Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors,
In this E-news:

1. The UN General Assembly First Committee on Disarmament, Peace and Security prepares for an exciting upcoming session; and
2. The Conference on Disarmament closes its relatively productive 2006 session.

Once again there is reason for hope, and once again that hope must be realized through action. In the midst of the debate among the leaders of the world, and coming up on the world's disarmament consensus-building body, there are glimmers that we will succeed in building the world in which we want to live. Despite all the rhetoric, diplomacy may prevail in the Iran situation: the European Union is resuming negotiations with Iran. Seven governments are introducing an Arms Trade Treaty that would regulate trade in small arms and light weapons for the first time. The world's disarmament treaty negotiating body, the Conference on Disarmament, just concluded its most productive year in nearly a decade, and is building towards negotiating again. The Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission has recommended governments hold a Review Conference on the 40th anniversary of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty to deal with weapons in space.

All of these glimmers are just hopes until we create them. They are flashing possibilities that civil society and like-minded governments need to work into reality. Educate yourself and others, and then act. Use our General Assembly Disarmament Index, to help you find out what your government's position is, and then, with all your friends, call your Foreign Ministry and tell them what it should be. Tell themwork for a Nuclear Weapons Free Zone in the Middle East. Tell them to support and strengthen the Arms Trade Treaty. Tell them to work on the four core issues in the Conference on Disarmament- the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space, a Fissile Materials Treaty,Negative Security Assurances and, of course, Nuclear Disarmament. Tell them to block weapons in space. We create the world we want.

Best wishes,
Jennifer Nordstrom, Project Associate

1. The UN General Assembly's First Committee on Disarmament, Peace and Security prepares for an exciting upcoming session.
The international consensus-building committee on disarmament, peace and security is meeting soon. The UN General Assembly's First Committee on Disarmament, Peace and Security meets every October for 4-5 weeks, after the September General Assembly General Debate. The governments of the world haggle over priorities, policy, and language, to develop consensus on weapons, peace, and security. With disarmament diplomats from around the world, the First Committee offers one of the best opportunities for outreach, education, and advocacy efforts on disarmament and nonproliferation issues.

Governments are poised to struggle over guns and conventional weapons at this year's First Committee. People are frustrated about the failed June 2006 Small Arms and Light Weapons Review Conference, and will likely use this October as an opportunity. Also, seven governments (Argentina, Australia, Costa Rica, Finland, Japan, Kenya, and the United Kingdom) are proposing an Arms Trade Treatythat would govern the sale of small arms and light weapons, from revolvers to rifles to anti-tank missile systems, for the first time.

On nuclear issues, governments might debate nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and weapons in space issues. A Preparatory Committee for the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is scheduled for the spring of 2007, and although the General Assembly does not oversee the NPT review process, governments will likely discuss the upcoming preparatory committee and possibly affirm it. Also, the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission recently recommended governments hold a Review Conference on the 40th anniversary of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty to deal with weapons in space. Although it remains to be seen if any government will pick up this call, the First Committee would be the place to do it.

Reaching Critical Will follows the First Committee and publishes issue-based summaries of the negotiations, resolutions and votes. We send our First Committee Monitor to our email lists in HTML and PDF form, and make it available online. The HTML version is chock-full of hyper-links to more information, treaty texts and organizations, and the PDF version prints into an accessible attractive newsletter. We encourage you to use this easy resource to see what your government is saying and doing on disarmament in the international arena. There is no other source following these issues as closely. To receive this weekly newsletter by email, send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with « First Commitee subscribe » in the heading, indicating whether you prefer the HTML or PDF version.

Reaching Critical Will also closely monitors the Heads of State and Foreign Ministers' statements during the UN General Debate, which is happening right now. We produce a Disarmament Index of all references to disarmament and non-proliferation. This index is published online by the beginning of the First Committee, and, searchable by country and by topic, is a guide to countries' priorities.

We hope you will take advantage of this opportunity to become a participant in the UN First Committee process through Reaching Critical Will. Not only will The Monitor help you with your work efforts towards disarmament, Reaching Critical Will represents civil society at the UN, helping us create a stronger voice of disarmament for the future. If you want to be more involved than a regular subscriber, please contact our Project Associate at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

2. The Conference on Disarmament closes its relatively productive 2006 session
This year the Conference on Disarmament did more substantive work than it has done in years. After encouragement from the 2005 General Assembly's First Committee on Disarmament, Peace and Security, all six 2006 presidents got together and developed a coordinated timetable for debates.

This allowed governments to plan ahead, prepare papers, bring experts from capital to talk to one another, and all debate the same subject at the same time. Although this sounds like it should be the regular state of affairs, the world's only multilateral disarmament treaty negotiating body has not approached this level of substantive debate in years. The 2006 presidents brought the Conference back to addressing substance, if not to negotiating it.

Next year's presidents (South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, and Syria) must do more. They will have the power and the opportunity to move the disarmament agenda forward at a time when we desperately need it. We hope the CD, which has been so embarassingly deadlocked for so long, will lead the international disarmament community as it should, by showing that its members can effectively work together on the four core issues. Good faith here could generate good faith elsewhere, and vice versa.

Civil society would like to know how the CD intends to use to build on the work of this year and begin work next year. As Canada said on August 22 and The Netherlands said on September 6, a repeat of this year's exercise will not be good enough. We are pleased governments are finally discussing substantive issues in a way that will build a foundation for negotiations, but we expect more.