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1999
INESAP is a non-profit, non-governmental network organisation with participants from all over the world. It is part of the worldwide activities of INES. The Interdisciplinary Research Group in Science, Technology and Security (IANUS) at Darmstadt University of Technology (Germany), as a member organisation of INES, manages most existing activities in INESAP. The international Coordinating Committee has 7 members in 4 continents. The main objective 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.
INESAP projects and activities in 1999
NPT PrepCom
At the third Preparatory Committee Meeting for the Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference in 2000, New York, 12-23 April 1999, INESAP contributed to the briefing program of the NGOs during these meetings. The main topics were the abolition of nuclear weapons and criticism of new plans for ballistic missile defense. INESAP contributed to the NGO statements delivered to the delegates in the conference room, especially regarding delivery systems and elimination of nuclear weapons.
Model Nuclear Weapon Convention
A main point of the work of INESAP within the Global Network Abolition 2000 continued to be the Model Nuclear Weapons Convention (mNWC). INESAP Briefing Paper No. 7/1999 discusses the question "Has the Time Come for the Nuclear Weapons Convention?". INESAP is one of three organizations (the others are IPPNW and IALANA) that worked to produce the book Security and Survival: The Case for a Nuclear Weapons Convention (by Merav Datan and Alyn Ware, with contributing editors Martin Kalinowski, Jürgen Scheffran, Victor Sidel, and John Burroughs). This book was released in May 1999 at the Hague Appeal for Peace Conference and at the NPT PrepCom in a special Session organized by IPPNW.
Abolition 2000
INESAP supported the Abolition 2000 Global Network, in particular by convening the Working Group on the Nuclear Weapons Convention (Jürgen Scheffran) as well as the Working Group on nuclear-weapons-usable materials (Martin Kalinowski) and by sending representatives to the global strategy meetings.
Hague Appeal For Peace Conference
INESAP was one of the Co-organizers of the Hague Appeal For Peace Conference that took place form 12 to 15 May. INESAP contributed with a workshop on the "Abolition of Nuclear Weapons" convened by Jürgen Scheffran. The three sessions of the workshop dealt with challenges and opportunities for nuclear disarmament, concepts for a Nuclear-Weapons-Free World and with strategies and actions for nuclear abolition. There were 15 presentations by invited speakers.
Middle Power Initiative
INESAP is also involved in the Middle Powers Initiative (MPI), as a co-sponsor of the MPI and through the work of Professor Fernando de Souza Barros who represents INESAP on the International Steering Committee of the MPI. He participated in the Committee meetings in February and October in New York. The MPI seeks to mobilise influential middle-power nations in a campaign to get the nuclear weapons states to commit themselves to nuclear disarmament. The new edition of the MPI book "Fast Track to Zero Nuclear Weapons" was sent out on behalf of INESAP to more than 100 influential experts in various countries.
Monography on "Global Elimination of Nuclear Weapons"
A book on global elimination of nuclear weapons was edited by Martin B. Kalinowski and will be published early in 2000. It analyses why this goal has not been achieved yet and how the current deadlock could be overcome. To this end, unconventional disarmament proposals are presented with the proposed Nuclear Weapons Convention to ban nuclear weapons at its heart. This would follow the example of the Biological and Chemical Weapons Conventions. As an immediate step towards the ultimate goal, qualitative instead of the conventional quantitative disarmament measures are suggested. It is further suggested that besides of the USA and Russia the other nuclear weapons states should join the disarmament process. Nuclear Weapons Free Zones are a possibility to prepare for global elimination of nuclear weapons on a regional scale. The authors are internationally well-respected experts for nuclear disarmament with some emphasis on scientific expertise. Among them are co-initiators and main authors of the model Nuclear Weapons Convention which became an official document of the United Nations in 1997.
Middle East
The Middle East was in the focus of INESAP activities in 1998. The newly founded Egypt Scientists Against Proliferation (ESAP) and the Coordinating Center for Arabic Peace Organizations started their regional activities, including networking among scientists and engineers in the Middle East and educating them and the public. In 1999, the translation and dissemination of excerpts form the INESAP Information Bulletin into Arabic continued.
