The Main Committees draft documents - Week 2 NPT Rev. Con.

Week 2 focused on the framing and ultimate draft document release of the three main committees. Main Committee I is focused on disarmament. Main Committee II is focused on nuclear non-proliferation and regional issues. Main Committee III's focus is on the peaceful use of nuclear technology - nuclear energy.

With this release, the real work of the NPT Rev. Con. begins. Now the delegations will begin the negotiations on each draft that will result in the final document to be released on May 28th providing there is acceptance by all parties. This will involve agreements, tradeoffs and compromise.

In this process, the hope is that the final result is substantial and with defined goals, timelines and the sense of urgency required in dealing with our nuclear future and its legacy to future generations. What is accomplished this month will determine our future. "The means are the ends in the making."

This NPT Rev. Con. has the opportunity and necessity to lead by example. Those of us in the NGO community and civil society have a responsibility to remain vigilant in our review and response to their efforts.

The Main Committees and their drafts can be viewed at the following links:

Main Committee I - Nuclear Disarmament

Main Committee II - Nuclear Proliferation and Regional Issues

Main Committee III - Peaceful use of nuclear technology - nuclear energy

The people's voice - Week 1 NPT Rev. Con.

Week one of the NPT Rev. Con. provided the NGO and civil society community the opportunity to continue making the case for the urgency of a Nuclear Weapons Convention and a substantial outcome for the NPT Conference rather than platitudes and extensions for generations to come.

The General Assembly focus during the week was on general statements from diplomates the world over regarding the dangers of nuclear weapons. In the end there were roughly 25 nations calling for a Nuclear Weapons COnvention.

The week closed with representatives of civil society addressing the Review Conference diplomates. Moving and informative speeches from Hibakusha, Jody Williams, the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and other members of civil society gave the Conference a sense of urgency and brought a humanitarian injection to the discussions. 


Friday morning began the substantive work of the Review Conference with the opening of the Main Committees. There are three Main Committees that focus on specific areas of the Treaty.
Main Committee I focuses on nuclear disarmament.
Main Committee II focus is non-proliferation and
Main Committee III focuses on the peaceful use of nuclear technology namely nuclear power.

Main Committee I began its work on Friday morning as a large number of non-nuclear weapon states delivered strong statements calling for further steps towards nuclear disarmament. Such calls seemed to focus mainly on two themes:

The first was the importance of developing a nuclear disarmament action plan for the outcome document of the Review Conference such as a Nuclear Weapons Convention.

The second was the importance of reducing the role of nuclear weapons in military doctrines. The continued role that nuclear weapons play in defense policy are a major impediment to disarmament and have the infectious effect of fueling non-nuclear states nuclear desires.

The focus of week 2 will be on drafts coming from each of the Main Committee's proceedings.

Day 5 - NPT Rev. Com.

As I write and this entry at the end of my week at the U.N, I do so with amazing juxtaposition of our world and possibility. We have such amazing potential if only we will. I am actually posting this in flight, my first experience of working on line in the air - talk about realtime communication.

This week I have spent time with the victims - the Hibakisha (who were young children at the nuclear bombings) and soldiers of WWII (who were young boys of 18 - 20), The young are truly those most impacted in war. Each group speaks eloquently of the horror of war. Today I had the honor of seeing my wife Joan's Uncle Bob receive the French Medal of Honor at the French Consulate! Uncle Bobby as we refer him is also a U.S. POW Purple Heart recipient having lost his leg to"friendly fire" liberating France in WWII and being captured by the German Army. He has an amazing tale to tell. Both of these remarkable groups of then young can and do attest to the axiom of "Never Again"!

This week has afforded me the opportunity to work with amazing people from all over the planet working to abolish nuclear weapons. I tried steadfastly to let them know that they too were Beyond Warrier's - that it was impossible to eliminate the deadliest weapons in our arsenal and not work to eliminate war itself. For it would only be a matter of time before they would return. This was universally agreed.


The Nuclear Weapons Convention movement got great support yesterday as Jody Williams of the Landmine Convention challenged the international Ambassadors and NGO's to have the courage to do this now and not wait! She spoke of how she faced the same forces when trying to get the Landmine Convention done and how she was told it couldn't happen now.

I finished my week at the UN in session with the NGO's presenting their message to the diplomats.

To quote a message of this week. for these nuclear weapons at the age of 65, it is indeed time for MANDATORY RETIREMENT!

I leave with at once a sense of cautious hope and a sense of urgency. This is indeed the best time in the nuclear age to realize the complete elimination of all the world's nuclear arsenals - the ultimate public health disaster that the planet could face. We need to end our insane addiction to these instruments of immoral crime against humanity. In allowing their continued addiction, it is akin to the smoker who knows that cigarettes will kill him, not just now. Our persistent addiction to nuclear weapons will also kill us, we just don't think it will happen now.

