INESAP annual report 1996

INESAP is a non-profit, non-governmental network organization with participants from all over the world. Participation extends to scientists and engineers from all disciplines interested in promoting non-proliferation issues. INESAP is part of worldwide activities of INES. The Interdisciplinary Research Group in Science, Technology and Security (IANUS) at the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany, as a member organization of INES, coordinates existing activities in the INESAP network with nodes in different countries.

The main objectives of INESAP are to promote nuclear disarmament, to tighten existing arms control and non-proliferation regimes, as well as to implement unconventional approaches to curbing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and to controlling the transfer of related technology.

Breakthrough for Nuclear Abolition

The year 1996 brought tremendous progress in the political efforts to ban and eliminate nuclear weapons, leading to unprecedented erosion of both the legitimacy of and the political support for nuclear weapons. The International Network of Engineers and Scientists Against Proliferation (INESAP) actively supported the global abolition wave, which emerged during and after the 1995 NPT Review and Extension Conference. One major INESAP contribution was the promotion of the concept of a Nuclear Weapons Convention (NWC) similar to the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) and the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) which would ban and eliminate nuclear weapons. The anti-nuclear chain reaction in 1996 not only comprised Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) but governments as well, creating a window of opportunity for a nuclear-weapon-free world (NWFW). The major development and events in 1996 were as follows:

- By signing the African-Nuclear-Weapon-Free-Zone (NWFZ) Treaty of Pelindaba in April 1996 in Cairo, 43 African States declared a whole continent to be free of nuclear weapons, and added the last brick to make the Southern Hemisphere essentially nuclear-weapon-free.
- The International Court of Justice (ICJ), in a historic advisory opinion on 8 July 1996 in The Hague, stated that "the threat and use of nuclear weapons would generally be contrary to the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict, and particularly the principles and rules of humanitarian law."
- On 14 August 1996, the Canberra Commission for the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, initiated by the Australian government, presented its report, analyzing and recommending steps towards a NWFW, including US/Russian bilateral agreements, a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), a fissile cut-off convention, a no-first-use treaty, and nuclear weapon free zones.
- In August, the large majority of the G-21 states proposed a phased Programme of Action for the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons within a time-bound framework. It contains very important elements that should be seriously considered.
- In September, after French and Chinese nuclear testing had been ceased, the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva concluded negotiations on the CTBT, which bans all nuclear explosions, although not all research and development for nuclear weapons.
- On 5 December 1996, 60 military leaders from 17 countries, including a large number of former generals and admirals from the USA and Russia, published a declaration in favor of the elimination of nuclear weapons.
- On 10 December 1996, in a UN Resolution initiated by Malaysia, more than two-thirds of the 169 voting states called for negotiations on a Nuclear Weapons Convention, in fulfilment of the ICJ advisory opinion.

Around such major events, INESAP has further improved its networking, research, and policy-related activities, which it began in 1993. From the beginning, INESAP played an initiating and catalyzing role in the nuclear abolition movement. In 1996, the following INESAP activities are especially worth mentioning:

