|
|
| Reaching
Critical Will E-News, June
2024 |
|
|
|
 As we enter
the eighth month
of Israel’s
genocidal campaign
against
Palestinians, the
flow of weapons to
Israel continues
from the United
States, Germany,
Canada, Italy,
Australia, and
other Western
countries. Even as
some governments
claim to have
halted transfers
or to not be
sending weapons at
all, they continue
to provide
licenses or parts
and components
that are
instrumental to
the continuing
onslaught. In this
edition of our
newsletter, you
will find examples
of actions to stop
arms transfers to
Israel, as well as
information about
upcoming
disarmament
meetings,
mobilisation
against AUKUS,
killer robots, and
much more! (Photo
credit: Ray
Acheson)
|
|
Upcoming disarmament meetings
 Action on
small arms and
light weapons at
the UN
From
18–28 June, states
and civil society
will gather at the
UN in New York for
the Fourth Review Conference of the UN Programme
of Action on the
illicit trade in
small arms and
light weapons.
Reaching Critical
Will’s website
will post
statements and
documents from the
conference, and we
will provide
coverage of the
meeting in our Small Arms Monitor. Check out the first edition of the Small Arms Monitor and subscribe now to receive our analysis and
advocacy during
the meeting, where
we will be working
to make sure
gender
perspectives and
calls for
demilitarisation
are included.
Open-ended
working group on
ICTs
The Open-Ended Working Group on Information and
Communication
Technologies is
meeting for its
eighth substantive
session on 8–12
July 2024 in New
York. Check out our website for information on previous
sessions.
2024
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Preparatory Committee
 The Preparatory Committee for the 2026 Review
Conference of
the Parties to
the Treaty on
the
Non-Proliferation
of Nuclear
Weapons (NPT) is
scheduled to hold
its second session
from 22 July to 2
August 2024 in
Geneva,
Switzerland.
Modalities for
civil society
participation are
outlined in this information note, as well as on the RCW website. Information regarding side
events is also
available on the
RCW website.
Ahead
of the Conference,
Reaching Critical
Will published an
updated NPT Briefing Book that provides an
overview of
critical issues
and offers
recommendations to
governments for
the PrepCom and
beyond. It
provides
information on the
Treaty and a brief
history of past
review cycles, and
covers topics such
as nuclear
disarmament; the
humanitarian
impacts of nuclear
weapons; nuclear
weapon
modernisation and
spending;
doctrines,
transparency, and
nuclear sharing;
nuclear threats
and risks;
non-proliferation;
the Middle East
weapon of mass
destruction free
zone; AUKUS and
nuclear
submarines;
nuclear energy;
and gender and
intersectionality.
|
|
|
Recently concluded disarmament meetings
Open
debate on the
Protection of
Civilians in Armed
Conflict
The
UN Security Council
(UNSC) held its annual
open debate on the
Protection of Civilians
in Armed Conflict on
21–22 May 2024. While a
lot of states expressed
concerns with violence
against civilians, many
are involved in fueling
this violence through
arms sales. Check out
RCW's report to
find out about what was
discussed in the
debate.
Informal
Consultation with
observers to the CCW
On
6 June 2024, the Chair
of the Group
of Governmental
Experts (GGE) on
Lethal Autonomous
Weapons Systems (LAWS),
Ambassador Robert in den
Bosch of Netherlands,
held an informal
consultation with
observers. The
consultation focused on
two topics: 1) A common
understanding on the
working characterisation
of LAWS; and 2) The
application of existing
international
humanitarian law (IHL)
rules and measures
needed to ensure
compliance with existing
IHL and possible new
rules. Check out our report on
the consultation for
details.
|
|
|
Mobilising to Stop AUKUS
As
the government of
Australia works to
advance legislation in
relation to the
Australia-United
Kingdom-United
States (AUKUS) military
alliance, pressure is
mounting from civil
society groups, First
Nations, labour unions,
and others to prevent
the harms that are
associated with the
nuclear-powered
submarines aspect of the
deal, as well as those
related to the
development of high-tech
weapons.
As
RCW’s Director Ray
Acheson wrote
recently for
CounterPunch,
AUKUS stands poised to
waste billions of
dollars, proliferate
high-level radioactive
material and impose its
safekeeping on First
Nations communities for
hundreds of thousands of
years, increase global
militarism, and
potentially provoke a
nuclear war. As students
around the world work to
get their universities
to divest from weapon
manufacturers, AUKUS
will only further enmesh
educational institutions
into the development of
weapons and the pursuit
of war. AUKUS is already
making the arms trade
among its three members
increasingly opaque, and
more countries are
clamouring the join.
