The Nuclear Review, Issue#16, April 30,2010 by Arn Specter:, NPT Events/Schedules, Web Streaming

The Nuclear Review, Issue#16, April 30,2010 by Arn Specter:

NPT Events/Schedules, Web Streaming

1. Project for Nuclear Awareness

2. Global Security Institute, Upcoming Events Calendar

3. Watch the plenary sessions live via web streaming

4. AFSC: http://support.afsc.org/site/R?i=q22QuQypUb5xL22IL2bisQ...

5. Article: Strengthen the NPT Bargain By Daryl G. Kimball
Arms Control Today, May 2010

6. http://www.theriversidechurchny.org/

The Riverside Church, NY: watch the events at least 15 minutes before the plenary session start time and a link will be available for viewing the speakers and entertainment.

Later, the sessions will be available on the Riverside Chruches website on demand.

arn specter, phila. (arnpeace-Twitter) The Nuclear Review

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Project for Nuclear Awareness

Dear PNA Supporters,

Right now politicians, diplomats, nuclear experts, military officials, disarmament activists, and concerned citizens from all over the world are converging on the United Nations Headquarters in New York City for the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference. This conference, held every five years, provides the world with the opportunity to re-invigorate the NPT and ensure that it remains the foundation of the international nuclear arms control and disarmament regime.

Fortunately, this is not just an event for diplomats and government officials. This Sunday, May 2nd, you can support the movement for a peaceful, nuclear weapons-free world by joining PNA and tens of thousands of people from around the world for an International Day of Action.

The Day at a Glance:

1:30: Assembly (7th Ave South of 41st St)
2-3:30: Rally
3:30: March across 42nd Street to the United Nations
4-6:00: International Peace & Music Festival in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza

Travel information from Philadelphia can be found here.

The action doesn't stop this weekend, so make sure you stay involved throughout the month-long conference by attending the incredible events organized by one of PNA's partner organizations, the Global Security Institute. To register for one of their events, contact Rihanna Kreger (rtkreger@gsinstitute.org). A Sampling of GSI's NPT-related events includes:

Wednesday, May 5
"Principles, Values and Global Security: A new framework for the future"

Thursday, May 6
The Politics of Nuclear Disarmament: Getting the politicians on board, moving towards Nuclear Zero

Monday, May 10
"Sustainable Security for the 21st Century"

Tuesday, May 18
Strategy Session: "Where To Go From Here"

For the full schedule of GSI events, click here.

Finally, don't forget to register for PNA's own Global Stewardship Award reception in honor of Rev. Bob Edgar on May 18th.

Here's to you,

PNA

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Project for Nuclear Awareness
Working to End the Threat of Nuclear Weapons
704 N. 23rd Street
Philadelphia, PA 19130
Call: 215-546-3030
Fax: 215-546-3313

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Upcoming Events Calendar

The Global Security Institute is proud to be a part of the global community of committed groups and governments working to ensure success at the Seventh Review Conference of States parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, to be held in New York City from May 3-28.

Below is a listing of some of the activities and events organized by the coordinated programs of the Middle Powers Initiative, Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament and the Global Security Institute. A full listing of NPT-related events is available on the website of Reaching Critical Will.

Please note: if you do not have accreditation to the NPT Review Conference but would like to attend an event on UN Grounds, please contact us immediately. Security is extraordinarily tight this year due to UN Headquarters construction and space is extremely limited.

Thursday, April 29
Civil Society Forum for Nuclear Weapons-Free Zones

Mayor Akiba of Hiroshima
Co-sponsored by: PNND, Mayors for Peace, the International Association of Laywers against Nuclear Arms and the Permanent Mission of Chile.

Where: UN Headquarters, North Lawn Building, Conference Room 6.

Speakers include: Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba; OPANAL Secretary-General Gioconda Ubeda Rivera; Pugwash's Dr. Adele Buckley and more. For more information, contact Alyn Ware, PNND Global Coordinator: (+1) 646 289 5170.

Click here for more information.

Wednesday, May 5
"Principles, Values and Global Security: A new framework for the future"

Co-sponsored by: Religions for Peace and the International Peace Institute.

Where: IPI Offices @ 777 UN Plaza, 12th floor.

When: 12:30- 4 PM

Speakers include: Bishop Gunnar Stalsett of Oslo; Rev. Tyler Wigg Stevenson, Two Futures Project; GSI President Jonathan Granoff; Mr. Ibrahim Ramey of Muslim America Society and more.