Cut-off
German members of INESAP concluded a study on the past 30 years of plutonium handling in Germany. Further the global stocks were analysed under the perspective of a Comprehensive Cut-off Convention.
Further spread of nuclear weapon free zones
The main questions of this project are: What regions are good candidates for the next nuclear weapon free zones? What can we learned from existing zones and how can they be improved? What role should verification and non-intrusive monitoring play? As part of this project, a strategy should be developed to create a political impetus from local nuclear free authorities through the state level and further to an alliance of nuclear weapons free countries. A precedence for the first level of this strategy was set by Austrian legislation in 1999 which bans nuclear weapons on its territory. A conference is under preparation to be held in Stockholm in September 2000. A book publication will follow the conference. This project started in 1997. Lack of funding has slowed down its pace. It is conducted in co-operation with Praful Bidwai and Achin Vanaik (India), the Dag Hammarskjoeld Foundation (Sweden), the Transnational Institute (Netherlands) and the Peace Depot (Japan).
Symposium on Space Ethics
On 3-5 March, IANUS in cooperation with INESAP and other NGOs held a symposium on "Space Use and Ethics - Criteria for the Assessment of Future Space Projects" in Darmstadt. Topics included nuclear power in space, conflict and international control in space as well as missile defense. The proceedings will be published in 2000.
INES Council Meeting and Seminar 1999
On 24-26 September 1999, Martin B. Kalinowski attended the INES Council meeting as well as the Seminar on "Science and Responsibility at the Threshold to the 21st Century" in Eichgraben near Vienna. He contributed with a paper on the perspectives from nuclear physics which proposes to strive at the establishment of a Group of Scientific Experts at the Conference on Disarmament that could discuss technical issues of a Fissile Material Treaty and achieve progress even when the current deadlock at in nuclear disarmament negotiations persists. He also suggest a similar expert committee that discusses issues of nuclear disarmament towards global elimination of nuclear weapons. If this is not established by the Conference on Disarmament, INESAP could take the initiative to set up an independent group of experts. Already in April 1998 INESAP suggested a study group named "Beyond Technical Verification" (see INESAP Briefing Paper 1/1998).
INESAP email discussion list
Since 1994, Johan Swahn facilitates an email discussion list for information exchange and networking among INESAP participants. The list currently reaches 63 addresses. To subscribe to the list, send an email to the administrator at inesap-owner [at] fy [dot] chalmers [dot] se.
Preparation of the INES 2000 Congress
(14-18 June, Stockholm)
INESAP prepares a workshop on "Abolition of Nuclear Weapons".
Funding
Financial support in 1999 came from the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, and public funds of the State of Hesse and Darmstadt University of Technology 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 continues to support the work of INESAP, especially in respect to the Abolition 2000 Network. The amount of funding related to INESAP was around $40,000 in 1999.
Selected publications
— The INESAP Information Bulletin, edited by Jürgen Scheffran, remains the main medium of INESAP for international communication. One issue was produced in 1999 (No. 17 in August, 76 pages). It is a special topical issues entitled "Who is Next? The Proliferation of NATO Targets." Excerpts of previous issues of the INESAP Information Bulletin were translated by Egypts Scientists Against Proliferation (ESAP) into Arabic.
— Briefing paper: Prepared on the occasion of the third Preparatory Committee meeting for the NPT Review Conference in the year 2000 from 12 to 23 April, 1999 in New York. (Sponsored by the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation)
No. 7/1998: Has the time come for the Nuclear Weapons Convention? (Martin B. Kalinowski, Wolfgang Liebert, Jürgen Scheffran) The text has been published also in German.
— Security and Survival: The Case for a Nuclear Weapons Convention (by Merav Datan and Alyn Ware, with contributing editors Martin Kalinowski, Jürgen Scheffran, Victor Sidel, and John Burroughs), Cambridge 1999.
— Martin B. Kalinowski (ed.): Global Elimination of Nuclear Weapons; Nomos-Verlagsgesellschaft: Baden-Baden (Germany) 2000 [ISBN: 3-7890-6594-3; US$44.50]