Australian
activists have been
mobilizing to stop AUKUS
for several years; it’s
past time those living
in other AUKUS states or
those clamouring to
partner with the
alliance get informed
and active, too. The
Campaign for Nuclear
Disarmament (CND) in the
United Kingdom is also
advocating against
AUKUS. Its new
report outlines
its objections to the
alliance and urges its
members to work with
partners in the
Australian and US peace
movements to build
opposition.
|
|
|
Stop Arming Israel
Around the world, people
continue to mobilise
against arms transfers
to Israel. As people are
being pulled from the
rubble of refugee camps
in Palestine, students
have been demanding that
their universities
divest from the
merchants of death
fueling Israel’s
genocidal campaign. In
an article
for CounterPunch,
RCW’s Director Ray
Acheson explored how
universities are
complicit in the
genocide of many ways.
The military-industrial
complex is embedded in
universities across the
Western world,
especially in the United
States. Many of the main
weapon manufacturers
that are present on
campuses, or in which
universities have
investments, are
supplying Israel with
all the weapons it
needs. But the work of
organisers to block
weapon shipments, shut
down factories and arms
fairs, and demand
divestment is having an
impact.
 At the People’s
Conference for
Palestine, held in
Detroit from 24–26 May
2024, the Palestinian
Youth Movement launched
a new campaign focusing
on the shipment of
weapons to Israel. Mask
Off Maersk aims to
expose and end the role
of the Danish shipping
and logistics company
Maersk in providing
weapons to fuel Israel’s
genocide. By going after
Maersk, organisers
intend to disrupt the
flow of weapons from all
countries and companies
at once. Check out their
website for more
information and to get
involved in the
campaign! (Photo
credit: Ray Acheson)
In
addition, Visualizing
Palestine has
created an important new
interactive website that
demonstrates how Israel
uses artificial
intelligence (AI) to
target and kill
Palestinians. Building
on VP’s earlier work on Automating
Genocide, this new
tool calls for a ban on
the use of AI technology
for targeting weapon
systems.
More
than 800 Australian
civil servants are calling on
the government to stop
sending weapons and
parts to Israel, to stop
providing reconnaissance
support from Pine Gap,
and to cancel all
contracts with Israeli
weapon companies.
Several hundred people
also formed a
picket outside the gates
of Bisalloy Steel in
Wollongong, Australia,
on 10 May to protest its
links with the Israeli
military. The company supplies
specialised steel for
Armoured Personnel
Carriers and Light
Armoured Vehicles used
by the Israeli
military.
|
|
|
Ahead of the NPT PrepCom, nuclear-armed
states increase
nuclear tensions
In
May, the US
carried out its first
subcritical nuclear
test since 2021,
which drew an immediate
response from the
Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea, which
cited it as a reason it
needs to develop its
“deterrence” capability.
The cities of Hiroshima
and Nagasaki protested the
US government. As ICAN
highlighted, The Mayor
of Hiroshima, Matzui
Kazumi, wrote to
President Biden and US
Ambassador to Japan,
Rahm Emanuel: "Such a
conduct is totally
unacceptable as it
betrays the wishes of
the hibakusha [victims
of the US atomic
bombings in Japan] who
have been appealing that
'no one else should
suffer as we have,' and
millions of others who
seek the abolition of
nuclear weapons. On
behalf of the
atomic-bombed city of
Hiroshima, I vehemently
protest and demand that
all future nuclear tests
be cancelled." ICAN has
also called
out the test on
social media.
This
was followed by Russia
starting nuclear
exercises with
short -and medium-range
weapons in the south of
the country near Ukraine
as a direct warning to
Western countries not to
supply more weapons to
Ukraine. ICAN said that
“Russia's nuclear
weapons exercises near
Ukraine show how
deterrence relies on
dangerous escalation.
Running such drills near
the conflict zone is as
much about the implied
threat you're willing to
use WMDs as it is about
training your soldiers
to do so.”
Additionally,
France, which has
ratcheted up tensions
with Russia in recent
months by talking about
the possibility of
deploying troops to
Ukraine, just tested
an air-launched
nuclear missile.
ICAN also called
out the test,
saying, “Given the
growing tensions between
France and Russia over
Ukraine, France testing
nuclear missiles while
Russia runs nuclear
exercises near Ukraine's
border is escalatory and
dangerous -this is not
deterrence, it is
brinkmanship with all
the risks of
miscalculation
involved.”
