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WHAT'S NEW IN INES? |
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No.16/2003 |
Dateline: June 4, 2003 |
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This is the weekly electronic information service of the International Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility
Editor: Tobias Damjanov, e-mail:
WNII is archived at: http://inesglobal.org/archive.htm
INES homepages: http://inesglobal.org http://www.inesglobal.com/
INES International Office
INES Chair: Prof. Armin Tenner [Please note that the first "1" in q18 is the number one, while the last "l" is an "L"]
Editor's note
Dear WNII readers,
My sincere apologies for the considerable delay which had been caused by unforeseeable private problems. In the next days you shall get two more WNII issues so as to compensate for the delay
Best regards, Tobias Damjanov
CONTENTS of WNII No. 16/2003
MEMBERSHIP AND PROJECTS NEWS
"INES Newsletter" No. 41
The "INES Newsletter" No. 41/May 2003 carries the following:
The "INES Newsletter" is edited by Armin Tenner: < >; A pure ASCII version is available for distribution by e-mail. Ask the "INES Newsletter" editor to put you on his distribution list. The "INES Newsletter" is also available at: http://inesglobal.org Previous issues are archived at: http://inesglobal.org/ines2.htm
USA: Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
"Waging Peace" Spring 2003 http://www.wagingpeace.org
The Spring 2003 issue (Vol. 13, No. 1) of NAPF's print magazine "Waging Peace" carries the following:
"The Sunflower", June 2003, No. 73
The June 2003 issue of "The Sunflower"covers the following:
Back issues of The Sunflower are available at: http://www.wagingpeace.org/sf/backissues.html
Outgoing UN Under-Secretary General to become IPB Honorary President
Ambassador Jayantha Dhanapala, UN Under-Secretary General for Disarmament, has agreed to become Honorary President of the International Peace Bureau on his retirement from UN service at the end of May.
Jayantha Dhanapala, a Sri Lanka national, has been the Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs at the United Nations since 1 February 1998. His handling of the 1995 NPT Review and Extension Conference was widely acknowledged as a remarkable diplomatic achievement, and the development of the Department of Disarmament Affairs under his leadership has been much applauded.
As Colin Archer, IPB Secretary-General, informs, Ambassador Dhanapala has agreed to lead the IPB delegation to the 4th Nobel Laureates World Summit in Rome this November.
Abolition 2000 homepage: http://www.abolition2000.org Grassroots News: http://www.napf.org/abolition2000/news/
News from the Abolition 2000 Network
Cooperation with Mayors for Peace and mobilisation for NPT
On 15 May, Xanthe Hall (IPPNW Germany) wrote:
X. Hall: Cooperation with Mayors for Peace and mobilisation for NPT (15 May 03)
Dear Friends in Abolition 2000,
After existing for 8 years, I am proud to announce that members of Abolition 2000 have once again discovered an exciting new proposal to revive the disarmament process and attract attention to the issue of the abolition of nuclear weapons.
Mayor Akiba of Hiroshima is launching a campaign within the "Mayors for Peace" movement to push for an accelerated timeline for the abolition of nuclear weapons. NGOs from Abolition 2000 in Geneva for the NPT PrepCom, that has just ended, have picked up on this idea and propose to work with mayors and cities (also involving the UN Peace Messager Cities, Nuclear Free Local Authorities and signers of the Abolition 2000 City Resolution) over the next two years to involve them in the NPT process. As Jackie Cabasso said "Nations have failed us, now it is time to turn to municipal democracy". (…)
Anyone is welcome to join the NPT mobilisation group and can subscribe to the list serve by writing a message to without any text.
Minutes of a founding meeting of the Abolition 2000 "NPT Mobilisation Group" and a letter to Akiba from Aaron Tovish of the NGO Committee on Disarmament are available from the WNII Editor as rtf-formatted email attachments.
