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.