More
recently, Reuters reported that
Pranay Vaddi, the top
National Security
Council arms control
official, said that the
US may have to deploy
more strategic nuclear
weapons in coming years
to deter growing threats
from Russia, China ,and
other adversaries.
"Absent a change in
adversary arsenals, we
may reach a point in the
coming years where an
increase from current
deployed numbers is
required. We need to be
fully prepared to
execute if the president
makes that decision," he
said. At the same time,
he also said that “the
administration is
committed to halting the
spread of nuclear
weapons, including
bolstering the
Non-Proliferation
Treaty, the cornerstone
of the global arms
control regime.”
All
these news items
illustrate a recent finding from
the Stockholm
International Peace
Research Institute
(SIPRI) that the role of
nuclear weapons grows as
geopolitical relations
deteriorate. SIPRI’s
recently launched
yearbook highlighted
that the number and
types of nuclear weapons
in development have
increased as states
deepen their reliance on
nuclear deterrence.
 ICAN has
also recently released
its fifth annual report
on nuclear weapon
spending, “Surge:
2023 Global Nuclear
Weapons Spending”.
Its research found that
in 2023, global
expenditure on nuclear
weapons reached $91.4
billion, which is $10.8
billion more than in
2022. “The United States
spent more than all of
the other nuclear-armed
states combined and
showed the biggest
one-year increase to
$51.5 billion. China was
next in line, with
spending of $11.9
billion and Russia spent
$8.3 billion,” said
ICAN. The report also
shows that total nuclear
weapons spending in the
last five years was over
$387 billion, more than
what the World Food
Programme estimates it
would take to end world
hunger. ICAN also
highlights that
companies got about 30
per cent of all
spending, which then
hired at least 450
lobbyists as well as
provided financing for
major think tanks to
influence the nuclear
debate.
|
|
|
WILPF submission on killer robots
 In 2023,
the UN General Assembly
adopted resolution
78/241, which
requested the UN
Secretary-General to
seek the views of
states, international
organisations, and civil
society on autonomous
weapon systems (AWS) for
a report to be published
in 2024. Several states
and civil society
organisations submitted
their contributions.
Check out WILPF’s submission to
this report, which
consolidates more
in-depth analysis from Reaching
Critical Will’s papers
on AWS.
|
|
|
OHCHR report on arms transfers
The
UN Office of the High
Commissioner for Human
Rights (OHCHR) has
published a
new report on the
impact of arms transfers
in human rights
following resolution
53/1 of the Human Rights
Council. The report
focuses on the role of
access to information in
preventing, mitigating,
and responding to the
human rights impact of
arms.
Among other things, the
report states, "At a
minimum, the information
disclosed should serve
to reduce existing
barriers to prevent, and
ensure accountability
for, the negative human
rights impacts of arms
transfers through
external oversight. In
practice, to challenge
an arms export licence,
an individual needs to
know of its existence
and be capable of
precisely identifying
it."
It
also highlights that “to
ensure effective
judicial, parliamentary
and other oversight,
States should also
disclose risk assessment
criteria and the
international human
rights and humanitarian
law risk assessment made
by the administrative
authority, as well as
the factual information
used for the
assessment.”
Reaching
Critical Will, together
with the Human Rights
programme of WILPF,
contributed with a submission to
the report.
|
|
|
Summit for the Future civil society forum
event
On
9–10 May, WILPF members
participated in the UN
Civil Society Conference
in Nairobi, which was
held in preparation for
the Summit of the Future
in September this year.
WILPF’s International
President,
Sylvie Jacqueline
Ndongmo, delivered a statement about
Chapter 2 of the Pact
for the Future (Peace
and Security).
The new
revised version of
the Pact for the Future
has been published. It
has also been announced
that “Impact Coalitions”
will be created to
accelerate progress on
the Pact. However, some
civil society groups,
including WILPF,
expressed concern in an open
letter about
duplication between this
and many other civil
society initiatives
being carried out.
|
|
Gender and Disarmament Database:
Recommendation
of the month
 Our
recommendation of
the month is the
podcast episode “Road to RevCon4: Gender-responsive arms control
and the UN PoA.”
This episode,
produced by Small
Arms Survey, is
part of the series
“Road to RevCon4,” which discusses key trends,
challenges, and
opportunities
across topics
related to small
arms control. In
this particular
episode, Director
Mark Downes sits
down with Hana
Salama, Researcher
in the Gender and
Disarmament
programme at the
United Nations
Institute for
Disarmament
Research (UNIDIR)
and Callum Watson,
the Small Arms
Survey’s Gender
Coordinator, to
unpack how
gender-related
references have
been incorporated
in PoA meetings.