Annual Meeting Minutes and strategies
Available at the Abolition 2000 website: Go to What's New: Annual Meeting Minutes http://www.abolition2000.org/
If you want the full text emailed, please contact Alice Slater: < >
Russian Duma ratifies SORT http://www.armscontrol.ru/start/default.htm#whatsnew
The Centre for Arms Control, Energy and Environmental Studies, a Russian INES member organisation, reports through its STAR Site News website, that the State Duma, on 14 May, approved the bill on ratification of the SORT (Strategic Offensive Reduction Treaty) Treaty by a 294-134 vote. Simultaneously the Duma approved two statements: "ïn Securing Maintenance of Readiness and Development of the Strategic Nuclear Forces of the Russian Federation" and "On an Attitude of the State Duma on Strategic Offensive Reductions and Coordination Measures on Activities of Government Bodies of the Russian Federation in the Area of Strategic Offensive Reductions". Col. Pyotr Romashkin (Ret.), an expert on defense and security issues in "Yabloko" faction of the State Duma, gave an exclusive comment to the STAR site on the Duma actions: The State Duma Has Ratified SORT Treaty.
2003 NPT PrepCom aftermath
Please draw your attention to the following useful references provided by the WILPF project Reaching Critical Will:
Alice Slater: Impressions from Geneva (Alice Slater is president of the Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE), a US-based INES member organisation, and a founder of Abolition 2000)
While governments, in their diplomatic dance in the marbled halls of the Palais des Nations in Geneva, could never have matched NGO expectations for what was required to call the US to account for its shocking assault on NPT norms for nuclear disarmament, civil society, energized from its engagement in the worldwide action against the war on Iraq, was particularly focussed and coherent at this PrepCom. Gone were the nuanced arguments for arms control versus nuclear abolition that we have endured since the 1995 Review and Extension conference. It was then that the Abolition 2000 Network was founded based on the fervent wishes of the majority of NGOs for a clearer statement of purpose, and a practical way forward for the elimination of nuclear weaponsa purpose not reflected in the bargain struck at the 1995 NPT meeting to obtain the indefinite extension of the NPT.
In a series of panels, roundtables, and seminars, as well as in the formal presentation to the delegates, NGOs were able to show their stuff, bringing insights, technical know-how, poetry, and passion to the attention of the governments and their own colleagues. In topics ranging from nuclear disarmament and gender, the toxic legacy of the nuclear age, the dangers of civilian nuclear power, the latest developments about what new lethal brew of nuclear weapons the Dr. Strangeloves had in store for us, the US drive to dominate and control the military use of space and its collusion with other governments to do so, we couldn’t have been better informed. Sadly, in the grand tradition of disarmament conferences, perverted by the concept of the national security state, the doors were closed in our faces as the governments met in secret to hammer out a compromise that would enable the badly battered treaty to survive to the next PrepCom in New York in 2004.
Outside the halls of the UN we enjoyed the Greenpeace weapon inspectors dressed as missiles who visited many of the UN missions, and were pleased to see the giant IPPNW blow-up of a nuclear reactor with its phallic companion, a nuclear missile, floating near the huge iron sculpture of a broken-legged chair, commemorating the horrors of landmines, outside the Palais. The nuclear reactor brazenly wore the banner, “Nuclear Power Powers the Bomb” a message, that unfortunately, has yet to register with most of the NPT parties, many of whom kept referring to the “inalienable right” to “peaceful” nuclear technologies, despite North Korea’s withdrawal from the NPT to build bombs from its civilian stores of nuclear materials as well as natural-gas-and-oil- rich Iran with its newly announced intention to build nuclear power plants.
Ambassador Molnar, who chaired the session with great skill, noted that this conference could not be “business as usual”. Echoing his remarks, at our Abolition 2000 General Meeting, after the first week of the NPT PrepCom, we laid out a series of strategies that would push us to the next level, including an effort to make sure that at least 2000 NGOs show up at the 2004 PrepCom in New York, and to create support for the Mayor of Hiroshima’s initiative to gather cities around the world to push for a nuclear disarmament conference, perhaps building on Kofi Annan’s call for a Millenium Conference to Eliminate Nuclear Dangers. We also plan to promote a boycott of US products and set up a new working group for Citizen Inspections Teams which will issue reports to the 2004 PrepCom particularly about the NATO countries, which are “sharing” US nuclear weapons. To see some other initiatives and how you can participate, check out www.abolition2000.org.
