17 February 2009
Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors:
On 12 February, Brazil's ambassador to the Conference on Disarmament (CD) in Geneva eloquently argued, "the sense of insecurity is a fertile soil not only for the reluctance to disarm but also for the ambition to acquire nuclear weapons. The malaise of insecurity can be remedied by weapons in the way that vitamins are supposed to strengthen ones resistance to disease. Taking further that image, nuclear weapons are like anabolic androgenic steroids which are outlawed in the world of sports." The articulation of various conceptions of security have been a highlight of this year's CD plenary meetings, with delegations debating the validity of the notion of equal security and others encouraging the development of regional security mechanisms. Very few, however, have called for emphasis on human security, except for Costa Rica's representative, Counsellor Carlos Garbanzo, who argued that the problem with the CD is that states are approaching disarmament from an armament or military perspective rather than a humanist one and that only a comprehensive point of view centered on the humanitarian side will move the Conference forward. He also reminded the Conference that disarmament is not a topic exclusive to those countries that have weapons; it effects any country and any population that might suffer negative effects of use of any weapons. Reaching Critical Will welcomes and encourages this dialogue and urges civil society representatives to call on their governments to think and talk about security in the most comprehensive way possible. Government contact information is available on RCW's website.
In peace,
Ray Acheson, Project Director
1) Information on NGO accreditation and registration for the 2009 NPT PrepCom is now available
The Office for Disarmament Affairs has released the official aide memoire for NGO participation at the NPT PrepCom. Below is some very important information on accreditation and registration. The complete aide memoire can be accessed athttp://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/npt/prepcom09/aidememoire09.pdf
Important notes overall
1. Your organization MUST work specifically on nuclear weapon issues in order to be approved for accreditation. Only those organizations that can demonstrate their active engagement on related issues will be approved.
2. You do not need to send your registration form to UNODA in advance. Please only send your accreditation request, as detailed below,not your registration form. Bring your registration form, along with your letter of approved accreditation, with you to New York.
3. UNODA is not in a position to provide letters of invitation and letters to consulates requesting that NGO representatives be provided visas for travelling to the United States for the PrepCom. The procurement of visas, travel arrangements, and related costs are strictly the responsibility of the NGO representatives.
Accreditation
NGO representatives with or without valid UN grounds passes must apply for accreditation to ODA. All NGOs, even those with ECOSOC or DPI accreditation, must apply.
Please submit, by 31 March 2009, the following materials:
1) a letter on organizational letterhead, signed by the head of the organization, requesting attendance at the Conference, which includes the composition of the delegation and an overview of past interactions between your organization and the United Nations, particularly in relation to disarmament and non-proliferation. Such interactions may include affiliation with the Department of Public Information (DPI), consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), etc. NGOs that will be participating for the first time should indicate this in their request for accreditation.
Note: Names submitted for the delegation will not eligible for later revision. It is advised that organizations submit the composition of their delegations only after careful review. Applicants for accreditation to UN conferences and individuals planning to attend side events must be at least 18 years of age.
Additional note: Your organization MUST work specifically on nuclear weapon issues in order to be approved for accreditation. The UN will consider requests from all organizations but only those that can demonstrate their active engagement on related issues will be approved.
2) A mission statement or summary of work that should include information on the organization's purpose, programmes, and activities related to the PrepCom. Not to exceed two pages in length.
Please send all of the above materials to:
Secretariat of the Preparatory Committee
c/o Ms. Silvia Mercogliano
Information and Outreach Branch
Office for Disarmament Affairs
Room S-3151E
United Nations
New York, NY 10017
USA
Tel: +1 917 367 4124
Fax: +1 917 367 5369
Email: [email protected]
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.
NGO representatives will be notified by email on 8 April 2009 as to whether their documentation was received in order and whether the name of their organization will be included in the list for submission to states parties.
Registration and issuance of identification badges
NGO 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. You must bring your filled out registration form, the provisional accreditation request that has been authorized by the Secretariat of the PrepCom (UNODA) and a valid photo identification - passport is strongly encouraged, driver's 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 at 10:00 AM, please make sure you're in line by 8:00 AM.
Registration form: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/npt/prepcom09/registrationform09.doc
Note: You do not need to send your registration form to UNODA in advance. Please only send your accreditation letter, not your registration form. Bring your registration form with you to New York.
If you cannot come on the above dates and times for registration, please contact Ms. Silvia Mercogliana at [email protected], +1 917.367.4123 or Ms. Jenny Fuchs at [email protected], +1 212.963.2386.
Please note: UNODA is not in a position to provide letters of invitation and letters to consulates requesting that NGO representatives be provided visas for travelling to the United States for the PrepCom. The procurement of visas, travel arrangements, and related costs are strictly the responsibility of the NGO representatives.