- Of central importance was the 1996 INESAP Conference "From Non-Proliferation towards a Nuclear-Weapon-Free World," which took place 30th May to 2d June 1996 in Gothenburg, Sweden. It was organized in cooperation with the Swedish FIMK (Swedish Scientist and Engineers against Nuclear Weapons) and the Interdisciplinary Research Group in Science, Technology and Security (IANUS) of the Technical University Darmstadt, Germany. The Swedish Foreign Ministry and the Swedish Research Council FRN granted additional funds. The conference was a success in gathering more than 30 active INESAP participants and others who wanted to become involved in the planning process and implementation of the next years activities that were decided at the conference. The conference examined and discussed comprehensive approaches towards a NWFW that could be accomplished in a systematic process. Topics discussed during parallel sessions were nuclear disarmament, halting nuclear weapons development, regional approaches to an NWFW, cut-off and disposal of nuclear-weapons usable materials, nuclear-capable delivery and missile defence. Various future activities and improvements in INESAP's work were discussed and planned, including working groups on the NWC, fissile materials and missiles; a strengthening of regional activities and representation; a formal framework for participation, membership and decision making; formation of a new INESAP Coordinating Committee. Plans for a 1997 INESAP Conference in China were made, to be hosted by Prof. Dingli Shen.
- Through continuing INESAP activities in 1995, in particular the INESAP Study "Beyond the NPT -- A Nuclear-Weapon-Free World" and an INESAP-organized seminar at the NPT Conference in New York, INESAP actively worked in the Abolition 2000 Network. This was founded in November 1995; it consolidated its work and increased the number of member organizations to more than 700. INESAP representatives also joined meetings related to Abolition 2000 that took place at Edinburgh in February 1996 and during various conferences and other occasions. INESAP took a leading role in initiating and facilitating the NWC Working Group of Abolition 2000. Out of this Working Group, ideas and activities emerged, leading towards the foundation of a NWC Drafting Group and promoting a UN Resolution linking the World Court judgement with the NWC. In 1996 drafting of a Model NWC took place in New York, at three meetings of the NWC Drafting Committee, consisting of lawyers, scientists, disarmament experts and activists, organized by the Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy. INESAP actively supported this process by participation in the meetings and providing scientific input, e.g. by a meeting at the INESAP Conference in Sweden. INESAP from the beginning was a strong supporter of the Malaysian resolution, e.g. by two related statements of the INESAP Coordinating Committee and by promoting it in the German press and parliament.
- Much of INESAP's scientific and political activities in 1996 focused on raising attention to weaknesses of a limited test ban and providing scientific input to the CTBT negotiations at the Conference on Disarmament. A number of publications was produced dealing with CTBT circumvention technologies. Largely due to the international protest, hydronuclear tests are included in the ban and subcritical tests, announced by the US government, were not conducted in 1996.
- INESAP participants made proposals to induce negotiations on a Cut-off for nuclear-weapons usable materials, e.g. by promoting a Comprehensive Cut-off Convention. These activities were supported by a research project on the Cut-off at IANUS. Together with the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), a large project was prepared with the title "Effective international control of nuclear-weapons usable materials as a step towards a Nuclear-Weapons-Free World." The main goal of this project is to establish a science-policy interface to promote ideas and concepts for the elimination and safety-control of all weapons-usable nuclear materials. Applications for funding this project were submitted to a number of foundations and a core group of liaisons was established which consists of 17 individuals in 13 countries.
- On 19-21 January 1996, INESAP organized, together with the "German Scientists Initiative Responsibility for Peace" and the Protestant Academy Mülheim, a workshop on the future of nuclear weapons in Europe. About 30 participants attended the workshop, which discussed historical aspects of the atomic bomb, nuclear strategy of the nuclear powers, the status of nuclear weapons research and development, Germany and nuclear sharing, and the future role of European nuclear weapons in NATO and WEU. The workshop was concluded by a discussion among NGOs from France, Britain, Switzerland, Italy, and Germany on a strategy for a Europe without nuclear weapons.
- As part of networking activities, INESAP participants joined and sometimes initiated debates on various issues. Round the 10th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear accident, the future of nuclear energy and its connection to non-proliferation was discussed from a range of perspectives, e.g. in the INESAP Bulletin, at a nation-wide Chernobyl conference in Germany, and at an international workshop of the Argentinean Physical Society, organized by Prof. Luis Masperi. During the INES Congress on "Challenges of Sustainable Development" in Amsterdam on August 22-25, 1996, a working group was held on "Nuclear weapons abolition and nuclear waste storage." An INESAP Study Group on delivery systems and missile defence was under preparation in 1996, aimed at assessing the missile threat and possible options to respond to this threat from the perspective of various countries. The INESAP e-mail discussion list, organized by Johan Swahn, continued to be a source of relevant information and exchange among participants about political events, opinions, and facts. INESAP also maintains a homepage on the World Wide Web, which includes some of INESAP’s publications and statements.
- Many of the above-mentioned activities have been explicitly linked to the science-policy interface, e.g. aimed at delegates to the CTBT and Cut-off negotiations, at decision makers in national parliaments and governments and at the press and public. The INESAP Coordinating Committee and INESAP participants have published a number of political statements. Wide international distribution was given to a statement of September 4, 1996 calling "upon the General Assembly of the United Nations to conclude the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and, as an implementation of the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice, to support a resolution to begin immediate negotiations on a Nuclear Weapons Convention which would provide for nuclear disarmament in all its aspects." Other statements were: welcoming the votes on the NWC resolution in the UN First Committee (November 14) and in the UN General Assembly (UNGA, Dec.12), a letter to the G7 Summit, and a letter to the Russian President to release Alexandr Nikitin.
- Four issues (No. 8-11) of the quarterly INESAP Information Bulletin were published and disseminated to about 500 readers, especially during the above-mentioned events. As a major source of information and exchange on science-based information and policy debates on non-proliferation and disarmament among scientists, non-proliferation and disarmament experts, diplomats and politicians, activists and journalists around the globe, the INESAP Bulletin was essential in linking all INESAP activities. By involving authors from a variety of organizations, it contributed to building a global community of experts and activists in this field. In terms of quality and quantity, layout and content, the INESAP Bulletin has made considerable progress in 1996, despite technical and financial restrictions. The responses from authors and readers to the Editor (Jürgen Scheffran) were very encouraging and resulted in a voluntary financial support by some.

Financial support in 1996 came from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Berghof Foundation, the Swedish Research Foundation and public funds given to IANUS, where the office and staff of INESAP is located. The office of the International Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility (INES) in Dortmund is supporting the work of INESAP, especially in respect to the Abolition 2000 Network. The amount of funding related to INESAP was around $ 210,000 in 1996. About 70% of this were made available through IANUS. However, financial prospects for 1997 are poor and indicate a further shrinking budget. The reduced funding by foundations is an indicator of reduced interest in supporting non-proliferation, disarmament, and nuclear issues after the NPT Extension.

Martin Kalinowski

, IANUS

c/o Institut für Kernphysik, Schloßgartenstr. 9, 64289 Darmstadt, Germany

Tel.: +49 6151 163016 ; FAX: +49 6151 166039

E-Mail, group: IANUS@hrzpub.th-darmstadt.de, private: kalinowski@hrzpub.th-darmstadt.de

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