Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Ｂattle over drafting of agreements continues in final week of NPT confab

The Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference entered its final week on May 24 with nuclear weapon states and the nations of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and others at loggerheads. With a substantial number of issues to be addressed, including an action plan for nuclear disarmament, the denuclearization of the Middle East, and the strengthening of inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the increasingly tense negotiations are taking place in and out of the conference venue with the aim of adopting a final document of agreements on May 28.

On May 24, the three Main Committees resumed debate. Each committee agreed to its revised draft, after failing to reach agreement earlier, and the committee chairs were set to submit the drafts that evening. These three revised documents will then be integrated into a single draft. Libran Cabactulan, president of the conference, will present the integrated draft of the final document to the conference on the morning of May 25, then negotiations over this draft will continue at the general assembly and other sites.

One of the main areas of conflict concerns the action plan for nuclear disarmament found in the draft submitted by Main Committee 1. The initial draft reflected the intentions of non-nuclear states with the provision that an international conference to create a road map for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons be convened in 2014 as well as mention of a nuclear weapons convention.

However, the nuclear weapon states oppose setting target years for the abolition of nuclear arms, while the NAM nations argue that nuclear disarmament cannot advance without target years and they seek to have this language restored in the draft of agreements. This confrontation between the two sides is becoming increasingly fierce.

Meanwhile, NAM is employing a tactic of endeavoring for concessions from the United States over the "Resolution on the Middle East." Some European diplomats see this attitude as one taking advantage of the U.S. wish for the success of the conference.

Another focal point with regard to this 1995 NPT resolution is whether a blueprint can be established for making the Middle East a region free of weapons of mass destruction, which would include the de facto nuclear weapon state of Israel. The United States wants to avoid naming Israel in these terms, but the U.S. response to this issue could result in an Arab backlash and the breakdown of negotiations.

In regard to the additional protocol regarding the IAEA, considered essential for the nuclear non-proliferation regime, a great gap exists between the keen backers of the protocol, nations which include Japan and which seek strong language for this measure, and some of the NAM countries, which are wary of those backing the protocol and argue that the issue should be left to the discretion of each nation.

(Originally published on May 25, 2010)
http://www.hiroshimapeacemedia.jp/mediacenter/article.php?story=201005251444414_en

Sunday, May 23, 2010

NPT News Review 24 May 2010

Front page article from the NPT News in Review, the daily NGO newsletter from the
2010 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference
Monday, 24 May 2010

Complete PDF of this edition

Friday saw the release of three new texts: the Subsidiary Body I draft action plan on nuclear disarmament; the Subsidiary Body II text on regional issues, including actions for implementing the 1995 resolution on the Middle East; and the second Main Committee III draft chair’s report. Delegations discussed the latest MCI, MCII, and MCIII texts throughout the day in the relevant committees. It became clear that while there is generally more agreement over the texts than there was a week ago, delegations have still not reached consensus. Open discussions were not held on the subsidiary body texts introduced on Friday, but both provide insights into the status of the closed deliberations.

http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/npt/NIR2010/no16.html

http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/npt/NIR2010/No16.pdf

At UN, deadline aired for abolishing nuke weapons

By CHARLES J. HANLEY

The Associated Press
Friday, May 14, 2010; 8:13 PM

UNITED NATIONS -- The United States, Russia and other nuclear powers would agree to a global conference in 2014 to negotiate a timetable for abolishing nuclear arms, under a draft committee report submitted Friday, halfway through a monthlong conference reviewing the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT).

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/14/AR2010051405143.html

NPT Meeting Coverage

Committee Chairmen of 2010 Review Conference Report on progress towards advancing key pillars of Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2010/dc3239.doc.htm

2010 NPT Review Conference Calendar of Events

UN Vido

Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT)

http://www.un.org/en/conf/npt/2010/videos.shtml

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Petition to the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament

I. Intent of the Petition

II. Reasons for Petition (Brief Overview)

III. Reasons for Petition (Detailed Discussion)

	1.	Introduction to JALANA
	2.	The Reality of Damage from Nuclear Weapons
	3.	Reasons Given to Justify the Atomic Bombings
	4.	ICJ Advisory Opinion on the Illegality of the Atomic Bombings
	5.	The Current Situation and the Trend Toward "Nuclear Abolition"
	6.	Expectations and Requests
	7.	Conclusion

The Japan Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms hereby submits
this petitionto the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation
and Disarmament with hope for the early abolition of nuclear arms.

