Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors:

Late 2008 has seen a number of high-profile "endorsements" of the goal of a nuclear weapon free world. The European Union presented anuclear disarmament proposal to the UN, by way of a letter to the UN Secretary-General by French President Sarkozy. The UK government endorsed the establishment of Global Zero, an initiative launched in Paris on 9 December aimed at eliminating nuclear weapons globally "to combat the threat of proliferation and nuclear terrorism" through "phased and verifiable reductions". Welcoming the growing awareness that nuclear disarmament is a viable, necessary step for international security, the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom reminds the new campaigners and the veteran ones that nuclear disarmament is an essential aspect of demilitarization, reductions of military expenditures, sustainable peace and development, and global justice.

Happy holidays,
Ray Acheson, Project Associate

1) Nuclear Weapon Free Zone news
Central Asia
On 11 December 2008, the Senate of Kazakhstan ratified the Central Asian Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Treaty, bringing the Treaty into force. The Treaty was previously ratified by Tajikistan on 12 November 2008 and by Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan in March and April 2008.

Greg Mello of the Los Alamos Study Group notes that nuclear weapon free zones (NWFZ) limit nuclear "freedom of action" in an important way: "nuclear weapons are supposed to be the weapons of last resort by their theorists, the final arbiter of conflict... Taking the nuclear option off the table in one, two, or in fact many cases threatens the validity of that nuclearist paradigm globally. Such zones as this provide important geographic crystallizations of legal concepts that already block nuclear use, thickening and strengthening them."

Africa
The South African-based Institute for Security Studies recently released a new Guide to the African Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty. It can be found at

http://www.issafrica.org/dynamic/administration/file_manager/file_links/RATP

Hard copies can be ordered from Amelia du Rand (at no cost) via her email address (adurand[at]issafrica.org).

For more information, please contact:

Noël STOTT
Senior Research Fellow / Chercheur Principal
Arms Management / Gestion des Armes
Institute for Security Studies / Institut d'Études de Sécurité
Po Box 1787, Brooklyn Square
Tshwane (Pretoria), 0075, South Africa / Afrique du Sud
Tel: +27 (0) 12 346 9500/2
Fax: +27 (0) 12 460 0998
Mobile: +27 (0) 82 8286070
fax2email: +27 (0) 866374960
ISS Web Site: www.issafrica.org
ArmsNetAfrica: http://www.armsnetafrica.org
Blog: http://wmdafricafiles.blogspot.com/

For more information on nuclear weapon free zones, please see
http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/resources/factsheets/nwfz.html

2) Military muscle flexes
US-India Deal
On 7 October 2008, US President Bush signed legislation to enact the US-India nuclear agreement. As critics of the deal feared, it has already led Pakistan to seek similar deals with the United States and others. Pakistan has approached the government of France and isreportedly "seeking greater market access to the EU, preferably in the form of a free trade agreement, especially since the EU has started FTA negotiations with India and other countries in South Asia." India also signed a nuclear and space agreement with Russia in December—the third such agreement India has signed after a decision in September by the Nuclear Suppliers Group to waive its ban on trade of atomic technology.

Missile defence and START
A team of US policy and technical experts went to Moscow to discuss American plans for missile defence facilities in Central Europe, as well as efforts to replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which expires at the end of 2009. Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said the consultations were useful but that serious differences remain. US negotiator John Rood, Under Secretary of State for arms control and international security, stressed that Moscow and Washington were in agreement on reaching a new accord to replace START, though differences in scope and many elements of a new treaty still remain.

The key points on the START negotiations: The US has submitted a draft treaty for Russian consideration, which the Russians have responded to with comments for US consideration. Both sides seem fairly confident they will be able to negotiate a follow-on treaty before START expires, though it is still very unclear what the treaty might look like.

The key points on missile defence in Europe: The US, Czech, and Polish governments are all on the same page with plans to establish US missile defence bases in the Czech Republic and Poland and intend to move ahead. To placate the Russian government, the US has invited Russian officials to be observers on these bases to ensure "transparency" about US intentions.

