WHAT'S NEW IN INES?

No.18/2000

Dateline: July 21, 2000

This is a weekly electronic information service of the International Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility

Editor: Tobias Damjanov, e-mail: <  
INES homepage: http://inesglobal.org
INES International Office <  
INES Chair: Prof. Armin Tenner <  

CONTENTS of WNII No. 18/2000

MEMBER ORGANISATIONS' AND PROJECT GROUPS' NEWS

Important Note from the Editor   

Dear WNII readers,   Starting from now on, WNII can appear only once per month. This is NOT due to my new job. It is because "the management" of INES has decided to cut my editor gratification by 40 per cent as of August 2000. Neither do I know the reason for that nor do I know who exactly is "the   management."   On 20 July (!), I received a message from the Dortmund INES Office sent by an INES staff member saying merely what I quoted above, without any mentioning when this decision was taken.   Why WNII will be issued only monthly now? On average, I needed some 40  working hours per month at the very least to produce a weekly edition of  WNII. Breaking down my gratification (as you will see, this cannot be  described a salary) I received so far, this comes down to DM12.50 (in  words: twelve marks, fifty pennies) per working hour - not including any additional services I did for WNII or for the INES Secretariat. It does not need further explanation what a 40 per cent cut of this means.   For some reasons, I am not in a position to work on a voluntary basis.  As to the salary of my new job: it is higher than the financial support  I've gotten so far from the Unemployment Office. I do not want to explain in detail my complicated private situation, but I can tell you that the salary related to my new job is changing my living conditions only very  slightly. In other words: I am still in need of earning additional money  - if not with INES, then elsewhere.   Since I could not attend the recent INES Council Meeting, I do not know  whether any WNII-related decisions were taken. So far, I have not been   informed about the INES Council Meeting at all. Hence, I do not know  whether or not the decision taken by "the management" is based on a  decision by the INES Council Meeting. The same goes for the concurrent  INES Executive Committee Meetings.   Yours,  Tobias Damjanov

"Non-Proliferation Treaty Stays Alive -- for Now"  

This is the title of an article recently written by Dr David Krieger,  president of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and INES Vice-Chair. As  the title indicates, this is an assessment on the situation after this year's NPT Review Conference.    If you wish to obtain this article, contact Dr Krieger through: 

NUCLEAR WEAPONS

Abolition 2000 homepage: http://www.abolition2000.org  Grassroots News: http://www.napf.org/abolition2000/news/  

UK Nuclear Weapons Plant hearing  

Please note that an important judicial challenge to continuing  production of nuclear weapons in the UK takes place on 13th to 15th September in London.   The case challenges the failure of the environmental regulator to consider whether the nuclear weapons plant should be allowed to operate  (I simplify)  (a) in view of the fact that its product is incapable of distinguishing  between military and civilian targets and therefore probably unlawful;  (b) in breach of the first principle of EU radiation protection law,  justification of exposures by showing net benefit of activity causing  exposures, has also been broken.   The hearing will include arguments on  (a) whether the Euratom Treaty applies to the military sector: this is currently a matter of dispute between the European Commission and the UK   Government;  (b) whether the principle of justification applies to decisions to manufacture nuclear weapons;  (c) the relationship between international, including humanitarian, law  and UK municipal law;  (d) the extent to which the environmental regulator must take account of the laws analysed in the ICJ advisory opinion on the use and threat  to use of nuclear weapons;  (e) the application of those laws and that advisory opinion to a  specific nuclear weapon.   It is very important for the profile of the hearing that as much international attention is drawn to the proceedings as possible so as to guarantee as serious a consideration of the arguments as we can. If  you were able to attend any part of the hearing this would be helpful.   If you could suggest any media contacts in your country that would be   particularly interested, that would also be useful.  If you could suggest any other way to raise the profile of the case,  that would also be very welcome.    I look forward to hearing from you 
Best wishes 
Jamie Woolley  LLB (Hons), MA (Environmental Law), Solicitor, Legal Adviser, UK Nuclear Free Local Authorities Solicitors Office     
The case is The Queen v the Environment Agency ex parte (i) Emanuela  Marchiori and (ii) Nuclear Awareness Group Case No CCO/1274/2000. It will be heard at the High Court of Justice, Royal Courts of Justice, the Strand, London WC2A 2LL

Abolition 2000 Grassroots Newsletter July 2000   

The latest Grassroots Newsletter of the Abolition 2000 Network has the  following contents:  

The Abolition 2000 Grassroots Newsletter is available from Carah Lynn  Ong, Coordinator, Abolition 2000:   

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

International Ombudsman Centre for the Environment and Development  established  

The Director General of IUCN - The World Conservation Union, Dr. Maritta   Koch-Weser, and the Chairman of the Earth Council Foundation, Mr.  Maurice Strong, signed a Memorandum of Agreement establishing the International Ombudsman Centre for the Environment and Development  (OmCED).   The newly established Ombudsman function will identify, advise on, investigate and, on request, mediate conflictive international matters pertaining to environment, natural resources and sustainable development issues. It will seek to open avenues of avoidance and/or redress of conflicts for which existing mechanisms are not fully effective or available. OmCED shall be result-orientated, looking for ways to solve contentious situations. In its work OmCED will rely on relevant international and national legal, economic and social instruments and  principles, including the Earth Charter.   OmCED relies on the knowledge and experience from the extensive membership network of its founding organisations - IUCN, Earth Council  and the United Nations University for Peace, which has offered its campus in Costa Rica as headquarters for the Secretariat of OmCED.    OmCED will be evaluated after two years, coinciding with the next Earth Summit commemorating that it was 30 years ago that the first Environmental World Conference was held in Stockholm and 10 years since  the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.   For further information, contact Josué Anselmo, Global Communications  Co-ordinator, IUCN: 

CONFERENCES, MEETINGS, SEMINARS

Global Citizens' Assembly for the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons 

For more details, contact the Nagasaki Foundation for the Promotion of   Peace:  Fax: (81-95) 846 5170  (no email address available)  

INES WEB AND E-MAIL SERVICE

No new or changed email or web addresses in  this issue.  All INES e-mail addresses and homepages are available upon request from:  

< < < < <  end of No. 18/2000  what's new in ines < < < < <