NGO COMMITTEE ON PEACE VIENNA ACTIVITIES OF THE NGO COMMITTEE ON PEACE, VIENNA, SEPTEMBER 2005 to JUNE 2006 SUMMARY REPORT

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1 REP.11.E.06 NGO COMMITTEE ON PEACE VIENNA ACTIVITIES OF THE NGO COMMITTEE ON PEACE, VIENNA, SEPTEMBER 2005 to JUNE 2006 SUMMARY REPORT A// Introductory The Committee has again profited from the cooperation with and the assistance of the UN Office Vienna (UNOV). The Committee expresses thanks in particular to Ms. Phillipa Lawrence and Mr. Nyron Sequeira of the Office of the Director General UNOV, in charge of protocol and NGO liaison. The support given by UN Information Service (UNIS), by its Director Ms. Nasra Hassan and by Ms. Renate Henke, is greatly appreciated. Information on UN activities has been received both in printed form and practically daily by from UNIS, thus facilitating to keep abreast of UN developments. The possibility to use the Press Briefing Room of Vienna International Centre for meetings of the Committee and the provision of power point projection equipment, which was essential for the success of several meetings, is acknowledged with thanks. The planning of activities of the Committee took place at Board Meetings on 11 January 2006 and on 28 June 2006, and in connection with information and Discussion Meetings. B// Special Events 1// August 2005: Observing sixty Years after the Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This event at the Peace Bell on Memorial Plaza in front of Vienna International Centre (VIC) was arranged by the Committee in cooperation with the United Nations Office Vienna. It was attended by many NGO Representatives and by staff members of the international organisations located in VIC. 1

2 A Message from UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan was read. Speakers were: Ambassador Taous Feroukhi, Permanent Representative of Algeria to UN Vienna, Chairperson of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organisation; Mr. Tomihori Taniguchi, Deputy Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency; Ambassador Thomas Stelzer, Permanent Representative of Austria to UN Vienna; Dr. Klaus Renoldner, NGO Representative at UN Vienna of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW). Dr. Gertraud Fuehrer moderated. The VIC Peace Bell was rung to mark the event. 2// 12 October 2005: In memoriam Sir Joseph Rotblat ( ; Secretary General and then President of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, Nobel Peace Prize 1995). This meeting was arranged by the Committee in cooperation with the Austrian Central Library of Physics and took place in a lecture hall of the Faculty of Chemistry of Vienna University. Personal reminiscences of Professor Rotblat were presented by Professor Ana Maria Cetto, Mexiko City, at Present Deputy Director General of International Atomic Energy Agency; Professor Peter Markl, University of Vienna, many years member of Pugwash Council; Professor Ernst Schwarcz, Vienna, participant in the Third Pugwash Conference, A video recording of Professor Rotblat lecturing at Vienna University in 1998 was shown. C// Information and Discussion Meetings These meetings took place at the Vienna International Centre, usually in the Press Briefing Room. 1// 16 November 2005: Mr0 Yurli Kryvonos, Conflict Prevention Centre of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OCSZ), spoke on Preventing Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons Role and Tasks of the OSCE. 2// 7 December 2005: Peace Education 2005 Discussion of works of literature as an element of peace education. Experience with projects for school classes was reported. Reports were given by Mr. G. Falschiehner, Mr. J. Penzendorfer, Ms. E. Schmidt, Mr. W. Horvath, Ms. E. Hensler. Two projects concerned classes of 13 and 14 2

3 years old pupils two other projects concerned classes of 17 to 18 years old youngsters. 3// 11 January 2006: Professor Victor Kremenyuk, Institute for USA and Canada Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences and International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria) spoke on International Negotiations to Prevent Conflict Escalation and for Disarmament. 4// 22 February 2006: Peace Camps. Ms. Evelyn Boehmer-Laufer and Ms. Susi Shaked reported on a camp of Hadassah Austria (Arab and Jewish youth from Israel and young Austrians). Professor Karl- Heinz Wolff spoke on activities of Rotary International. Ms. Hamsa Eichler and Professor Ernst Schwarcz informed about Quaker Work Camps. 5// 21 March 2006: Ambassador Roald Naess, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway, spoke on The Nuclear Suppliers Group. 6// 20 April 2006: Colonel Andre Sevigny, Military Adviser to the Canadian Delegation to the OSCE, spoke on The Open Skies Treaty. 7// 3 May 2006: Envoy Mag. Dorothea Auer, Austrian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, spoke on UN Efforts to Stop Illicit Small Arms Trade- towards the 2006 Review Conference. 8// 7 June 2006: Nuclear Threats Then and Now. A film (100 minutes) reporting on a conference on non-proliferation of nuclear weapons in November 2005 in Washington DC, convened by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, was shown and discussed. Part of this film is an interview with IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradel. 9// 28 June 2006: The Final Report of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission (WMDC). Introductory speakers were: Dr. Klaus Renoldner (on nuclear and space weapons), Professor Jlri Matousek (on chemical weapons), Professor Thomas Schoenfeld (on biological weapons). Copies of the Report of the WMDC Commission, chaired by Hans Blix, which had been sent by the WMDC Secretariat in Stockholm, were made available to interested participants of this meeting. Possibilities of contributing to the international discussion 3

