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:

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:

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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