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WHAT'S NEW IN INES? |
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No.39/1999 |
Dateline: October 10, 1999 |
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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 < >
INES Congress 2000
''Challenges for Science and Engineering in the 21st Century''
Stockholm, 14-18 June 2000
http://www.ines2000.org
INES 2000 Conference Secretariat: mailto:
CONTENTS of WNII No. 39/1999
MEMBER ORGANISATIONS' AND PROJECT GROUPS' NEWS
"The SEU TIMES" July/August 1999 "The SEU TIMES" is the electronic newsletter of the "Socio-Ecological Union", one of the Russian INES member organsiations. Its latest issue has the following contents:
Editor: Sviatoslav Zabelin < >
Previous issues of "The SEU Times" may be found at "The Online Gadfly": http://www.igc.org/gadfly
Chechnya: IPB protest letter to the IMF
Colin Archer, Secretary-General of the International Peace Bureau (IPB), writes:
"Dear Friends Chechnya is burning. We urge you to send similar letters to the IMF (and to your Finance/Foreign Minister). The Campaign is building up! If you know of any relevant events, demonstrations etc please send us the information."
M. Michel Camdessus Director-General International Monetary Fund
Washington DC Fax: +1-202-623 62 78 Geneva, 6 October 1999
Dear Mr Camdessus: Re: IMF loans to the Russian Federation
We write to express our grave concern about the second brutal war being waged by the Russian Federation against the people of Chechnya, and therefore request the IMF not to support the Russian war effort by disbursing further funds to the Russian government. The Chechen population, which has not recovered from the last onslaught (1994-96) - partly as a result of the lack of financial and material assistance from the international community and Russia - is once again suffering the terrible trauma of war. The Russian government is clearly not interested in finding a peaceful solution to the situation (for example, Russian officials have refused to meet with President Maskhadov since 1997, in spite of Maskhadov's requests, and they have failed to meet the terms of the peace agreement), but seems to be willing to go to any lengths to demonize Chechens, protect its oil pipelines and divert attention from its own, self-inflicted crisis.
The fact that the IMF had difficulties this summer in approving another stand-by credit for Russia reflects some doubts about Russia's ability to put the funds to good use and to repay the loans. Bombing civilians is surely not what the money was destined for. We urge you to prevent any further IMF loans being disbursed to Russia until the war is stopped and negotiations between the Russian and the Chechen government have begun. The international community should rather divert resources into assisting populations in the Northern Caucasus region, which is presently undergoing a humanitarian disaster. Yours sincerely Colin Archer, Secretary-General < >
New issue of "INESAP Bulletin" The latest issue (No. 17, August 1999) of the information bulletin of the International Network of Engineers and Scientists Against Proliferation (INESAP) has the following contents:
For hardcopies, contact: Dr Juergen Scheffran < >
INES2000: Pre-Conference on Disarmament
Currently, a Pre-Conference on Disarmament prior to the INES 2000 Congress is under consideration. Its specific subject would be Nuclear Weapon-Free Zones. If you are interested, please contact: Dr Martin Kalinowski
Abolition 2000 homepage: http://www.abolition2000.org
Grassroots News: http://www.napf.org/abolition2000/news/
Nuclear Weapons Convention at UN
Five Countries have made written statements to the UN Secretary-General in response to the request in the 1998 UN resolution 53/77W, which calls for the implementation of the World Court advisory opinion through the commencement of negotiations leading to a nuclear weapons convention. The most interesting was from India which supported early conclusion of a nuclear weapons convention, called for the inclusion of nuclear weapons use as a crime in the Statute of the International Criminal Court, supported negotiations in the CD on a treaty banning the production of fissile material, declared that India would not be the first to use nuclear weapons and criticized the NATO Alliance nuclear doctrine, contrasting it with the Indian nuclear doctrine, released in August 1999. Progress on the nuclear weapons convention, including copies of statements such as those made to the UN Secretary-General, are posted on the A2000 Nuclear Weapons Convention Working Group email server. If you are not on and wish to be, please contact me at
Alyn Ware
New Dow Jones index based on sustainability principles
Below is an ENS (Environment News Service) newsclip which says Dow Jones has developed an index to rank companies according to sustainability principles. This is quite interesting. However it should be the task of all interested to:
1. Examine the nuts and bolts of the index
2. Get direct feedback on the sustainability-wise performance of the companies which have got good rankings (stress on the activities of these or their subsidiaries in the developing world)
3. Study the process through which the index was conceived and developed (was there ample scope for consultation etc) Information and discussion on these points would be welcome, useful and necessary.