For more information on these consultations, please see http://www.state.gov/t/us/rm/113301.htm.

EU military plans
In December, French President Nicolas Sarkozy argued Europe must not "remain a military dwarf" and EU leaders "vowed to boost military resources so the bloc can live up to its security ambitions." The United States spends more on defence than the 27 EU nations combined and has regularly pressured its European allies to increase defence spending to a minimum of two percent of gross domestic product.

In a statement, the EU leaders committed Friday "to make good the inadequate resources available in Europe by gradually improving civilian and military capabilities." To give "fresh impetus" to EU policy, the leaders set targets for the kinds of civilian and military operations they want to be able to conduct in coming years and commit "to develop robust, flexible and interoperable capabilities", including the capability to deploy a total of 60,000 troops in 60 days for a major operation, while "planning and conducting simultaneously" 19 other missions, ranging from maritime surveillance to police training.

3) Voting on Arms Trade Treaty resolution coming up
On 22 December, the United Nations General Assembly will vote on the resolution 'Towards an Arms Trade Treaty'. Most government voted YES to the draft resolution at the First Committee in October, and the final stage to adopt the resolution formally is the upcoming General Assembly vote on 22 December.

Please send the letter below to your relevant government official, encouraging them to vote YES again on 22 December.

To maintain momentum for a strong and effective ATT, it is important that the upcoming vote registers strong support amongst UN member states. This letter will help encourage states to vote before they begin vacations for the holiday period.

To support the vote please fax or deliver the letter (below), with your organisation's logo, to the relevant governmental official (usually in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) before 22 December.

++++++++

**ADDRESS**

**DATE**

Dear Minister

RE: Voting in support of the Arms Trade Treaty resolution at the UN General Assembly

We welcome your support for the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), expressed through the vote at the First Committee in October, and urge you to repeat this support during the vote in the plenary of the General Assembly on 22 December.

The resolution, 'Towards an Arms Trade Treaty' (A/C.1/63/L.39), received overwhelming support at First Committee, where 145 states voted yes in the room and a further four have since registered their support.

Your vote in support of the resolution on 22 December is crucial to demonstrate the growing momentum for a strong and effective ATT that will save lives by preventing arms getting into the wrong hands. On average every day, over one thousand people are killed with firearms and many more are injured as a consequence of armed violence; many thousands more are displaced or forced off their land. A strong and effective ATT is needed urgently.

The General Assembly resolution will establish an Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) to further consider elements for inclusion in a legally-binding treaty on the import, export and transfer of conventional arms. We urge **YOUR STATE** to actively participate in the OEWG meetings, and to promote a strong ATT based upon "the Golden Rule" - that no arms transfers should be permitted where the weapons are likely to be used to commit serious violations of international human rights or humanitarian law, or to undermine sustainable development.

States must work to ensure that real progress is made in the OEWG and other fora such that by October 2009, the UN can move forwards to negotiation.

Yours sincerely

**YOUR NAME**

For more information, please contact:

Bruce Millar
Programme Officer
IANSA - International Action Network on Small Arms Development House
56-64 Leonard Street
London EC2A 4LT (UK)
Tel: +44 20 7065 0867
Fax: +44 20 7065 0871
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
www.iansa.org

4) Stopping the clock on cluster munitions?
In early November 2008, a group of governmental experts met to negotiate a protocol on cluster munitions in the context of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) in Geneva. As opposed to the Convention on Cluster Munitions negotiated and adopted in Dublin in May 2008, the CCW protocol is intended "to address urgently the humanitarian impact of cluster munitions, while striking a balance between military and humanitarian considerations".

However, writing on Disarmament Insight, John Borrie explained that the GGE "stopped the clock" on their negotiations:

Such a step is occasionally taken in international negotiations when there's genuine hope for reaching a final agreement but the parties face a hard and fast deadline. Parties agree to continue negotiations, usually deep into that same night and into the early morning hours, pretending that the pre-set deadline has not passed. Examples in recent memory include the negotiations around the final declarations of the second review conference of the Chemical Weapons Convention in April 2008 and the review conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in April/May 2000.

