International Network of Engineers and Scientists Against Proliferation

INESAP at the NPT PrepCom meeting 1998 in Geneva

INESAP activities in preparation for, at and after the second Preparatory Committee meeting for the NPT Review Conference in the year 2000, April 27 to May 8, 1998 in Geneva.

In cooperation with Abolition 2000 and a number of NGOs

Sponsored by the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation (April 9, 1998)

1) INESAP outreach to delegates and the public

1.a.) Briefing panels during the PrepCom. INESAP will co-organise two main events:

Panel 1 on Tuesday, April 28, 6:30-8:30 pm

Complete disarmament of nuclear weapons with distinguished speakers organised by INESAP and the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation in cooperation with INES, ipb, LCNP/IALANA, IPPNW and Abolition 2000. The following key note speakers accepted the invitation:

David Krieger as facilitator (USA), Joseph Rotblat (UK), Douglas Roche (Canada), Miyoko Matsubara (Japan).

The main topics of the panel discussion may address:

• the end of nuclear deterrence as a meaningful strategic global or regional concept,
  
  
• immediate steps of nuclear disarmament and towards a NWFW,
  
  
• the framework of a NWFW,
  
  
• the draft proposal of a NWC.

Panel 2 on Thursday, April 30, 2-4pm

The Nuclear Weapons Convention (NWC): Political strategies and verification organised by INESAP and LCNP

• 2-3pm: - Chair: Idea and purpose of a NWC, presentation of the new draft of the Model NWC (mNWC)
  
  
• Alyn Ware: Responses from the political arena to the Draft mNWC and strategies for its promotion
  
  
• Merav Datan: Open questions and critical issues of the mNWC
  
  
• 3-4pm - IANUS: Presentation on the preliminary ideas of the proposed INESAP study with the title ,Beyond technical verification: Transparency, verification, and preventive control for the Nuclear Weapons Convention" concerning the concept of the study, verification and safeguards technologies, chances and limits of a technological approach, preliminary political consequences

1.b.) Briefings and briefing papers

The five briefing papers are disseminated for free at the Geneva PrepCom to reach delegates, NGO representatives and the media. INESAP offers the following oral briefings during the PrepCom meeting. The first one comes in addition to the five printed briefing papers.

• April 28, 1-2pm: HEU for research reactors, the case of the new FRMII in Garching (Wolfgang Liebert)
  
  
• April 29, 1-2pm: Cut-off in the NPT review process (Martin Kalinowski, Wolfgang Liebert)
  
  
• April 29, 5-7pm, WSLF-Panel: ,Stockpile Stewartship" is incompatible with nuclear disarmament (J. Cabasso)
  
  
• April 30, 3-4pm, INESAP/LCNP-Panel: Beyond technical verification (M. Kalinowski, W. Liebert, Jrgen Scheffran)
  
  
• April 30, 1-2pm: Multilateralising the nuclear disarmament process (Owen Greene)
  
  
• May 1, 1-2pm: Cooperative non-intrusive monitoring for a WMDFZ in the Middle East (F.H. Hammad, R. Pedatzur)

1.c.) Letter to governments of selected countries

A number of countries which will not include the recognised nuclear weapon states will be selected and important persons in the foreign ministries will be personally informed about the concept and preliminary findings and policy proposals of the starting work for the INESAP study ,Beyond technical verification: Transparency, verification, and preventive control for the Nuclear Weapons Convention". The criteria for selecting a country are:

• membership in the UN Conference on Disarmament, such that a specific interest in receiving and perceiving our information and evaluation can be expected,
  
  
• recent activities which show an active role in the international debate on disarmament issues,
  
  
• indication that a multilateral initiative towards a NWFW and related steps could be supported by the government
  
  
• INESAP has already contacts or a contact might be achievable by our network. The list of countries could include: Brazil, Mexico, Australia, Egypt, South Africa, India, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Austria, Hungary, and the European Union (Common Foreign and Security Policy - CFSP). The main purpose of a letter to governments of selected countries is to explain our major policy proposals for next steps towards a nuclear-weapon-free world which will be backed by preliminary scientific analysis from the planned INESAP study ,Beyond technical verification: Transparency, verification, and preventive control for the Nuclear Weapons Convention". We will suggest how a country might find a way to support related activities. In addition, the letter will invite representatives of the selected countries to participate in our presentations at the NPT PrepCom in Geneva.

1.d.) Internal working meetings of INESAP

Thursday, April 30, 5-8pm: Informal discussion about our political strategy at the PrepCom and afterwards, first considerations on the contribution of INESAP to The Hague Appeal for Peace

Sunday, May 3, 10am-5pm: Preparatory meeting for the INESAP 1998 Conference in Amman, Jordan, planning of further activities within the INESAP project on a Middle East WMDFZ

Monday, May 3, 10am-5pm: Informal discussion on an international conference on Nuclear-Weapons-Free Zones

2.) INESAP support for other NGO activities at the NPT PrepCom in Geneva:

2.a.) Support for the Middle Power Initiative pressing for a NWC

A further objective of the letter to selected governments (see point 1.c.) aims at supporting the multilateral initiative started by Douglas Roche and known as the ,Middle Power Initiative" (MPI). The idea of Douglas Roche is that a number of around 10 middle power countries should adopt a policy to urge the USA to take a clear commitment towards complete nuclear disarmament. INES and INESAP are invited as an international co-sponsor of the MPI. INESAP may use its international network to help to convince a few (more) governments to speak out for complete nuclear disarmament. The focus of INESAP will be on support for the Nuclear Weapons Convention.

2.b.) Planning for The Hague Appeal for Peace

INES is a member of the organizing committee of the Campaign for The Hague Appeal for Peace. INESAP will contribute to the major international citizens' peace conference to be held May 11-16, 1999 in The Hague, The Netherlands. A planning meeting for The Hague Appeal for Peace is scheduled for May 8 and 9, 1998 in Geneva. INESAP proposes to organise a large section of this conference on abolition of nuclear weapons. The idea is to evaluate what has been achieved with regard to the goal of abolishing nuclear weapons by the year 2000 and what is missing. Half a year before this deadline, it is high time to raise tremendous public awareness and increase pressure to the governments of relevant countries. This part of the conference may have several sessions which feature prominent persons from specific branches. One day may be reserved for military leaders, one day for scientists, one day for artists. One main purpose of the event should be to attract high media coverage world-wide.

The underlying assumption is that the US administration is the dominant force in the international arena and that other nuclear weapon countries would follow suite, if the US takes a courageous step towards nuclear disarmament. In addition to the growing pressure from NGOs, expert studies, Generals and Admirals and not least the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, it appears feasible and most efficient to convince a number of governments to make use of their influence and raise issues related to completed nuclear disarmament in Washington. See Douglas Roche, Breaking the Disarmament Deadlock. Dealing with objections to and forming a plan for the abolition of nuclear weapons, INESAP Information Bulletin No. 14, November 1997, p. 4-6.