February 9, 2009
Japan Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms
(JALANA)
http://www.hankaku-j.org/infomation/data/200901_eng.html

Thursday, May 6, 2010

UN Sec. General & Hiroshima Mayor Urge NO NUKES

UN Sec. General Ban Ki-Moon, Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba, and Socorro Gomes, World Peace Council President, at Int'l Conf. for a Nuclear-Free, Peaceful, Just, and Sustainable World May 1, 2010 at The Riverside Church. The Conference in New York City April 30 and May 1 was aimed at the upcoming Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference at the UN May 3-28, where the US has yet to honor its treaty obligation requiring good faith effort to reduce its arsenal of nuclear weapons . Only the English translation of Gomes' talk in Portuguese is presented, and there's some editing of the other talks for a cablecast requirement of 58 minutes. Tetsu Ktagawa's musical presentation is edited to only a brief "We Shall Overcome" with the audience of 1600 at the conclusion of the conference. Camera, edit: Joe Friendly

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVKcB7pHiEs

Secretary-General's remarks to an international conference "For a Nuclear Free, Peaceful, Just and Sustainable World" , New York
Riverside Church

http://www.un.org/en/index.shtml

http://www.un.org/disarmament/index.shtml

http://www.unmultimedia.org/photo/gallery.jsp?query=*

Secretary-General Meets the Co-Chairs of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament

Evoking Hiroshima and Nagasaki, UN official appeals for end to use of nuclear weapons

3 May 2010 – Remembering the terrible toll of the nuclear attacks during World War II on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a senior United Nations official today appealed for an end to the use of the weapons, which remain an “apocalyptic” threat.

The two cities were destroyed in August 1945, and more than 200,000 people died of nuclear radiation, shock waves from the blasts and thermal radiation.

More than 400,000 more people have died – and are continuing to die – since the end of World War II from the impacts of the bombs.

Thousands of nuclear tests have been carried out in the decades since the war and there are more than 20,000 nuclear weapons in arsenals around the world, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information Kiyotaka Akasaka said at the launch of a multimedia exhibit at UN Headquarters focusing on hibakusha, survivors of the Japanese attacks.

“This is why the international community’s commitment to non-proliferation and nuclear disarmament is so critical,” he added.

The exhibit will feature photographs which capture how survivors have lived their lives in the wake of the attacks, as well as artefacts recovered from blast areas and a 30-minute video entitled Hiroshima: A Mother’s Prayer.

The mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Tadatoshi Akiba and Tomihisa Taue, also spoke at the launch.

The exhibit’s opening coincided with the start of the five-yearly review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) which got under way today in New York.

Representatives of more than 100 nations are gathering at UN Headquarters to discuss how to further full implementation and enhance the universality of the pact, which forms the foundation of the world’s non-proliferation regime.

At the start of the nearly month-long event this morning, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon exhorted countries to take decision action to build a safer world.

“We have a choice: to leave a legacy of fear and inaction… or to act with vision, courage and leadership,” he told the conference.

“We all know it is possible,” the Secretary-General said of disarmament and non-proliferation, which have been among his top priorities since taking office in 2007.

He characterized the NPT, the cornerstone of the world’s nuclear non-proliferation regime, as one of the most important global treaties ever reached.

With the nuclear threat still real, “we need this regime as much as ever,” Mr. Ban underscored.

The last NPT review conference in 2005 was a failure, he said, having wrapped up without any substantive agreement having been reached. “This time, we can – and must – do better.”

News Tracker: past stories on this issue

Dream of nuclear-weapon-free world can be realized, says Ban

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=34581&Cr=nuclear&Cr1=

On Eve of UN NPT, Thousands March for Nuclear Weapons Abolition

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 30, 2010
8:28 AM

CONTACT: Peace Action
Paul Kawika Martin, Peace Action, 951-217-7285, pmartin@peace-action.org
Dave Kunes, Peace Action, 585-474-2614,dkunes@peace-action.org

On Eve of UN NPT, Thousands March for Nuclear Weapons Abolition

NEW YORK - April 30 - On the eve of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference at the UN, more than ten thousand nuclear abolitionists from the U.S., Japan, Europe and other nations will rally, march and join a peace festival at the UN on Sunday May 2, urging the world’s leaders to start talks to eliminate the world’s nuclear arsenals immediately.