I am reminded of the quote from St. Augustine: "O Lord help me to be pure, but not yet." On the contrary, Now We Can! I implore you to join us.

PS. While I am returning to California, I will continue this blog. I receive daily updates on the NPT Review Conference. This process will obviously go on beyond this month. I hope that those reading will continue to do so and I welcome any thoughts or ideas from individuals who are committed to moving this process forward. Thanks to all who have responded this week via the blog, email and other. Nuclear Abolition Day is Sat. June 5th and communities around the world will hold events coinciding with the end of the NPT Rev. Con. and moving forward from here.

I also want to thank my friend Michael Cervantes from Veterans for Peace who made a button for me the night before I left. I had it read "War Is So 20th Century". It resonated and struck a chord throughout the U.N.

Thanks Bob

Blog following

I know there have been many people looking at the blog. I am somewhat technically challenge but have figured out (with help) how to add yourself to the followers list if desired. I think that will allow a blast of postings to you though don't quote me. I am off to today's session with a letter to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon who is a remarkable driving force behind this effort. Bob

Day 3 and 4 NPT - Rev. Com.

After day 4 of this remarkable experience I have learned so much and know I will be a better advocate for nuclear disarmament. I have come to appreciate even more our role at the grassroots level in the process of change. The official process is a slow and tedious one. The major nuclear players namely the U.S. and Russia are carefully scripted in their responses staying to the letter of their State Secretaries. They are constantly challenged and pushed by the non-aligned, non-weapons states and indeed the international grassroots community who insist on action to accompany the rhetoric. We will not be saved by good intentions alone.

Each morning has been initiated by an off the record meeting with varied ambassadors from Ireland, Egypt, and the U.S. Beyond the experience, the connections made this week have been the remarkable. I will work to continue building these relationships.

One of the better meetings of the week was put on today jointly by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the Parliamentary Network for Nuclear Disarmament (PNND). The representatives of these groups are made up of elected volunteer members of Parliaments around the world. They truly represent the "grassroots" of governments around the world. Their presentation today introduced by the U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon informed us of the nations who have adopted a Nuclear Weapons Convention. This "Convention" similar to the "Landmine Convention" would establish a comprehensive framework for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons by an agreed date and ensure that a world free of nuclear weapons is maintained.

The NGO community is strongly supportive of this NWC. Tomorrow Nobel Peace Laureate Jody Williams champion of the Landmine Convention will address the conference. Having met and heard her previously, I can attest she will be an forceful and significant voice in our work at this critical time.

Day 2 NPT Rev. Com.

Day 2 was another full day as I try to figure out where and how to spend my time most effectively.  

I started the day with an NGO planning session moved to a briefing with the Irish Ambassador on the current status of the NPT.  Then off to the General Assembly where presentations by several national diplomats were heard including Denmark, UAE, Jordan among others.  

Next a fabulous Mayors for Peace presentation opened by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon followed by the Mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  Then off to a quick press conference where the foreign minister of Indonesia announced that Indonesia will ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) soon.  

The afternoon was spent at an excellent forum on building support for a UN Nuclear Weapons Convention similar to the Landmine Convention coordinated by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.  

Finally the evening started with the opening of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization with dignitaries including CTBTO spokesman Michael Douglas. 

Tomorrow our physicians group IPPNW will present the medical and environmental impacts of nuclear explosions.

Day 1 - NPT Rev. Con.

Today May 3, was the official first day of the '2010 NPT Review Conference. 

It was an amazing day with two 3 hour sessions in the General Assembly with simultaneous "sidebars" of the participating NGO's. 

I enjoyed myself going back and forth dependent on the session and presenters.  The conference was opened by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon who was inspirational and a true "Beyond Warrior"!  He is totally supportive of nuclear abolition and is a major driving force of  this "Rev Con". 

Presentations throughout the day ranged from Hiroshima and Nagasaki Mayors Akiba and Tomihisa Taue to Iran President Ahmadinejad and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton - somewhat different perspectives!  

The sidebars were excellent from a panel program called "From Omnicide to Abolition" coordinated by my friend David Krieger of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation (www.napf.org) to an overview of "Eliminating Nuclear Threats" by the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament. (www.icnnd.org) 

I also had the privilege of  making many physician IPPNW (www.ippnw.org) contacts from Sweden, Germany and Canada.  It is an impressive group of leaders.  

After day one, there is a sense that now is the time that something can and must be done to deal with the greatest threat to mankind.  There is a realization that deterrence has nothing to do with our survival this past 65 years of the nuclear age - only sheer luck!  It remains to be seen how long our luck can hold out without action.