This event is by invitation only. Please contact IPI.

NPT Review Conference President Libran Cabactulan

Wednesday, May 5
MPI Reception Honoring President Cabactulan

Sponsored by: Middle Powers Initiative

By invitation only.

Wednesday, May 5
Parliamentary Meeting for the NPT RevCon

Co-sponsored by: PNND and the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

Where: 777 UN Plaza

When: 3-6 pm

Speakers include: High Representative Sergio Duarte; Edine von Herold, MP of Costa Rica; Marit Nybakk, MP of Norway; Uta Zapf, MdB of Germany; Senator Douglas Roche of Canada and more.

A meeting for legislators to review progress in meeting international commitments in the area of nuclear disarmament, as well as to discuss parliamentary action in follow-up to the IPU resolution on the role of parliaments in advancing nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament (2009) and Ban Ki-moon’s five-point plan for disarmament which was supported in the IPU resolution. Parliamentarians wishing to participate are requested to contact IPU.

Wednesday, May 5
"Towards a Nuclear Weapon-Free World: German Parliamentarians in Support of a Successful Review Conference"

Co-sponsored by: the Permanent Mission of Germany and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.

Where: Permanent Mission of Germany to the UN; 871 UN Plaza

When: 1-2:45 pm

PNND Coordinator Alyn Ware with
PNND Co-President Uta Zapf
Speakers include: Ambassador Peter Wittig, Permanent Representative of Germany to the UN (tbc.) Uta Zapf, Member of Parliament, SPD, Chair, Sub-committee on Disarmament; Roderich Kiesewetter, Member of Parliament, CDU, Sub-committee on Disarmament; Ambassador Maged A. Abdelaziz, Permanent Representative of Egypt to the UN (tbc.); Alyn Ware, Global Coordinator of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament; Marit Nybakk, MP Norway, Labour Party (tbc.); Hideo Hiraoka, Executive Director of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) Nuclear Disarmament Group (tbc.)

For more information, contact FES's Volker Lehmann.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

Thursday, May 6
The Politics of Nuclear Disarmament: Getting the politicians on board, moving towards Nuclear Zero

Co-sponsored by: PNND and the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

Where: UN Headquarters, North Lawn Building, Conference Room 4.

When: 1:15-2:45

Speakers include: Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon; GSI President Jonathan Granoff and more.

For more information, contact Alyn Ware, PNND Global Coordinator: (+1) 646 289 5170.

UN Messenger of Peace Jane Goodall
Monday, May 10
"Sustainable Security for the 21st Century"

Co-sponsored by: GSI and the UN Department for Economic and Social Affairs

Where: UN Headquarters, North Lawn Building, Conference Room 2.

Jeffrey D. Sachs,
Special Adviser to the Secretary-General
When: 1:15-2:45

Speakers include: UN Messenger of Peace Jane Goodall; Professor Jeffrey Sachs of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and Special Adviser to the Secretary-General; Assistant Secretary-General Thomas Stelzer; and other surprise guests.

For more information, contact Rhianna Kreger, GSI Senior Officer: (+1) 646 289 5170.

Tuesday, May 18
Strategy Session: "Where To Go From Here"

Co-sponsored by: The Middle Powers Initiative

Where: UN Headquarters, North Lawn Building, Room A.

When: 1:15-2:45

Speakers include: TBD.

For more information, contact Jim Wurst, MPI Program Director :

(+1) 646 289 5170.

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Can't be in New York City April 30 - May 1 for the historic gathering of over 1,000 peace activists from around the globe?
Watch the plenary sessions live via web streaming. Go to http://www.theriver sidechurchny. org/ at least 15 minutes before the plenary session start time and a link will be available for viewing the speakers and entertainment.
PLEASE NOTE: Plenary times are Eastern Daylight Savings. 6 pm EDT = 3 pm Pacific Time!
Organize viewing parties! Get a taste of what the mighty international movement for peace, nuclear abolition and justice is planning for building the movement and the path to a world free of nuclear weapons.

For people in New York City metro area: a limited number of overflow seats are available for the plenaries and workshops. Registration for those seats opens at Riverside Church 490 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10027-5788at 4 PM TODAY, April 30 and reopens at 9 AM Saturday, May 1.

Show times are : Go to http://www.theriver sidechurchny. org/ at least 15 minutes before the plenary session start time and a link will be available for viewing the speakers and entertainment. Later, the sessions will be available on The Riverside Churches website on demand.