On 14 November 2008, at the annual general meeting of the CCW, states parties to that Convention agreed on the following mandate for its cluster munitions work in 2009:

The Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) will continues its negotiations, taking into account document CCW/GGE/2008-V/WP.1 and other present and future proposals by delegations, to address urgently the humanitarian impact of cluster munitions, while striking a balance between military and humanitarian considerations.

The GGE should make every effort to conclude its negotiations as rapidly as possible and report to the next meeting of the High Contracting Parties.

The work of the GGE will be supported by military and technical experts.

The GGE will meet, [sic] up to two weeks in 2009, from 16 to 20 February 2009 and subsequently, if required, from 14 to 17 April 2009.

John Borrie explains, this "means that in the New Year the CCW will have another window of opportunity to try to come to a consensus on the work it has started on agreeing a protocol/proposal/instrument/thingummy." He also noted its still unclear how robust or legally-binding any CCW protocol on cluster muntions will be.

In the meantime, 94 countries have now signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions. For details on the signing ceremony, see John Borrie's post, "2008: The end of the beginning for the Oslo Process". He also provides some key insights to future developments around cluster munitions, particularly related to the challenges of implementation and universalization of the new Convention, concluding that "2009 will require continued effort, creativity and hard work to ensure that the CCM makes a difference to people's lives on the ground."

5) New Zealand's demilitarization divestments
On 12 December, the chief executive of the New Zealand Superannuation Fund announced the fund will divest $37 million (0.3% of its portfolio) from seven companies involved in cluster munitions and nuclear explosive devices, including:

• Goodrich Corporation
• Honeywell International
• L-3 Communications
• Lockheed Martin
• Northrop Grumman
• Poonsang Corporation
• Raytheon

6) New French nuclear testing compensation law
In November 2008, French Defence Minister Hervé Morin announced that the French government will introduce legislation to the National Assembly in January 2009, to compensate people affected by radiation at its nuclear test sites in Algeria and the South Pacific—a significant change in policy.

From an article entitled "France continues to avoid responsibility for nuclear compensation":
Speaking to Le Parisien newspaper on 26 November 2008, Defence Minister Morin stated: "If the Bill is passed at the National Assembly during the first quarter of 2009, we will grant compensation to civilian and military personnel exposed during the nuclear tests. We have drawn up a list of illnesses linked to the effects of radioactivity." But the announcement has been greeted with scorn by civilian and military personnel who staffed the nuclear tests sites from 1960 until 1996. They argue that the proposed legislation ignores a number of key concerns that have been central to their lobbying over the last decade, and has been designed to replace more comprehensive laws.

For more information, please read the article at:

http://www.islandsbusiness.com/news/index_dynamic/containerNameToReplace=
MiddleMiddle/focusModuleID=130/focusContentID=13984/tableName=mediaRelease/overideSkinName=newsArticle-full.tpl

7) Swedish Section of IPPNW introduces a web-based education tool about nuclear weapons
"Learn about Nuclear Weapons" is a web-based educational tool for students of all levels, for professionals, for the media, and for everyone who is interested in nuclear disarmament. The resource offers both basic and in-depth knowledge about nuclear weapons and disarmament issues. Please visit www.slmk.org/larom/ENG/ for more information.

8) 2009 Disarmament Calendar online
RCW has created a 2009 Disarmament Calendar, which keeps track of significant events related to disarmament, including meetings of international multilateral fora and intergovernmental organizations, as well as grassroots actions and civil society conferences. Check it out at http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/resources/disarmcal.html - and please submit any events you would like advertised to ray[at]reachingcriticalwill.org.

Additionally, the Geneva Forum, a joint initiative of the Quaker United Nations Office, Geneva, the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, and the Programme for Strategic and International Security Studies of the Graduate Institute of International Studies, hosts a calendar available here: http://www.geneva-forum.org/Calendar/Current.htm