Additional information for NGOs
The PrepCom will take place in Conference Room 1.
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 the NGO Coordinator, Ms. Ray Acheson.
Limited space is available for exhibits. Please contact Ms. Silvia Mercogliana at [email protected] for exhibit requests.
2) Judge Weeramantry argued against renewal of the UK's nuclear weapons
At a conference in Edinburgh, Scotland, Judge Weeramantry, the former vice president of the International Court of Justice supportedattempts by the Scottish government to remove nuclear warheads from Scottish soil and will argue that nonviolent resistance to nuclear weapons can be justified under international law. His speech was reportedly an eloquent indictment of the possession, development, and threatened use of nuclear weapons.
Judge Weeramantry argued that the right of nations such as Scotland to challenge the deployment of weapons which threaten their people, their environment and future generations is undeniable, saying, "These are all areas which must necessarily be concerns of the parliament of Scotland."
In its article about the event, the Sunday Herald noted, "Last April, the Scottish government set up a Trident Working Group to investigate ways of getting rid of nuclear weapons using devolved powers. The group is due to report in the spring. In June last year, the Scottish parliament voted overwhelmingly in favour of a motion calling on the UK government not to go ahead with the planned replacement of Trident."
3) The UK government released a public information paper on UK nuclear weapon policy
On 4 February 2009, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office released a public information paper, "Lifting the nuclear shadow: Creating the conditions for abolishing nuclear weapons" (pdf). Ambassador Duncan of the United Kingdom explained that the paper does not change any formal statements made by him or other UK ambassadors to the CD but is rather a "compendium" of UK policies on nuclear weapons, "expressed in simple language."
The paper outlines three conditions and six steps that are "potentially attainable" within the next few years toward "a global ban on all nuclear weapons," including:
Preventing nuclear weapon proliferation by "securing agreement among all the Non-Proliferation Treaty states that the way forward must include tougher measures to prevent proliferation and tighten security" and by "working with the International Atomic Energy Agency to help states which want to develop a civil nuclear energy industry to do so in ways which are safe and secure and which minimise the risks of nuclear weapons spreading."
Aiming for "minimal arsenals" and an "international legal framework which puts tight, verified constraints on nuclear weapons" through US-Russian negotiations and agreements on further nuclear weapon reductions, bringing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty into force, and starting negotiations "without preconditions" on a fissile materials cut-off treaty.
Finding solutions to the challenges of moving from small numbers of nuclear weapons to zero in ways which enhance security by "exploring the many complex political, military, technical and institutional issues" through a "strategic dialogue among the five Nuclear Weapon States (and, in due course, others)."
Brief analysis from Reaching Critical Will's CD Report of 5 February 2009
The key phrase in the information paper is that the UK government has issued "a call to accelerate disarmament to prevent proliferation to new states and to ultimately achieve a world that is free from nuclear weapons" [emphasis mine].
In their Foreign Policy in Focus article on the phenomenon of "anti-nuclear nuclearism"—the concept of the nuclear powers' quest for sustained hegemony masquerading as non-proliferation masquerading as disarmament—Darwin BondGraham and Will Parrish note that this type of position emphasizes "disarmament" steps and conditions "entirely for what it means for the rest of the world — securing nuclear materials and preventing other states from going nuclear or further developing their existing arsenals." Current nuclear weapon states' "responsibility to disarm remains in the distant future, unaddressed as a present imperative."
Indeed, the UK information paper has sections on "stopping proliferation" in Iran, North Korea, and Syria, on "tightening controls" on nuclear materials and technology, on "strengthening international commitment to preventing proliferation," on "managing the growth in nuclear power" and finally, on "reducing arsenals" and "going to zero". In the "reducing arsenals" section, the paper argues, "Significant reductions in the nuclear arsenals of the US and Russia should be achievable without necessarily raising fundamental security issues." BondGraham has argued that whereas nuclear weapons once offered prestige and privilege in the international community they are now seen by government elites as as a drain on national resources, political capital, and other forms of military power.
The UK paper also asserts, "A global ban [on nuclear weapons] will not be successfully achieved and sustained without removing or at least significantly improving the political tensions which have led states to maintain their nuclear weapons." In this regard, the UK government argues, the nuclear weapon states have to ensure that elimination of nuclear weapons does not spark an arms race in chemical, biological, or conventional weapons—therefore, the international community needs "effective international controls on other weapons before a global ban on nuclear weapons could be agreed" [emphasis mine].