Friday 6:00 PM Plenary Session:
Terumi Tanaka – Testimony and Call for Abolition
Nadine Padilla – The Deadly Impact Of and Resistance To Uranium Mining
Ibrahim Ramey – Martin Luther King’s Dream and Ours
Zia Mian - Confronting the Challenges of Nuclear Weapons, Capitalism and Climate Change.
John Burroughs – Dangers and Opportunities: Nuclear Weapons and the NPT Review
Natalia Mironova – Complex Challenges of our Nuclear Legacy
Tomas Magnusson – Vision of a Nuclear Free World
Saturday 1:30 PM Plenary Session:
International Movement Voices: Challenges and Strategies
Performance: The Recipe
Maryam Shansab (Afghanistan)
J.N. Rao (India)
Pierre Villard (France)
Issam Makhoul (Israel)
Kevin Martin (US)
Yeon-shik Pyon
(Others to be announced)
Saturday, 7:00 PM Plenary Session:
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
Socorro Gomes—President World Peace Council and of CeBraPaz “Threats to Peace and the NPT Review”
Mayor Akiba – Mayor of Hiroshima “Beyond Nuclear Weapons; A Call to Conscience”
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Plenary Session Schedule

(All times Eastern)

Friday, April 30:
6 p.m. – 9 p.m.

Speakers include: Zia Mian, John Burroughs and others

Saturday, May 1:

1:30 p.m. - 3 p.m.

International Movement Voices: Challenges and Strategies

7 p.m. – 10 p.m.

Keynote address by Ban Ki-moon
Remarks by Mayor Akiba of Hiroshima and many more international experts.

Complete list of speakers

If you are unable to watch the events live, recordings will be available on theriversidechurchny.org.

AFSC has played a lead role in organizing a conference this weekend that will bring together many of the world’s leading disarmament and nuclear abolition experts and activists and will feature a keynote address by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

I am excited to announce that you can watch the plenary sessions live online. While the attendance is historic Riverside Church in New York City is at capacity, the sessions will be live streamed starting tonight (April 30) at 6 p.m. ET on http://support.afsc.org/site/R?i=q22QuQypUb5xL22IL2bisQ...

In addition to the address by Secretary Ban Ki-moon, featured speakers include scholars, A-bomb survivors, opponents of uranium mining, a leading environmentalist from Russia, the mayor of Hiroshima, and leaders of international peace organizations. Secretary Ban Ki-moon will deliver his address on Saturday evening at 7 p.m. ET.

In the meantime you may be interested in reviewing AFSC’s nuclear disarmament resources on our new web site, including up-to-date information about the cost of the U.S. nuclear weapons program and alternative ways those billions of dollars could be spent to provide real security.

Thank you all for your support of AFSC's work for peace and justice. More than 3,000 of you have signed the petition for a nuclear-free world, and many have contributed to make this conference happen. Thank you.

Wage Peace,
Joseph Gerson

Forward this message to your friends.
Help support AFSC's worldwide work for peace, justice and human dignity. Make a donation today.
American Friends Service Committee
1501 Cherry Street
Philadelphia, PA 19102
http://support.afsc.org/site/R?i=H1o32dJMdWw3kcwS2-OEaA..

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Strengthen the NPT Bargain
April 30, 2010
From May 3-28, leaders from the nearly 190 members of the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) will gather at the United Nations in New York for a once-every-five-years meeting to discuss how one of the world's most successful international security instruments can be strengthened to address both long-standing and emerging nuclear challenges.
As ACA executive director Daryl G. Kimball writes in the following editorial in the May issue of Arms Control Today, the upcoming NPT review conference provides an important opportunity for the treaty's 189 members to agree on common-sense initiatives to improve nuclear safeguards, guard against treaty withdrawal, accelerate progress on disarmament, and address regional proliferation challenges.
But friction over Iran's controversial nuclear activities and the lack of progress toward a Middle East nuclear weapon free zone could divide the meeting.
U.S. leadership is a necessary but not sufficient to achieving success. All states, Kimball writes, have a responsibility to fulfill their part of the NPT bargain.
For more information, see ACA's 2010 NPT Review Conference Resource Guide and www.twitter.com/armscontrolnow

Strengthen the NPT Bargain
By Daryl G. Kimball
Arms Control Today, May 2010
Available online at http://www.armscontrol.org/act/2010_05/Focus

