MAPW news from NPT PrepCom Thurs 7 May 2009
Nancy Atkin (MAPW)
Dear MAPW NC and activists,
Please note that Dr Ruth Mitchell, our Roving Reporter at the NPT PrepCom in New York, has updated the ICAN blog twice since my last email. Ruth’s blog is an excellent description in plain English, of the events, at:
It will be well worth checking tomorrow and Saturday (Friday in New York) (I’m not here to remind you until Monday)
Dimity Hawkins has also written a more detailed report to ICAN and partners, below.
Nancy Atkin
Executive Officer
Medical Association for
Prevention of War (Australia)
(Monday – Thursday)
Phone: +61 (3) 8344 1637
Mob: 0431 475 465
Fax: +61 (3) 8344 1638
www.mapw.org.au
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Email: nancy...@mapw.org.au
National Office: Level 2, 161 Barry Street, Carlton
Mail: PO Box 1379, Carlton, 3053
Subject: Re: report from the NPT PrepCom Wednesday 6 May morning in NYC!
On Wed, May 6, 2009 at 11:53 PM, Dimity Hawkins <dimity....@gmail.com> wrote:
ICAN Australia update Wednesday 6 May at the UN
Well we made it here, mostly intact, though I am sorry to say John Hallam has faced some health issues (none critical as I understand but he has not been present the first couple of days of this meeting.) Tilman Ruff is working hard on the delegation, Dr Ruth Mitchell and I are working hard in the hallways with friends and diplomats alike. There are over 77 non-government organisations registered this year here, meaning several hundred NGO friends to play with as we go through the days. I am meeting up again with colleagues and diplomats who I have not seen for many years, and others who I have only worked with via email for years also and in many ways the networking and the conversations with all of these people make the 24 hour travel to get here all worthwhile.
As the general debate is continuing today (hung over from the last two days, which have been variously mediocre and occasionally interesting, but barely raising our heart rates above a murmur,) there is not much substantive negotiation that we can yet report back on, but here are some of the highlights from the first two days:
· The statement by Australia was not terribly disappointing, and in parts encouraging. Certainly they did not mention the Nuclear Weapons Convention (NWC) but they are going to today in Cluster One issues apparently. We’ll wait and see. Find the statement here – you will find something useful in it if only the wording they have chosen around nuclear energy/peaceful uses… http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/npt/prepcom09/statements/4May_Australia.pdf
· The Australian delegation have been reasonably open and friendly to us, and I gave them a solid B+ yesterday which they seemed pleased enough with. But the work is only just beginning.
· The US statement included a special message of support from President Obama (mostly building on the Prague statement) but also was greatly encouraging – we all would like to see them take it further of course, and possibly banish all talk of the peaceful atom forever more, but from where we have been in the last 8 years or so, it is a great improvement – see it here: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/npt/prepcom09/statements/5May_US.pdf
· At least two states mentioned the NWC directly and several others made indirect reference s in their opening speeches, so there is some movement. We are working hard to raise the profile of the NWC with other ICAN friends and affiliates here, most especially our colleagues from CND in the UK, our Swedish colleagues SLMK and the French Movement de la Paix who champion the work of ICAN in France.
· The NGO presentations presentations were not brilliantly attended though I noted the head of the Australian delegation John Sullivan and other staff remained throughout, giving them some of the points that brought them a B+ yesterday. They were one of the few in their area, so we appreciated that.
· There have been some wonderful sideline NGO events, including one of particular interest to many back home around a book titled “Carbon-Free Nuclear-Free: a road map for US Energy Policy” – see my report below on that.
· In addition, and importantly, there was a full and frank session on the International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament (ICNND) yesterday over lunch where Gareth Evans and Yoriko Kawaguchi presented the work of the Commission so far and ICAN and others had the opportunity of challenging them on the substantive issues, especially around the Nuclear Weapons Convention. See my report below which is printed in todays News in Review. Tilman and I will work on writing up our extensive notes with much more detail in the coming days as there were important issues covered and strong statements of support for ICAN and a NWC from Evans which may be useful for us all in the future.
The work here is fast and furious and at times the energy levels get low as the oxygen in the rooms seem to seep out. But interestingly we see many friends in the movement for sustainable development in the halls as well as the CSD (Commission for Sustainable Development) is happening at the same time this year.
We launch into an ICAN session this morning, followed by an event with the ICNND and Middle Powers Initiative (MPI) and then further speeches and negotiations begin this afternoon on the agenda setting for the 2010 conference. Its long days and the Vienna Café inside the UN is a cancerous nightmare, but we are holding up and really, we are at the UN in New York City – how bad could it be??!
Please fell free to send questions and comments to me at dimity....@optusnet.com.au or dimity....@gmail.com or text me (please don’t call unless urgent) on my Australian mobile 0422 612 702.
Keep up with us on the ICAN blog icanw.blogspot.com or through my Twitter account fro any breaking news http://twitter.com/DimityHawkins
Warm wishes from a rainy New York
Dimity Hawkins
on behalf of ICAN Australia.
Report for News in Review
ICNND event:
International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament
1-3pm
Tuesday 5 May 2009
The International Commission for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament (ICNND) was announced in June 2008 by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and is co chaired by former Foreign Ministers of Australia and Japan, Gareth Evans and Yoriko Kawaguchi.
Inviting feedback and discussion from delegates and NGOs present, the lunchtime session about the ICNND was termed by Gareth Evans as a “mid term report” of sorts, though many of the details are still very much up in the air.
