Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors, 

With winter rolling in and two major disarmament fora concluding their year’s work, we at Reaching Critical Will are busy wrapping up events from the autumn and preparing for 2004. While the GA First Committee and the Biological Weapons Conference are adjourning, the UN Disarmament Commission will begin setting an agenda in the upcoming weeks, and NGOs are already busy with preparations for the NPT in the spring. 

In this News Advisory:

1. First Committee Update
2. Conference of the States Party to the Biological Weapons Convention 

Also, I would like to send out a personal apology for a botched “auto-reply” function on my email account, which sent dozens of blank emails to nearly all RCW subscribers and friends last week. The problem was quickly corrected, but not after it clogged up inboxes around the world. Please accept my most humble apologies.

In peace,

Rhianna Tyson
Project Associate
Reaching Critical Will
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom

1. First Committee Update

Throughout the five weeks of the General Assembly First Committee on Disarmament and International Peace, Reaching Critical Will, in collaboration with other NY-based NGOs, published a weekly newsletter, The First Committee Monitor. A Compendium of all five editions of The Monitor is now available on-line at http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/1com03/FCM/FCMindex.htm.

We urge all readers of The Monitor- diplomats, activists, and academics- to fill out a quick and easy Evaluative Questionnaire, available at: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/1com03/FCM/questionnaire.htm.

Let us know how you used the Monitor in your work. Tell us how you perceived the portrayal of your government in the publication. Most importantly, let us know how we can improve this reporting service next year.

On Monday, December 8, the General Assembly will vote on the resolutions adopted by the First Committee last month. The results of the votes will be immediately posted on-line at: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/1com03/res/resindex.htm. You can also find the texts of the resolutions, the voting results in the First Committee, and all available explanations of votes on this site as well. 

2. Conference of the States Party to the Biological Weapons Convention 

The 151 States Parties to the BTWC met in Geneva, November 10-14, 2003. Ambassador Tibor Tóth of Hungary chaired the meeting. 

The Reaching Critical Will website now features all documents produced at the conference, including the provisional agenda, working papers, a list of participants, and more. See our biological weapons page at: www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/bw/biolindex.html. 

Has your country ratified the BTWC? See the list of States Parties at: www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/bio/sps.htm. 

For more information on the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, see Reaching Critical Will’s comprehensive list of resources at: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/bw/biolindex.html#sources.