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Disarmament
Action - Have Your Say
***Please
distribute widely***
News Advisory October 1, 2003
Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors,
The
General Assembly First Committee on Disarmament and International
Security will convene in less than a week, on Monday, October
6. Be sure that you are prepared for the 2003 First Committee
by running down the Reaching Critical Will checklist:
Have you:
This News Advisory
includes updates on what Reaching Critical Will and other NGOs are
preparing for the start of the Committee next week. It also contains
important information on other disarmament and non-proliferation events
occurring in the upcoming months.
In this Advisory:
1) Disarmament Index: References to security in General Assembly statements
2) NGO Briefings for the First Committee
3) Information for the Latin American Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Conference,
Havana, Cuba, 5-6 November, 2003
4) Nuclear Abolition Events at the World Social Forum, Mumbai, India,
January 2004
As always, if you have any questions, concerns, or comments, never
hesitate to contact us.
In peace,
Rhianna
Project Associate
Reaching Critical Will
**********************************
1) Disarmament Index on the Reaching Critical Will Website
During the first two weeks of the General Assembly, each Member State
delivers a statement to the entire body. While often of a general
nature, these statements provide insight into the issues, priorities,
problems and potential solutions that will be presented by the Member
States in the different Committees of the GA and throughout the next
year.
Reaching Critical Will has compiled an index of these statements that
make reference to disarmament, non-proliferation, and international
security. This resource is available at: www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/1com03/disarmindex03.htm
On October 6, it will also be available in PDF.
PeaceWomen, another project of the WILPF
UN Office, is compiling a Gender Index of all GA statements that reference
gender, women, and Security
Council Resolution 1325.
NGOs from around the world share the concerns of many governments
about the dangers posed by weapons of mass destruction, increased
military expenditures and the trade in armaments. The ongoing conflicts
in over 35 countries, as well as global concerns about terrorism,
have made the work of the First Committee even more urgently relevant.
NGOs will continue to offer analysis and constructive input while
providing public education on the work of the United Nations General
Assembly. We look forward to working closely with official governmental
delegations, United Nations staff and the broad NGO community in this
58th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.
2) NGOs Brief the World
Some NGOs have prepared briefing books and other useful resources
just in time for the First Committee.
The Center for Non-proliferation Studies at Monterrey
Institute for International Studies has prepared an Inventory of International
Non-proliferation Organizations and Regimes, which is available in
PDF or in a CD-ROM: http://cns.miis.edu/pubs/inven/index.htm.
In their words, "The Inventory of International Nonproliferation Organizations
and Regimes uses a broad definition of international organizations,
treaties, and agreements relevant to weapons of mass destruction disarmament
and nonproliferation activities. It includes formal organizations,
non-charter regimes, multilateral groupings of states, international
treaties, and regional and bilateral arrangements. The updated version
for the first time also includes international treaties related to
terrorism as well as treaties and agreements designed to prevent the
spread of conventional weapons. It also includes specific references
to the verification and compliance provisions of relevant organizations
and treaties, and detail on organization and treaty memberships of
selected States.
"The Inventory is designed to cover all actual and potential international
organizations and other nonproliferation regimes, and their existing
institutional ties, inter-relationships, and overlapping areas of
responsibility. It provides descriptions of each organization, treaty,
and agreement as well as summaries of recent activities and contact
information. Treaty texts are also provided and other appendices show
the membership and status of key treaties and agreements. The Inventory
provides policymakers, diplomats, government officials, analysts,
researchers, journalists, and students with a useful general reference
source and a current synopsis of developments in international nonproliferation
organizations and regimes."
For more information, contact Jean DuPreez, Director of International
Organizations and Nonproliferation Program at CNS.
The Parliamentarian Network for Nuclear Disarmament,
a project of the Global Security
Institute, has put together a comprehensive briefing on nuclear
issues and will soon be available on their website. You can
also receive a copy by contacting Alyn
Ware, Global Coordinator for PNND.
The briefing, designed to provide up-to-date information on nuclear
disarmament issues and on the ways that parliamentarians can become
engaged in the disarmament process includes:
- basic information
on nuclear weapons and their effects;
- technical,
political, and legal issues relating to nuclear disarmament;
- outlines
of current nuclear weapons agreements;
- descriptions
of national and international arenas in which parliamentarians
can exert influence or become engaged; and
- explores
some disarmament proposals and plans.
Divided into one
or two page chapters, each section can be copied and used as a stand-alone
fact sheet to circulate to other parliamentarians as background to
support parliamentary actions on the specific topic.
For more information on the PNND, visit their website at www.pnnd.org. Is your parliamentarian hooked
up to the network?
3) Information for the Latin American Nuclear Weapon Free Zone
Conference
The Agency for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
in Latin America and the Caribbean will be holding a General Conference
5-6 November, 2003, in La Habana, Cuba.
NGOs wishing to participate as Observer must contact Edumondo
Vargas, Secretary-General of OPANAL.
The Provisional Agenda is available here: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/nwfz/tlatelconf03.pdf
The Registration Form is available here: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/nwfz/tlatelconfreg.pdf
Read the text of the Tlatelolco Treaty at the Arms Control Association:
http://www.armscontrol.org/documents/tlatelolco.asp
4) Nuclear Abolition Events at the World Social Forum
Abolition 2000 and its member organizations have been planning to
hold anti-nuclear events at the World Social Forum in Mumbai, India,
January 2004. We have already submitted a sketch proposal that
has been accepted.
The outline for the event, as presently structured, merely represents
the ideas that have been discussed between a very few number of us,
and we would very much like to have input and ideas from the rest
of you around the world. Co-sponsorship of this event is highly
welcome.
For more information, see: www.reachingcriticalwill.org/social/WSF.pdf.
If you or your organization would like to participate in this grassroots
event, please refer to the contact information listed in the link
above.
Another world- free from the threat of nuclear weapons- is possible.
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change the format of your subscription,
please notify the Project Associate.
********************************
Rhianna Tyson
Project Associate
Reaching Critical Will
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, UN Office
777 UN Plaza
6th Floor
New York, NY 10017
phone: (212) 682-1265
fax: (212) 286-8211
rhianna@reachingcriticalwill.org
www.reachingcriticalwill.org
www.wilpf.int.ch
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