Once again the nuclear nonproliferation system is facing a crisis of confidence. New measures to update and strengthen the 1968 nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) are needed. The May 2010 treaty review conference provides an important opportunity for the pact's 189 members to adopt a balanced action plan to improve nuclear safeguards, guard against treaty withdrawal, accelerate progress on disarmament, and address regional proliferation challenges.
There is widespread support for commonsense initiatives that would advance treaty implementation and compliance. But friction over Iran's nuclear program and pending UN Security Council sanctions and the lack of progress toward a Middle East nuclear-weapon-free zone could impede efforts to bolster the treaty. To succeed, responsible states must work together in six key areas.
Supporting Tougher Nuclear Safeguards. Although the vast majority of NPT states-parties have implemented traditional International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards, many have not adopted an additional protocol, which would give the IAEA enhanced authority to detect undeclared nuclear activities. States-parties can and should recognize the Model Additional Protocol as the new international standard and call for universal accession by 2015.
Increasing the Costs of Treaty Withdrawal. North Korea's declared but unrecognized withdrawal from the NPT in 2003 highlights that countries can acquire technologies that bring them to the very brink of nuclear weapons capability without violating the treaty and can leave the treaty without automatic penalties. In the years ahead, others such as Iran may be tempted to follow. NPT members have a common interest in ensuring that noncompliance comes with consequences. States should agree to convene an emergency session to develop a collective response to any case of withdrawal and affirm that a state remains responsible for violations of the treaty committed prior to withdrawal.
Recognizing Nuclear Rights and Responsibilities. To avoid being isolated at the conference, Iran will seek to justify its pursuit of sensitive fuel-cycle activities in defiance of Security Council resolutions with the NPT's Article IV peaceful nuclear use guarantee. It is crucial that non-nuclear-weapon states do not play into Iran's strategy. They should urge Iran to respond fully to the outstanding questions about its nuclear activities, suspend its sensitive fuel-cycle activities as a confidence-building measure, and agree to tougher IAEA inspections.
Accelerating Progress on Nuclear Disarmament. The continued possession of nuclear weapons by a few states, reinforced by lackluster progress on NPT Article VI disarmament commitments, has eroded the willingness of the non-nuclear-weapon-state majority to agree to strengthen the nonproliferation end of the NPT bargain.
Washington and Moscow have a better story to tell than they did five years ago. But there is clearly more to be done, and the NPT conference should outline the immediate next steps. To begin, the conference should recognize the value of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty and call for deeper verifiable and irreversible reductions of all types of nuclear warheads, including NATO's forward-deployed tactical nuclear bombs, and urge all nuclear-armed states to refrain from increasing the size or military capabilities of their nuclear forces.
The conference should also call on all NPT members to ratify the 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty no later than 2015. Nuclear testing is a dangerous vestige of the 20th century, yet the United States, China, and Iran are still among the nine CTBT holdout states that must ratify before the treaty enters into force.
Supporting Progress Toward a Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone in the Middle East. As part of the package of proposals leading to the extension of the treaty in 1995, states agreed to support "practical steps toward the establishment of an effectively verifiable" zone free weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East.
Egypt and other states are understandably frustrated about the lack of progress toward this goal and are prepared to press their case. Visible and early support for tangible steps toward a Middle East nuclear-weapon-free zone, such as appointing a special envoy and organizing an international conference on the matter, would strengthen the nonproliferation cause.
Holding Non-NPT Members Accountable to NPT Standards. The India-specific exemption from nuclear trade rules adopted in 2008 is a body blow to the treaty because it extends to a non-NPT state the peaceful nuclear use benefits that have been reserved so far only for states that meet their nonproliferation obligations. It has led Pakistan to seek a similar deal and block negotiations on a treaty to stop fissile production for weapons.
To mitigate the damage, the United States and other nuclear supplier states should make clear there will be no further exemptions and that any nuclear test explosion would lead to the termination of nuclear trade with the offending country.
U.S. leadership is necessary but not sufficient to strengthen the NPT regime. All states have a responsibility to fulfill their part of the NPT bargain and ensure that the treaty continues to underpin collective security for another 40 years.
# # #
The Arms Control Association (ACA) is an independent, membership-based organization dedicated to providing authoritative information and practical policy solutions to address the dangers posed by the world's most dangerous weapons. ACA published the monthly journal, Arms Control Today.
Arms Control Association | 1313 L St. NW | Suite 130 | Washington | DC | 20005
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