One suggestion for preventing arms races the UK paper does not make is that of reducing global and regional military expenditure. The Costa Rican government, in its concept paper on Article 26 of the UN Charter circulated before the open debate in the Security Councillast fall, suggested the establishment of regional commitments to maintaining collectively agreed levels of military spending.
Regarding the possibility of starting negotiations in the near future on a Nuclear Weapons Convention, the UK information paper asserts:
most of the states with nuclear weapons, including the UK, while accepting that some form of such an agreement is likely to be necessary in due course to establish the final ban, consider that it would be premature and potentially counter-productive to focus efforts on it now when the many other conditions necessary to enable a ban have yet to be put in place. Words alone will not rid the world of nuclear weapons.
However, the paper contains several points on how to "transition securely from low numbers to zero," which include "fierce verification requirements." WILPF notes that the United Kingdom has utilized some of their nuclear weapon establishment to conduct an intensive verification study, which was launched in 2005. Since they, it has also undertaken a joint study with a Norway and the non-governmental organization VERTIC on the technical aspects of verifying the dismantlement of nuclear weapons.
Leave your feedback
Anyone can leave feedback on this information paper on the UK ambassador to the CD's blog at http://blogs.fco.gov.uk/roller/duncan/.
4) The Indian government signed an IAEA Safeguards Agreement
The agreement, once ratified, will give International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors the right to monitor up to 14 Indian reactors by the year 2014. However, the process of deciding which Indian facilities to place under IAEA safeguards might prove to be politically difficult,according to an anonymous diplomat. Due to the US-India deal and the waiver granted by the Nuclear Suppliers Group, India has recently entered into nuclear cooperation agreements with the United States, Russia, and France and is close to concluding one with the Canada.
5) Security without Empire: National Organizing Conference on Foreign Military Bases
On 27 February–2 March 2009, a US organizing conference on foreign military bases will meet at American University in Washington, DC. The Project on Military Bases, a coalition of fifteen national and community based organizations has organized the conference and will also be joined by leading anti-bases activists from Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America, and Europe. The conference will provide a unique opportunity to learn about the dangers, "abuses and usurpations" that come with foreign military deployments, and to join in the process of organizing to win the closure and withdrawal of these bases.
The conference aims to:
* Share information about U.S. military bases and resistance
* Develop strategies and expand the U.S. anti-bases movement
* Raise the visibility of the U.S. and international anti-bases movements
* Apply pressure on Congress to close and reduce the number of foreign bases
Speakers will include leading U.S. peace activists, scholars, and allies from the Czech Republic, Ecuador, Germany, Guam, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Okinawa, and South Africa. Additionally, they have arranged twenty workshops to allow participants to explore issues and campaigns more deeply and to develop new strategies.
Please find more detailed information at www.projectonmilitarybases.org.
6) International Women's Day Disarmament Seminar: 4 March 2009
Since 1984, the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) has worked with other NGOs to organise a seminar linking 8 March–International Women's Day–with disarmament, peace and security issues. Each year, a report and statement from the NGO conference has been read into the record of the Conference on Disarmament (CD), the only official oral statement from NGOs to this body.
On 4 March 2009, the International Women's Day disarmament seminar will concentrate on the security challenges in the Middle East, specifically on the threat perceptions that create a professed need for a reliance on military means, including weapons of mass destruction, to provide security.
Getting To Peace in the Middle East
The Role of Women in Changing Threat Perceptions
International Women's Day Disarmament Seminar
4 March 2009, 13:15
Palais des Nations - Room IX
Speakers will address the impact of media as well as other actors in creating and sustaining the perception of imminent danger, imminent threat. The seminar will also provide an opportunity to brainstorm about how the international community can better understand these threat perceptions, and help shift them to create the conditions for negotiations on both peace agreements and weapons of mass destruction free zone agreements.
Building on the success of our 2008 seminar, that focused on the roles and responsibilities of women in conflict prevention and peace building, this seminar will examine the complex issues in the Middle East and the efforts that women are taking there to de-escalate current conflicts, and to shift governmental spending priorities from the false sense of military security to true human and sustainable security.
The goal of a Middle East zone free of weapons of mass destruction has been repeatedly affirmed by all states in the region, as well as the international community at the highest political levels. In preparation for the 2010 nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty Review Conference, many states have raised the issue of the status of implementation of the 1995 resolution on the Middle East. It has been said that this resolution cannot be implemented without; at least, concurrent discussions on the Middle East peace process overall. The roadmap to peace between Palestine and Israel is known; it was defined decades ago through UN brokered principles and resolutions. Another paper roadmap is not needed; what is needed is the road. This seminar will pave the way for creative thinking about new actors and new actions needed to build and hopefully walk down this road.
Please save the date and join us for this seminar. You can register online at: