public events, conducted media work, emphasised the importance of an Arms Trade Treaty and generally engaged more people in the global movement against gun violence.

Key dates for possible Week of Action advocacy

• International Day of the African Child: 16 June

• Father’s Day (in many countries): 19 June

• World Refugee Day: 20 June

The Week of Action is an excellent opportunity to raise awareness about these upcoming events:

• Global Gun Destruction Day: 9 July

• UN Open Ended Working Group on an Arms Trade Treaty: 13-17 July

As in previous years, the IANSA Secretariat will be able support your activities with information, contacts, suggestions, media outreach, translation etc. We will also have some limited funds to assist with small costs such as printing. Please email Bruce Millar for further information and to discuss your plans.

Bruce Millar
Programme Officer
IANSA - International Action Network on Small Arms
Development House
56-64 Leonard Street
London EC2A 4LT (UK)
Tel: +44 20 7065 0867
Fax: +44 20 7065 0871
bruce.millar[at]iansa.org

2 March 2009

Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors:

This edition of the E-News is chock full of information about civil society campaigns for a just, equitable, and peaceful world and about opportunities to pressure your governments to embrace relevant measures to promote disarmament. Find out what's going on in the Czech Republic against missile "defence", what women at the Commission on the Status of Women are saying about disarmament and militarism, and how to engage with the Non-Proliferation Treaty Preparatory Committee.

In addition, please save the date of Thursday, 7 May 2009, 6:00-8:00 PM EST, for Reaching Critical Will's 10th Anniversary Party! For anyone who will be in New York City at that time, during the NPT PrepCom, please join us for an evening of food and fun to celebrate ten years of RCW's work for nuclear abolition. The event will be held in the Church Center, across the street from the UN. For details, please contact info[at]reachingcriticalwill.org.

In peace,
Ray Acheson, Project Director

1) Czech mayors protest missile "defence"
From Europe for Peace, "MEPs, Mayors and the Nonviolent Movement rejects 'Star Wars' in Europe," 19 February 2009

Yesterday, Wednesday the 18th of February, 40 Czech mayors and a broad delegation of the European Nonviolent Movement travelled to Brussels, to meet with Belgian Senators and Members of Parliament to protest against the project of the previous Bush Administration to build the so-called “Space Shield” in the Czech Republic and Poland.

Called on by Europe for Peace and the Czech Nonviolent Movement, hundreds of demonstrators came in buses from the Czech Republic along with representatives of European social movements like, Mayors for Peace, Pax Christi and World without Wars.

“The Invisibles” paraded in front of the European Parliament; hundreds of people dressed in white to symbolise the majority of the European population that has neither been consulted, nor heard in the decisions that affect them. At the same time, humanist and pacifist groups were mobilised in the main European capitals and also in Buenos Aires in front of their parliaments, in support of the Czech pacifists.

This is one more step in the campaign that started in 2007 when the news came of a plan to build a radar base in the Brdy region of the Czech Republic by the Bush administration. The decision was taken directly with the Czech Government without consulting either the people or European colleagues.

After the meeting in the Belgian Senate, the senators and deputies present took interest in the protest of the Czech pacifists committing themselves to present a motion in the Belgian Parliament against the space shield.

Jan Tamas, the young leader of the Czech Nonviolent Movement said yesterday: “Today, finally, we are in the appropriate place to speak about this subject, as the installation of the radar base is not only a problem for the Czech People as it compromises the security of the entire population of Europe”. Jan Neoral, spokesperson of the League of Mayors against the Radar, assured those present that today, in Europe, the voice of the 70% of Czechs and the 13 out of 14 Regional Presidents who are against this project are being heard.

The almost 20 MEPs present in the meeting that took place in the European Parliament expressed their concern for the serious problem that these military installations raise; besides being useless for the real defence of Europe, they make clear the need for a common defence policy that is independent of the USA. Luisa Morgantini, Vice-president of the European Parliament, affirmed “that the current Czech Government is undermining the foundations upon which a united Europe has been built.”

In addition, various European pacifist leaders gave their support to Jan Tamas in the defamation campaign waged against him by the Czech press and they denounced European passiveness in foreign affairs and defence, and our dependence on the decisions of other powers.

Finally, Giorgio Schultze, spokesperson of Europe for Peace, warned about the danger that this military installation means for Europe, being a direct provocation of Russia with the risk of a return to a new arms race and a new cold war and he said; “On the contrary, the path has to be that of progressive disarmament and the immediate disappearance of the whole nuclear arsenal. In this respect, we support the declarations in favour of nuclear disarmament by President Obama and we ask him to take one more step by withdrawing this project and I finish by making a call to create a consciousness against violence inviting all those present to join the World March for Peace and Nonviolence that will start on the 2nd of October and circle the planet asking for nuclear disarmament, the end of wars and all forms of violence.”

For more information, please see:
Europe for Peace
No Star Wars online petition

2) Jody Williams on missile "defence" systems
From Jody Williams, "Use Your Imagination," International Campaign to Ban Landmines, February 2009

Asked to opine about what I think one or two of the biggest issues facing us in the coming decades might be, I find myself needing to quote Arundhati Roy, in her anti-nuclear polemic "The End of Imagination." Roy writes, "There’s nothing new or original left to be said about nuclear weapons. There can be nothing more humiliating for a writer of fiction to have to do than restate a case that has, over the years, already been made by other people in other parts of the world, and made passionately, eloquently, and knowledgeably."

She goes on to say, however, that she is "prepared to grovel. To humiliate myself abjectly, because in the circumstances, silence would be indefensible." Roy is talking about her need to speak out against the open embrace of nuclear weapons by the country of her birth, India.

When asked to comment about ‘big issues,’ and ‘issues related to war and peace’ – after all, I was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize so I should have ‘big thoughts’ about any number of such ‘big issues’ – as often as not I find myself reduced to feeling more like what Roy describes. What more can be said about a multitude of issues facing this increasing small and overwhelmed planet; issues as wide-ranging as