The International Commission has an ambitious timetable – since its formation in October last year they have held several full and the first regional meeting and have gathered together some interesting and expert Commissioners, advisers and research centres (see details at www.icnnd.org). They have even appointed two NGO advisers to the Co-Chairs, Tilman Ruff from ICAN in Australia and Akira Kawasaki from Peace Boat in Japan, though we note these representatives are still not listed on the website.
The short term timetable the Commission hopes to set up until and beyond the 2010 NPT Review Conference includes setting a credible package of work for adoption at the Conference outlining the short term things States parties and others can do by 2012. This may include pushing for entry into force of the CTBT, completing negotiation of an FMCT, resolving issues with the DPRK and Iran, strengthening safeguards and verification, seeking universal adoption of an Additional Protocol, and a UN Special Session on Disarmament in 2012 amongst other things. They will also try to seek a rearticulation (not a renegotiation) of the 13 practical steps of 2000 to reshape and update these goals. As Evans pointed out, there is nothing new in many of these areas but the Commission hopes to lend weight and generate momentum.
For the medium term (to 2025), Mr Evans suggested that while reaching zero is thought to be too ambitious in this timeframe, they feel that achieving large cuts “something close to zero”, possibly in the hundreds in total, with none deployed nor on high alert would see the world in a “safer and better place than we are now”. The lack of ambition towards zero in this period (which covers the next 16 years) was clearly questioned in discussion.
Finally, by dates as yet undetermined, the Commission see the long term goals to be getting from low numbers to zero.
Mr Evans pointed out that “peer group pressure” from all members of international community needs to be brought to bear on all nuclear weapon and capable states through multilateral fora, middle power initiatives, and, importantly, civil society organisations.
He specifically spoke to the question of a Nuclear Weapons Convention, “the boldest form of convention” being the one drafted by IPPNW, INESAP and IALANA, already accepted as a UN document and commended by the UN Secretary General. Despite the brilliant success of the Convention processes linking civil society and governments such as seen in the Oslo and Ottawa processes he questioned whether such a detailed Convention was useful or possible now on nuclear weapons. This was clarified further in the discussion when delegates and NGOs had the opportunity to challenge this question, with Mr Evans suggesting that the current model Nuclear Weapons Convention was “the most comprehensive”, stimulating and admirable model that has been drafted but will still require the commitment and critical mass of governments to work. Although both Chairs assured the room that the substantive issues and recommendations raised in the model Nuclear Weapons Convention would be considered in full, they suggested an alternative such as a shorter Convention around something like the ICJ decision may be needed in short term, but that all options are on the table.
Questions were largely focused on the Nuclear Weapons Convention, disarmament education and Nuclear Weapons Free Zones, and discussion was at times respectfully heated, particularly with promises between Mr Evans and the Egyptian representative to further “arm wrestle” at the Cairo regional conference. The Chairs repeatedly emphasised their desire to hear from all governments, delegates at this conference, non-government organisations and experts in the field and welcome comments and questions. You can contact the Secretariat via the website www.icnnd.org.
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Dimity Hawkins
ICAN Australia
Report for News in Review
IEER event:
Renewable Energy: Cheaper, Safer, Smarter than Nuclear Energy
1-3pm
Monday 4 May 2009
Hosted by Jennifer Nordstrom and Dr Arjun Makhijani, the Monday session “Renewable Energy: Cheaper, Safer, Smarter than Nuclear Energy” introduced the recent IEER study “Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free: a Roadmap for US Energy Policy”. Jennifer and Dr Makhijani challenged participants with the problems of nuclear energy (from the lack of economic viability to the proliferation risks) and showed how the United States in particular could take a leading role in creating more sustainable energy policy into the future.
Using case studies about the failures of the nuclear energy industry in countries such as France, Dr Makhijani presented a compelling case for a future powered by wind, solar and other renewable energy sources. Key to the argument was the debunking of the romance of the 1950’s dream (read propaganda) of the “peaceful atom”, the great promise of ‘energy too cheap to metre’, which was tied strongly to Cold War rhetoric. More than half a century later, the problems it created (such as uranium mine tailings, long lived radioactive waste and risks of proliferation) have turned the talk of atomic dreams into a nuclear nightmare.
Dr Makhijani suggests that it was Wall Street, rather than individual actions or even accidents of the scale of Three Mile Island that killed large scale nuclear power development in the past in the US, and questions how an industry lacking economic integrity can be facing a so called renaissance at this time. Why, he asks, has using nuclear fuel rods to boil water suddenly become so enticing again in this building? Is nuclear energy, inalienable right or no, really the way forward as an answer to climate change? These are questions well worth asking (and answering) as this conference gets underway.
The presentation touched on a range of options for ways forward, primarily on the value and legitimacy of renewable solutions to climate change. As a start, nations should end subsidies for nuclear and fossil fuel industries; create new efficiency standards for buildings, cars and trucks; ban new coal fired power plants without carbon capture and storage, invest in vigorous R+D for solar, wind and biomass and create new infrastructure in existing energy dependent areas to ease community and worker transition.
The book, “Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free: A Roadmap for US Energy Policy” is available for free as a download from the IEER website: www.ieer.org. Hard copies can be purchased for $17.
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Dimity Hawkins
ICAN Australia
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Dimity Hawkins
+61 (0)422 612 702
dimity....@gmail.com/dimity....@optusnet.com.au
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