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 Bombis 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 meetingrelated 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 //www.reachingcriticalwill.org/action/[email protected] 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, [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 aresubsidiaries 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 [email protected].
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 [email protected]. 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
[email protected].
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.