The mass demonstrations follow a historic conference, “For A Nuclear-Free, Peaceful, Just and Sustainable World,” which begins Friday, April 30, 2010. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will speak Saturday May 1 at Riverside Church.

“Besides the more than ten thousand people in the streets, we have over seven million petition signatures (100,000 from the US) from around the world calling for a world free of nuclear weapons in our lifetime. We want the U.S. to start negotiations at the Non-Proliferation Review conference,” said Judith Le Blanc, Field Organizer for Peace Action and a conference organizer.

WHAT: More than ten thousand people from around the word will participate in an interfaith convocation, rally, march and peace festival at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza demanding a world free of nuclear weapons More information at available at:
http://peaceandjusticenow.org

WHEN & WHERE:
Sunday May 2
12:00 – 1:00 p.m. Interfaith Convocation (Church Center for the United Nations)
Church Center for the United Nations, 777 UN Plaza (corner of 1st Avenue and 44th Street, Manhattan)
1:30 p.m. Assembly (7th Ave South of 41st St)
2:00 – 3:30 p.m. Rally
3:30 p.m. March across 42nd Street, North on 3rd Ave, East on 47th Street into Dag Hammarskjold Plaza (between 1st and 2nd Avenues)
4:00 – 6:00 p.m. International Peace & Music Festival in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza

WHO: Rally speakers include the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki – Mayor Akiba and Mayor Taue; Nadine Padilla, activist addressing uranium mining in Native American communities; Kimura Hisako, survivor of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima; Michael Kinnamon, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches; Raed Jarrar, Iraqi blogger and political analyst; Maryam Shansab, Afghan-American activist; Pierre Djédji Amondji, Governor of the district of Abidjan in Ivory Coast; Kristin Blom, Campaigns Manager, International Confederation of Trade Unionists; and performances by The Recipe, spoken word duo from Kansas City, MO; Stephan Said, Iraqi-American musician known for his anti-war song, “The Bell;” and Emma’s Revolution, known for their beautiful songs of peace.

Performances at International Peace & Music Festival include:

Earthdriver – a New York City based world funk band
Matters – an international group of musicians from the US, France, Japan, Italy and India that bring a message of peace and hope.
Cacibajagua Taino Cultural Society – an inter-Tribal, inter-generational community of indigenous Caribbean singers, musicians, and artists
The Drummers for Peace of Japan – a renowned group from cities all over Japan to perform who inspire all efforts for Peace and Nuclear Disarmament.
Utagoe Chorus of Japan – spread peace songs at grass-roots, contributing the struggles for peace.
Catherine Lecoq – a renowned actress and singer from France
Deux Ex Machina (Divine Intervention) – an International group, featuring SahjKaya, whose music is a mix of Reggae music, African percussion & rhythms with song and Spoken Word

The event is organized by the 2010 NPT Review Organizing Committee, a network of 25 U.S., Japanese, European and Israeli nuclear weapons abolition and peace organizations. For more information, visit www.peaceandjusticenow.org

###

Founded in 1957, Peace Action, the United States' largest peace and disarmament organization with over 100,000 members and nearly 100 chapters in 34 states, works to achieve the abolition of nuclear weapons, promote government spending priorities that support human needs and encourage real security through international cooperation and human rights.

http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2010/04/30

Pair of films shed new light on hibakusha

Documentaries aim to connect young with nuke survivors

By NATSUMI MIZUMOTO

Kyodo News

While disarmament experts and antinuclear campaigners may have heard about atomic-bomb survivors, a pair of documentaries about hibakusha that aim to connect with the younger generation were recently completed by two young directors from Costa Rica and Japan.

Bridging the divide: Directors Erika Bagnarello of Costa Rica and Takashi Kunimoto chat in Tokyo on April 12. KYODO PHOTO

Erika Bagnarello's "Flashes of Hope" and Takashi Kunimoto's "Traveling with Hibakusha: Across Generations" take different approaches but both feature a group of more than 100 survivors who cruised around the world in 2008 in a project organized by nongovernmental organization Peace Boat.