BRUSSELS, Belgium, September 20, 1999 (ENS) - Europe is the "clear front runner" in a new global Dow Jones index ranking companies according to sustainability principles, according to one of the organisers of the index. Launched earlier this month, and said to be the first such exercise on a world scale, the index aims to boost investor interest in companies prioritising environmental and social concerns alongside economic results by showing that they often outperform the market average. European companies top nine of the 18 economic sectors within the index, according to Reto Ringger from Zurich-based SAM Sustainability Group, which developed the assessment techniques. These firms are paper products (Finland's StoraEnso), automobiles (Germany's Bayerische Motorenwerke - BMW), food (Netherlands-based Unilever), banks (Credit Suisse of Switzerland), insurance (Sweden's Skandia Forsakrings), conglomerates (Norsk Hydro of Norway), pollution control and waste management (Tomra Systems, Norway) and semiconductors and telephone systems (Germany's Deutsche Telekom).
Scientists Say Future Is In The Balance
This article, published in "Rachel's Environment and Health Weekly" (#669, September 23, 1999), contains a reprint of the 1992 Statement "Population Growth, Resource Consumption and a Sustainable World". It was then jointly issued by Sir Michael Atiyah, president of the Royal Society of London, and Dr. Frank Press, president of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. On the occasion of this re-print, I'd like to draw your attention to the websites where you can find the original statement: http://www.spiritone.com/~orsierra/rogue/popco/warn/warn01.htm . Or at: http://208.240.253.224/page7.htm [If you don't have Internet access and would like to get this statement, please send a request to me; ed.]
New Nikitin trial date set for 23 November 1999 http://www.bellona.no/e/russia/nikitin/
St. Petersburg City Court Judge Sergei Golets will hear the espionage case against environmentalist Alexandr Nikitin beginning November 23, 1999. Nikitin has been charged eight successive times with espionage for his participation in a Bellona report detailing the unsafe nuclear waste storage practices of the Russian Northern Fleet. The court hearing is to follow the additional investigation conducted by the Russian Security Police, or FSB. The case was sent to the further investigation by the same judge, Sergei Golets, in October 1998. The Judge said then that the indictment submitted by the FSB was vague and inconsistent with Russian federal legislation. The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation reaffirmed Golets's decision in February 1999. On July 26, 1999, Aleksandr Nikitin, frustrated with the Russian legal system, forwarded his application to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. The application has been registered as case no. 50178/99. Currently, a judge in Strasbourg has been appointed to evaluate the application and make recommendations for further procedure. [Source: "Bellona Messenger", 6 October 1999]
IWPR: New bulletins on Southern Caucasus and Central Asian States
The London-based "Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR)" has announced two new free e-mail news and analysis services. The first will cover the Caucasus and is due to commence by mid-October, with a second bulletin service covering Central Asian states, scheduled to start publication soon after. IWPR's Caucasus Reports, gathering the work of journalists and analysts from the regions, will offer biweekly information and analysis on human rights and political issues throughout the region. The primary contributors will be members of IWPR's Southern Caucasus Human Rights and Media Development Project. Both services are produced in collaboration with leading local research and human rights institutes. The reporting services are modeled on IWPR's Balkan Crisis Reports, recently commended as the UK's 'Best Online Journalism Service' at the annual NetMedia Awards. The Caucasus and Central Asia services will be available initially in English, with Russian language versions to follow. The Balkan reports are available in English, Serbian and Albanian. To subscribe to these services, or for further information on IWPR media development projects, contact Duncan Furey, programmes officer, at . Other IWPR reports and information about the Institute are available on-line at http://www.iwpr.net Anthony Borden, Executive Director, IWPR
CONFERENCES - MEETINGS - SEMINARS
Events listed here are being published only once due to limited space. Changes, however, will be taken into account (marked with ''UPDATE'')
Sanctions on Iraq: background, consequences & strategies
For more details, mailto: http://welcome.to/casi
8th Annual International Conference on Conflict Resolution: "Sharing Tools for Personal/Global Harmony"
For more details, mailto: http://ahpweb.org/cbi/home.html
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:
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