4 process, which the WMDC Report is intended to stimulate, were suggested by participants in the meeting. D// NGOs calling for entry into force of the CTBT The Committee was a signatory of the statement NGOs from all over the world presented jointly to the Fourth Conference on accelerating entry Into Force of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), which was held in New York, 19 to 23 September 2005, in accordance with Article XIV of the CTBT. This signature was agreed by the Board of the Committee. The following are some important passages of the joint NGO statement: it is essential to recall that the 1996 CTBT is largely the product of decades of hard work, dedication and advocacy by NGOs, scientific experts, and millions of ordinary people around the world. They have long understood that ending nuclear testing is essential for three powerful reasons: to impede the development of new types of nuclear warheads and reduce dangerous nuclear arms competitions; to obstruct the emergence of new nuclear powers; and to prevent further devastation of human health and the global environment the CBCT is vital because it directly contributes to national and international security. the CBCT is a critical building block in the architecture of the global nuclear non-proliferation system. The de facto global nuclear test moratorium and CBCTs entry into force are crucial barriers to help prevent the spread of nuclear weapons to additional states and are essential to the future viability of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) The CTBT is also an essential step towards nuclear disarmament because it helps to discourage dangerous nuclear competition and blocks new nuclear threats from emerging. We call on all states possessing nuclear weapons to at all qualitative improvements in their nuclear armaments, whether or not these improvements require test explosions. In this context, we are deeply concerned that the current U.S. administration is seeking funding for a controversial program of research on a new generation of high yield earth-penetrating nuclear warheads, as well as new types of so-called replacement warheads. the development, production, or testing of such weapons by the United States or any state is likely to lead to a dangerous nuclear action-reaction cycle that would not only undermine the test ban, but 4

5 international security as a whole, likely serving as a catalyst for a new nuclear arms race The CBCT establishes a far-reaching global monitoring, verification, and compliance system that has already and will continue to build confidence that no state can defy the non-testing norm and escape detection. A series of independent studies, including a 2002 U.S. Academy of Science report, have al concluded that the system is capable of detecting nuclear explosions in all environments with a high degree of confidence, thereby deterring potential treaty violators. We commend the PrepCom and Provisional Technical Secretariat for their work in establishing the International Monitoring System and International Data Centre, which are already proving their capabilities beyond expectations We call on all Signatory States to provide the political, financial, and technical support necessary for the earliest possible implementation of all elements of the CBCTs verification system. despite overwhelming international support for the CBCT and the many ways it contributes to our security, eleven key states have not yet signed and/or ratified We are particularly dismayed with the policies of the Bush administration, which is not even seeking Senate approval for ratification, and that of China, which to our knowledge has failed to take any further action toward ratification since the last Article XIV conference. We, urge the governments represented at this conference to actively urge at the highest levelthe U.S. administration to join the list of responsible and civilized states and reconsider its opposition to the treaty. We urge China to complete ratification before the end of this year More so than any other region in the world, South Asia needs a nuclear-test-ban. We urge leaders in India and Pakistan to embrace the CBT as a sign of their mutual desire to move back from the brink and to cultivate peaceful relations Entry-into-force of the CTBT is within reach. But as a result of the actions of a few states, the viability of a veritable, comprehensive ban on nuclear test and the future of the NPT itself- is in jeopardy. No single government should be allowed to stand in the way of the historical opportunity to permanently and the scourge of nuclear testing, an indispensable step toward eliminating nuclear weapon threats and preventing nuclear war. People the world over have been part of the coalition working for a comprehensive nuclear test ban and an end to the arms race. While the concerns of this statement focus on technical and political 5

6 suspects of nuclear testing, there is a moral and ethical value imperative for achieving CTBT entry into force. If our generation and that of our children are to thrive in a more just, equitable, environmentally sustainable, and free society, we must seize every opportunity to halt the proliferation of the world s most deadly weapons and accelerate progress towards their elimination. We, NGO supporters of the CBT, stand ready to contribute to the effort to secure CTBT entry into force. Gertraud Fuehrer Angelika Hofmann Klaus Renoldner Thomas Schoenfeld 10 July 2006 This Summary Report can also be sent via . If you wish to receive it in that form, please send an to the Secretary of the Committee Mag. Angelika Hofmann: e.a.hofmann@utanet.at 6