The Gender and Disarmament Database, created and
maintained by
Reaching Critical
Will, features a
wide range of
resources such as
reports, articles,
books and book
chapters, policy
documents,
podcasts,
legislation, and
UN documents. The
database allows
the exploration of
relevant resources
based on their
references to
distinctive gender
aspects in
disarmament, such
as gender-based
violence, gender
norms, or gender
diversity, and
different related
topics or types of
weapon systems. It
currently contains
more than 800
resources, and
suggestions of new
additions can be
sent to
disarm[at]WILPF[dot]com.
|
|
Featured News
New
website on
Dismantling the
Military-Industrial Complex
A
network of civil
society
organisations
working on
dismantling the
military-industrial
complex (MIC) has
created a new website to serve as a hub for resources
on the topic.
Among other
things, the
coalition has
created a series
of graphics that are useful for showing how the
MIC works, and how
it relates to
climate change and
other pressing
issues. Some of
those involved in
the project have
also published an article explaining the graphics and the need
to dismantle the
MIC.
New
resources about
climate justice
and protection
of the
environment in
armed
conflicts
Ahead
of World
Environment Day,
organisations have
published new
resources
connecting the
military
industrial complex
and environmental
degradation.
WILPF published
the policy brief “Towards Climate Justice: Redistributing Military
Spending to
Climate Finance,”
with concrete
demands for
parties centering
the reallocation
of military
spending for
climate finance
ahead of
negotiations of
COP29. The
interactive policy
brief “Confronting Military Greenhouse Gas Emissions”
includes analysis
from several
authors detailing
the intersecting
realities of
carbon pollution,
militaries, and
what this
signifies for
greenhouse gas
(GHG) emissions,
ultimately
affecting climate
change. The
Conflict and
Environment
Observatory has
also published an interactive map featuring 25 incidents from of
environmentally-relevant incidents in Ukraine since February 2022.
Mirrar
Traditional
Owners celebrate
special reserve
status over
Jabiluka area
On
World Environment
Day, the
government of the
Northern Territory
in Australia declared special reserve status over the
Jabiluka area
within Kakadu
National Park, in
accordance with
the wishes of
Mirrar Traditional
Owners. The
movement to stop
uranium mining at
Jabiluka, led by
Mirarr Traditional
Owners, is one of
the most iconic
environmental
campaigns in
Australia’s
history. Mirarr
Traditional Owners
have opposed
mining at Jabiluka
for five decades.
It’s now up to the
Albanese
Government to
protect Kakadu
National Park and
respect Mirarr
Traditional Owners
by not extending
the Jabiluka
Mining Lease.
International
Uranium Film
Festival takes
place in Rio de
Janeiro
From
25 May to 1 June
2024, the Atomic
Age Cinema Film
Fest showed 22
films about
nuclear power,
atomic bombs,
uranium mining,
and their
consequences at
the Modern Art
Museum (MAM Rio)
in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil. The
festival opened
with prayers and
traditional songs
from Indigenous
leader Urutau
Guajajara of the
“Aldeia Maracanã”
and women of the
Guajajara people
from Maranhão.
Check out photos from the festival and the complete programme.
European
countries
propose
resolution
against Iran to
the IAEA Board
The
United Kingdom
(UK), France, and
Germany submitted a resolution to the International
Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA)
Board censuring
Iran over its lack
of cooperation
with the agency.
Iran reiterated
that it is not
developing nuclear
weapons.
Human
Rights Watch
warns about risk
of civilian harm
due to the use
of white
phophorus by
Israeli forces
in Lebanon
In
a recent report, Human Rights Watch said, “Israel’s
widespread use of
white phosphorus
in south Lebanon
is putting
civilians at grave
risk and
contributing to
civilian
displacement.” The
organisation
verified the use
of white
phosphorus
munitions by
Israeli forces in
at least 17
municipalities
across south
Lebanon since
October 2023,
including five
municipalities
where airburst
munitions
were unlawfully used
over populated
residential
areas.
Israel’s
airstrikes kill
over 24 children
in the West
Bank
The
Intercept reports that “since June of last year, and
with increasing
regularity during
the Gaza
offensive, the
Israel Defense
Forces have shown
a new willingness
to use air power
in the West Bank,
regardless of the
collateral damage
to children and
other civilians
caught in the
blasts. An
open-source
Intercept
investigation
documented at
least 37 Israeli
airstrikes, drone
strikes, and
attacks by
helicopter
gunships in the
West Bank since
June 2023, which
have killed 55
Palestinians, according to the United Nations. Most attacks
struck densely
populated urban
areas and refugee
camps in Jenin,
Tulkarem, and
Nablus, all in the
northern part of
the West Bank.”
