Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors,
There are have been a few changes at Reaching Critical Will since May. Jennifer Nordstrom, who served the project for the past two years, completed her time at the end of June. For the next several months, Ray Acheson will be fulfilling Jennifer's responsibilities; all RCW-related inquiries should be directed to her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. We will be initiating an open search process to find new permanent staff. In other disarmament news, the Department for Disarmament Affairs (DDA) is now the Office of Disarmament Affairs (ODA) and has a new representative; the CD has ended its second session without agreement on a programme of work; and the CTBTO is preparing for another Article XIV Conference. Stay tuned for details!
Best wishes,
Ray Acheson, Acting Project Associate
1) Introducing the new Acting Project Associate for Reaching Critical Will
Ray Acheson has worked as a researcher and writer for WILPF's Reaching Critical Will project for the past two years. Many regular readers will recognize Ray from the First Committee or the recent NPT PrepCom in Vienna. In addition to work with RCW, Ray has also worked at the Institute for Defense and Disarmament Studies and the Boston Consortium for Gender, Security and Human Rights, and is a regular contributor to DisarmamentActivist.org. She received her Honours BA from the University of Toronto in Peace and Conflict Studies in 2005.
2) The Department of Disarmament Affairs (DDA) is now the Office of Disarmament Affairs (ODA)
After a valiant campaign by civil society against the downgrading of the Department of Disarmament Affairs, Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon revised his proposal to the General Assembly in March, preventing DDA from being subsumed by the Department of Political Affairs. However, the Department has still been changed to an Office within the Secretary-General's own office, and is now headed by a High Representative of the Secretary-General, rather than an Undersecretary-General. The consequences of this move remain to be fully seen, however, we are concerned that the downgrade has the following implications:
First, High Representatives are personally linked to the Secretary-General, with time-bound and expiring mandates at the discretion of the Secretary-General. This means the ODA's mandate and chief will change from being part of the UN secretariat's institutional framework to being personally linked to changing Secretary-Generals.
Second, retaining DDA's independence would have allowed the Secretary-General to avoid being directly involved in political disarmament issues until he chooses to engage, instead of having every disarmament decision directly linked to his office as they now will with the ODA.
The efforts of civil society to maintain pressure on the Secretary-General and to emphasize the independence of the DDA were not in vain. Now there is a need to maintain pressure on the High Representative, Ambassador Duarte, to keep disarmament in the spotlight.
3) Mr. Sergio de Queiroz Duarte of Brazil is appointed High Representative for Disarmament
Appointed on 2 July 2007, Ambassador Duarte will head the new Office of Disarmament Affairs at the rank of Undersecretary-General, and will report directly to the Secretary-General. He has served in the Brazilian Foreign Service for 48 years, and his posts have included the Permanent Mission in Geneva, where he was a member of the Brazilian delegation to the Eighteen-Nation Disarmament Committee, and the Office of the Special Representative of Brazil for Disarmament Affairs in Geneva. He chaired the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in 1999-2000, and many will recall that he served as president of the 2005 NPT Review Conference.
4) The Conference on Disarmament closes its second session without progress
On 28 June, the CD finished its second session for 2007 without any progress on adopting a programme of work. Ambassador Jurg Streuli of Switzerland, who assumed the CD Presidency on 26 June, noted that some delegations need more time to study the documents, and told the Conference he would be in touch with those delegations during the July intersession in attempt to find a way forward. Switzerland hopes to adopt L.1 "as early as possible" when the CD reconvenes in August. Ambassador Streuli reiterated that L.1 will allow delegations to pursue national interest following the adoption of the draft decision.
Pakistan reiterated that it still had significant substantive concerns over the L.1 proposal and accompanying Presidential Draft Decision, which sparked a frank and pointed exchange with New Zealand and Brazil. The second session concluded with a sense of stalemate, as Pakistan is becoming increasingly adamant about its difficulties with the L.1 proposal. Pakistan concluded that it will continue to work with the Conference, but the "Presidential Draft Decision is a proposal that has yet to obtain consensus."