"2010-The Global Biodiversity Challenge"
"2010-The Global Biodiversity Challenge" convened in London, UK, from 21-23 May 2003. Over 120 participants from 46 countries, representing governments, international organizations, non- governmental organizations (NGOs), academia and the private sector, attended the meeting, which coincided with the International Day for Biological Diversity on May 22nd. The meeting was organized by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Secretariat in partnership with the World Conservation Monitoring Centre of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP-WCMC) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). This was the second of two meetings in London dealing with the linkages between biodiversity, sustainable development and the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Coverage of this conference can be found at: http://www.iisd.ca/linkages/sd/sdgbc/
New e-mail list related to forest policy issues
The International Institute for Sustainable Development, in collaboration with the Secretariat of the UN Forum on Forests, has created a new e-mail list "Forests-L" for news and announcements related to forest policy issues.
This is a peer-to-peer announcement list and any subscriber to Forests-L can post to this list. Postings that fall within the list guidelines will be distributed to all other subscribers.
To sign up to Forests-L, go to: http://www.iisd.ca/email/subscribe.htm
UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Subsidiary Bodies Session
The eighteenth sessions of the Subsidiary Bodies (SB-18) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) took place in Bonn, Germany, from 4 to 13 June. Coverage of this conference can be found at: http://www.iisd.ca/linkages/climate/sb18/
Mexico Action Summit: Poverty, Agriculture and Biodiversity
The Mexico Action Summit convened in Mexico City, Mexico, from 2-3 June 2003. Approximately 200 participants representing governments and public agencies, international organizations, the private sector, academic and research institutions, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) attended the meeting, which was organized by the Monterrey Bridge Coalition and the International Food and Agricultural Trade Policy Council (IPC). The meeting was held under the patronage of President of Mexico Vicente Fox and the Mexican Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources, the Mexican Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food, and the Mexican Secretariat of Social Development.
The Mexico Action Summit is part of the continuing global momentum for sustainable development, spanning the UN Millennium Summit, the Doha Development Round, the Monterrey Conference, the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), the G8 and the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Cancun Ministerial Conference and beyond. Participants at the Mexico Action Summit explored how increased food production to feed the rural poor can be made compatible with natural resource management and biodiversity stewardship. Participants also examined how international trade and domestic subsidy policies can be reformed to make sustainable development possible. The meeting provided an action plan for cooperation between business, governments, multilateral institutions and civil society from developing and developed countries, calling the G8 and other leaders to act now to address hunger and poverty while protecting and restoring the world's natural environment for future generations.
Coverage of this conference can be found at: http://www.iisd.ca/linkages/sd/sdmex/
"Between Greed and Conscience: When Whistleblowing Becomes Dangerous" International Conference
[+] Date: 5-7 September 2003 [+] Venue: Starnberg near Munich, Germany [+] Organized by Berghofstiftung, International Network of Engineers and Scientists to Protect Ethical Engagement (INESPE), International Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility (INES), Evang. Akademie Iserlohn, DGB-Bildungszentrum Starnberg, Government Accountability Project USA, Public Concern at Work UK
Programme:
For more details, contact Antje Bultmann, managing director, INESPE: < >
UNIDIR "disarmament forum" one/2003
"Making Space for Security?" is the subject of this year's first issue of UNIDIR's "disarmament forum". It contains the following contributions:
NOTE in addition that subscribers to "UNIDIR Highlights" will be notified when the latest issue of "disarmament forum" is online, as well as about new UNIDIR publications and future events. For subscription go to: http://www.unidir.org/html/en/highlights.html
CONFERENCES, MEETINGS, SEMINARS
4th European Congress for Peace Education "Lay down your arms - a peaceful world is possible!"
In special "future wokshops", workshops, round - tables and exhibitions the participants will discuss what can be done more in educational institutions of Europe against the war and against the readiness to solve political conflicts by military power.
For more details, http://www.ppf-germany-congress.org
Sustainable resources 2003: an international forum connecting people with practical, sustainable solutions to world poverty
For more details, visit: http://www.sustainableresources.org/
International conference on sustainability indicators and intelligent decisions (SIID-2003)
For more details, visit: http://www.mii.lt/SIID-2003
International Peace Bureau Triennial Conference (update)
The main theme of the conference is "Human Security: the United Nations, the Olympic Truce and Civil Society"
Major topics will include:
For details, contact the IPB Secretariat: < >
No new or changed email or web addresses in this issue. All INES e-mail addresses and homepages are available upon request from:
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