Oil
spill in Sudan
results in broader
environmental
security
implications
In
March 2026,
fighting and
maintenance
issues resulted in an oil spill and clogged oil
pipelines roughly
100 kilometers
south of Khartoum.
A recent report by PAX provides a brief analysis of
the political and
environmental
implications of
the war on
Sudanese and South
Sudanese oil
infrastructure and
put forth
recommendations
for addressing
these concerns.
The report
highlights, “With
the war raging on,
in particular
around oil fields,
and wider
implications from
pollution,
agricultural
decline and mass
displacement,
several Sudanese groups and experts are already calling for an
environmental
assessment of the
war and the
implications for
public health by
setting up the Sudan War Environmental Consequences Observatory
(SWECO).”
Former
CEO of Google is
testing AI
military drones
Forbes reports that Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of
Google, is working
on military drones
in the scope of
Project Eagle
(previously known
as White Stork).
According to the
piece, sources
confirmed that the
project “involves
using artificial
intelligence to
help drones home
in on battlefield
targets.” Sources
also say that that
his team has been
testing drone
prototypes in the
frontlines of the
war in Ukraine.
Pope
Francis urges G7
leaders to ban
autonomous
weapons systems
The
Pope addressed the
G7 meeting held in
June calling on states to ban the use of
autonomous weapon
systems (AWS). “In
light of the
tragedy that is
armed conflict, it
is urgent to
reconsider the
development and
use of devices
like the so-called
‘lethal autonomous
weapons’ and
ultimately ban
their use,” he
said, adding that
“This starts from
an effective and
concrete
commitment to
introduce ever
greater and proper
human control. No
machine should
ever choose to
take the life of a
human being.”
|
|
Recommended Resources
Laura
Bruun, “Reinventing the wheel? Three lessons that the AWS
debate can learn
from existing
arms control
agreements,”
ICRC
Humanitarian Law
and Policy Blog,
13 June 2024
Matilda
Byrne, “Australia pushes ahead in the AI arms race,”
Declassified
Australia, 11
June 2024
Michelle
Benzing and Katrin
Geyer, “Towards Climate Justice: Redistributing Military
Spending to
Climate Finance,”
WILPF, 5 June 2024
María
Pía Devoto, Mariel
R. Lucero
Baigorria, and Ana
Levintan, “Política exterior, género, desarme nuclear y
ambiente:
Perspectivas
desde el Sur,”
UNIDIR, 5 June
2024
Alexander
Kmentt, “Time to engage seriously with the TPNW’s security
concerns,” European
Leadership
Network, 4 June
2024
Bonnie
Docherty, “Explosive Weapons Pose Threats to Cultural
Heritage: States
Have a Tool to
Protect It,”
Just Security,
4 June 2024
Ray
Acheson, “Divest from Death,” CounterPunch, 2
June 2024
“How are sex, firearms, and homicidal violence
linked?” Small
Arms Survey, June
2024
Toni
Erskine and Steven
E. Miller (Guest
Editors), “Anticipating the Future of War: AI, Automated
Systems, and
Resort-to-Force
Decision Making,”
Australian
Journal of
International
Affairs,
Special Issue, 31
May 2024
Podcast: “The Hiroshima survivor who's still shouting for
peace,” BBC
World Service,
28 May 2024
Marc
Thibodeau, “Armes autonomes : le Canada sommé d’agir,” La
Presse, 19
May 2024
Podcast: “How the US military industrial complex got so big,” Rear
Vision, 18
May 2024
Lital
Khaikin, “The Gruesome Frontier of Thermobaric Weapons,”
Thuthdig,
16 May 2024
Renata
Hessmann Delaqua,
“From the Margins to the Mainstream: Advancing
Intersectional
Gender Analysis
of Nuclear
Non-Proliferation
and Disarmament,”
UNIDIR, 25 March
2024
Callum
Watson, “Meaningful Partners: Opportunities for
Collaboration
between Women,
Peace and
Security, and
Small Arms
Control at the
National Level,”
Small Arms Survey,
1 Ferbruary 2024
“Rehabilitation matters – The appeal made by
people in
conflict-affected
areas,”
Humanity and
Inclusion, 2024
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