Please see the CD Report for more details. If you would like to subscribe to the Reaching Critical Will CD Reports, please send an email with the word "subscribe" in the subject line to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
5) The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty is gearing up for the fifth Entry-Into-Force (Article XIV) Conference
Parties to the Comprehensive nuclear Test-Ban Treaty meet every two years so signatories to and ratifiers of the CTBT can strategize about how to facilitate the CTBT's entry-into-force. This year, the Conference will be held in Vienna from 17-18 September 2007. RCW has been asked to once again serve as the NGO liaison to the Conference. As soon as the ODA releases the aide memoire for the Conference, we will make it available on the RCW website and distribute information on registration, press conference, and side events in the E-News.
In the meantime, we can get started drafting the collective NGO statement that will be read by one representative from civil society at the Conference (we are usually granted five minutes to read this statement). Previous NGO statements from the 2001, 2003, and 2005Conferences are available on the RCW website. RCW has created a Yahoo listserve to coordinate the drafting of this statement; please go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ctbt2007/ or email Ray Acheson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Why is the EIF Conference Important?
The Entry-Into-Force Conferences are opportunities for:
* announcing ratifications and signatures;
* calling on those states that have not yet signed or ratified the CTBT to join the international consensus to end nuclear testing;
* urging states with active nuclear weapon research programmes and test sites to take actions that would reinforce the CTBT and support its goals, such as refraining from activities at test sites that might be construed as CTBT violations, including halting research, development and production of nuclear warheads based on modifications of existing designs that give provide for new military capabilities;
* examining ways and means of removing obstacles which delay Entry-Into-Force;
* discussing and agreeing on specific measures to convince the ten holdout states whose ratification is required for Entry Into Force to ratify the treaty; and
* supporting the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty Organisation in Vienna that has made significant progress in setting up the International Monitoring System and International Data Center, so that the CTBT's verification system is ready by the time the treaty enters into force.
What Else Can NGOs Do?
* contact Reaching Critical Will, who will be coordinating an NGO statement to be delivered to the CTBT States Parties at the Conference;
* make an appointment to speak with a representative at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or equivalent and encourage the Foreign Minister to attend the conference to publicly urge the CTBT hold out states to promptly ratify the Treaty; to contact your government's mission, see RCW's Governmental Database;
* Register your group to attend; (details on registration will be forthcoming through the RCW General E-News service)
* monitor the CTBT EIF progress through the Reaching Critical Will website and react to what your government does or does not say
* publicize your views and your government's policies on the CTBT to the press in your country
* if you live in China, Colombia, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran (Isalmic Republic of), Israel, Pakistan or the United States, urge your government to ratify the CTBT without delay.
6) UN Treaty Event highlights disarmament treaties this year
Since the Millennium Summit in 2000, an annual Treaty Event, where delegations can sign, ratify, or accede to treaties deposited with the Secretary-General of the UN, is held in the fall. The event is designed to attract high-level signatories to key treaties by linking the event to the opening of the UN General Assembly. This year, the Treaty Event's theme is "Towards Universal Participation and Implementation—A Comprehensive Legal Framework for Peace, Development and Human Rights." Accordingly, many of the highlighted treaties are related to disarmament, including the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, the Mine Ban Treaty, and the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons.
The Treaty Event will be held 25-27 September and 1-2 October 2007 at UN Headquarters in New York. It's a good opportunity to encourage your government to sign, ratify, or accede to UN treaties, and to raise awareness of these vital, norm-establishing documents that foster the rule of law in international relations. You can also contact local and national press to publicize the event and your government's positions on these treaties.
For further information, and for a complete list of the treaties being focused on this year, please visit the UN Treaty Collection website athttp://untreaty.un.org/English/treaty.asp.