A series of events across Japan to screen the two films and talk with the directors began April 14, and Bagnarello's film, designed for English-speaking audiences, will be shown in New York on May 1, two days before the start of a key U.N. conference to bolster the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

In interviews April 12 prior to the events, both 29-year-old directors expressed hope that their roughly hourlong movies will help viewers in Japan and elsewhere hear the hibakusha's message that the tragedies of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki should never be repeated.

"I feel like the message of the hibakusha is very clear: they want to bring hope to the world, they want to tell their story and make sure that it never happens again. So for me, the film is about hope," Bagnarello said.

Kunimoto, whose film sheds light on a younger generation of hibakusha than the seasoned activists, said, "What is really important is that we think by ourselves how we can respond to the stories of hibakusha. . . . I hope to offer a catalyst for that."

Both directors admitted, however, that they initially joined the voyage as staff filmmakers to travel around the world free of charge.

Tales to tell: Setsuko Thurlow (right) and fellow atomic-bomb survivors pose at Yokohama port on Sept. 7, 2008, before their global voyage aboard the Peace Boat. KYODO PHOTO

A freelance director of corporate videos and commercials for the Costa Rican market, Bagnarello had never made a documentary, while Kunimoto was an amateur video maker working in an unrelated business until he started making Web videos for a radio station after the voyage.

For its 25th anniversary, the Peace Boat arranged its first hibakusha project by inviting 103 survivors on one of its peace-advocacy cruises on a chartered ship that sails three to four times a year. Dubbed the Global Voyage for a Nuclear-Free World, the 129-day trip lasted from September 2008 to January 2009.

"It was a very moving experience. I was very impressed by the fact that I really didn't know much about this before," said Bagnarello, who is slated to also visit New York for a screening after events in seven Japanese cities, including Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Osaka.

"I am an educated person in my 20s and should have known more about atomic bombs and their effects . . . so I made it a purpose for me to learn as much as I could on the boat and to make a movie that would resonate with people like myself who didn't know much about the subject."

She tried to make her film simple to understand for foreign audiences, and wants it to be viewed as an introductory educational tool, particularly for young people who may become future decision-makers in Latin America, the United States and Europe.

As a main character, her film features Setsuko Thurlow, who migrated to Canada after surviving the Hiroshima bombing, but it also incorporates footage from old TV news, the Japanese animated movie "Barefoot Gen" and scenes from the voyage, as well as experts' commentaries, to make it "visually interesting," she said.

"I think if people see the film and they think that they can do something to help abolish nuclear weapons, then that's my goal," she said. "Anything that would avoid the spread of nuclear weapons, that's what I want to get people with my movie to do."

Thurlow's call for a world without nuclear weapons, which she made at a session of the U.N. General Assembly's First Committee on Disarmament andInternational Security in October 2008, temporarily leaving the ship with three others, was also filmed by Kunimoto.

But Kunimoto said that in taking an approach that focused more on the so-called young hibakusha, who aren't old enough to remember their exposure to the bombings 65 years ago, he found a clue as to how others can carry on the message of hibakusha who are dying.

As the Peace Boat invited the 103 hibakusha passengers from among the general public, a questionnaire found that more than half the 77 respondents had never before spoken of their experience in public.

"Many of those with no memories were also frankly interested at first in the free around-the-globe trip . . . but when I saw them start to fret and struggle with the fact they don't have their own stories to tell, I felt I had found neighbors with whom I could talk about this," he said.

Kunimoto said he now wants to share this idea with more people through his film and possibly involve them.

"Many people in Japan must have a chance to hear the (hibakusha) story, but many, I think, draw the curtain after just hearing it once," he said.

Kunimoto said he had "an image that hibakusha stories are as steady as a rock" and let his fairly extensive first experience of hearing one in an interview as a sociology student fade, having "no idea what to do with it."

That hibakusha died just months before Kunimoto tried to revisit him in Nagasaki before the voyage, he added.

The screening of the two films, which are also available as DVD, coincided with the Peace Boat's departure Friday on its third voyage involving the hibakusha, with 10 others invited since the second cruise last year.

Two of them — Michiko Tsukamoto, 75, from Tokyo and Kunihiko Bonkohara, 69, from Brazil — are slated to visit New York during the voyage for the NPT Review Conference.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20100422f1.html