Introduction
The intention of this study is to present a scientific document which looks beyond the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and outlines the transformation process of the traditional non-proliferation regime towards a Nuclear-Weapon-Free World (NWFW) regime.
A number of related proposals have already been made at the first INESAP Conference in Mülheim in August 1993 and later on. Some have been written down in the proceedings of this meeting[1] and in the founding declaration of the International Coalition for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament 'Working Together for a Nuclear-weapon-free World' (December 1993), which is related to the work and goals of INESAP.[2]
In the Summer of 1994 INESAP has formed the Study Group "Beyond the NPT". A first meeting of the Study Group took place at the Protestant Academy Mlheim (Germany) in November 1994. More than 30 papers were presented there which is the base for the current work, in particular for this first document of the study group. The contents and the names of contributors were fixed in late 1994, including more than 50 experts from 17 countries. In the middle of February 1995 a follow-on special meeting "Nuclear Weapons Convention as the cornerstone of the nuclear-weapon-free world" was organized in London with support of the London Pugwash office.
The overall objective of the study group is to transform the (short-term) public interest in the NPT issue towards the long-term goal of a nuclear-weapon-free world. Hoping that the extension of the NPT is followed by multi-lateral negotiations towards a Nuclear Weapons Convention (NWC), the present document is promoting this idea. It examines how the goal could look like and analyzes how it could be reached and what it would imply to go from here to there, both based on the technical expertise of international scientists and engineers.
We would like to see that the 1995 NPT Conference (maybe in its final document) will give a mandate to the Conference on Disarmament to start negotiations towards a NWC. Furthermore we expect an indirect influence on the Conference's process by addressing the ultimate aim of non-proliferation and disarmament policy. This is even more important, since the diplomatic tug-of-war is focusing only on the procedure of NPT extension.
Of course, first we would like to bring across the message that the vision of a nuclear-weapon-free world can be brought into reality by a step-by-step process that we try to outline. Secondly, we believe that effective non-proliferation policy means transforming the existing non-proliferation regime, which is mainly focused on the horizontal spread of nuclear weapons, into a nuclear-weapon-free-world regime. Thirdly, we would like to encourage people to act on these ideas in the future. This is a challenge for the next decades, but the current NPT Extension Conference (not necessarily the outcome itself) can be perceived as a bifurcation point for global nuclear policy. We should try to have some impact on this process by opposing the maintenance of some sort of nuclear deterrence and by advocating the elimination of all nuclear weapons.
We hope that this document will find the interest of the delegations and diplomats as well as the news media being present at the 1995 NPT Conference in New York. But it is also intended to be a source of arguments and proposals for interested citizen's and non-governmental organizations (NGO's). The findings of the INESAP Study Group will be presented at the Forum for the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, which is prepared for April 25/26 in New York together with the International Coalition. A later book publication, intended for the research community and experts in the decision making process, is planned to work out some of the proposals in more detail.
W.Liebert, J.Scheffran (eds.), Against Proliferation - Towards General Disarmament, Proceedings of the First Conference of the International Network of Engineers and Scientists Against Proliferation (INESAP), Mnster: agenda, 1995.- The International Coalition has been formed in 1993 by the International Peace Bureau (IPB), the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), the International Association of Lawyers against Nuclear Arms (IALANA) and by INES/INESAP.
