The Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy

The Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy has been working since 1995 to promote effective approaches to international security, disarmament and arms control. Engaging with governments and civil society, Acronym provides reporting, analysis and strategic thinking on a range of issues relevant to peace and security, with special emphasis on treaties and multilateral initiatives.

The Acronym Institute publishes the journal Disarmament Diplomacy, with comprehensive overview of news, events and documentation relating to disarmament negotiations and developments in proliferation.

Founding Director & Editor: Dr Rebecca Johnson rej@acronym.org.uk
Deputy Director and Website manager: Nicola Butler

The Acronym Institute is grateful to the Ford Foundation, the Ploughshares Fund, and the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust for their enabling support of our work and publications, including this website.

Highlights

NPT Preparatory Committee meeting, April - May 2008

The second PrepCom for the 2010 NPT Review Conference took place in Geneva from 28 April to 9 May 2008.

Rebecca Johnson, Executive Director of the Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy participated, and her analyses are available below. For NGO updates and the main statements and documents from the PrepCom see also Reaching Critical Will.

Latest Updates and Briefings

• 2008 NPT PrepCom adopts report but not Chair's factual and balanced Summary, Rebecca Johnson, May 9, 2008
• Chair's Factual Summary, May 9, 2008
• Statement by the Delegations of China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America, Delivered by UK Ambassador John Duncan to the 2008 NPT PrepCom, Geneva, May 9, 2008
• 2008 NPT PrepCom: Debates over, plus safeguards summary, Rebecca Johnson, 7 May 2008
• 2008 NPT PrepCom: Decisions taken, Security Assurances debated, Rebecca Johnson, 6 May 2008
• 2008 NPT PrepCom: Calm first week and disarmament roundup, Rebecca Johnson, 2 May 2008
• Day 3, General Debate ends with concerns about cold war legacies of tactical nuclear weapons and contamination, Rebecca Johnson, 30 April 2008
• General debate day 2: Of Common Endeavours and Double Standards, Rebecca Johnson, 29 April 2008
• 2008 NPT PrepCom gets going smoothly, Report of Day 1: April 28, 2008, Rebecca Johnson

Webcasts from Geneva

• The NPT review process, Rebecca Johnson, 28 April 2008
• Expectations for the 2008 PrepCom, Rebecca Johnson, 28 April 2008

Reports from Disarmament Diplomacy

• Is the NPT being Overtaken by Events? by Rebecca Johnson , Disarmament Diplomacy, No.87, Spring 2008
• Back from the Brink? The 2007 NPT PrepCom Report
  by Rebecca Johnson. A detailed analysis of the conduct, dynamics, and substantive debates at the 2007 NPT PrepCom, Disarmament Diplomacy No. 85, Summer 2007.
  See also: Chair's Summary, reproduced in full

Disarmament Diplomacy, Issue No.87, Spring 2008

• Time to Outlaw the Use of Nuclear Weapons, Editorial, by Rebecca Johnson

• Is the NPT being Overtaken by Events? by Rebecca Johnson

• Stagnation and Redundancy: Report on the 2007 UN First Committee, by Michael Spies, including:

  • 2007 First Committee Resolutions, Summary and Explanations
    
    
• US and Russian Public Opinion on Arms Control and Space Security, Nancy Gallagher
  
  
• Space War, the Logical Next Mistake for US Exceptionalism, Mike Moore
  
  
• Bucharest Summit: US Missile Defence Bases Continue to Divide NATO, by Nicola Butler and Martin Butcher
  

• In the News
  • Toward a Nuclear-Free World, George P. Shultz, William J. Perry, Henry A. Kissinger, Sam Nunn and others, Wall Street Journal, January 15, 2008
  • A World Free of Nuclear Weapons George P. Shultz, William J. Perry, Henry A. Kissinger and Sam Nunn, Wall Street Journal, January 4, 2007
  • Laying the Foundations for Multilateral Disarmament, Des Browne MP, UK Secretary of State for Defence, Statement to the Conference on Disarmament, Geneva, February 5, 2008
  • Presentation of Le Terrible in Cherbourg, Nicolas Sarkozy, President of the French Republic, March 21, 2008 (excerpts)
  • Oslo Conference on Achieving the Vision of a World Free of Nuclear Weapons, Jonas Gahr Støre, Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Statement to the Conference on Disarmament, Geneva, March 4, 2008 (excerpts)
  • North Atlantic Council (NAC) Statement on The Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty, March 28, 2008
  • Bucharest Summit Declaration, April 3, 2008
  • US-Russia Strategic Framework Declaration, April 6, 2008
  • Conference on Disarmament fails to adopt 2008 programme of work, tries new P-6 presidential draft decision, March 13, 2008

NATO Summit, 2 - 4 April 2008

NATO Heads of State and Government met in Bucharest against a backdrop of strained relations between the US and Russia, particularly concerning missile defence and the siting of US missile defence bases in Poland and the Czech Republic. NATO also faces increasingly difficult conditions in Afghanistan.

• NATO Communiqué analysis, by Martin Butcher, 3 April 2008
• Full text of the North Atlantic Council Communiqué is available at: http://www.nato.int/docu/pr/2008/p08-049e.html
• NATO Prepares for the Bucharest Summit, by Martin Butcher, 2 April 2008
• NATO Foreign Ministers Meeting, by Martin Butcher, 6 March 2008
• House of Commons Defence Committee Report on the Future of NATO, 4 March 2008
• Acronym Institute evidence to the Defence Committee Inquiry on the Future of NATO, 19 March 2007
• NATO Informal Defence Ministers' Meeting Update and Documents, by Martin Butcher, 11 February 2008

Read Martin Butcher's blog on the Summit at:

http://natobucharest.blogspot.com/

Proliferation in Parliament, December - March 2008

Latest developments and debate from the UK Parliament.

December 2007 - March 2008

• President Sarkozy speech
• Missile Defence
• The NPT and Non-Proliferation
• Trident and the UK Nuclear Programme
• UK Nuclear Infrastructure
• US Bases
• Space Weapons
• Defence Policy
• UK Policy on Iran
• European Parliament

Disarmament Documentation, April - May 2008

Disarmament Documentation is a compilation of recent official documents and statements relevant to arms control, non-proliferation and disarmament.

• Statement by UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband on behalf of the P5+1, 2 May 2008
• US Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Daniel Fried testimony on NATO's Bucharest Summit, 23 April 2008
• IAEA Director General Dr Mohamed ElBaradei on Nuclear Fuel Supply, 17 April 2008
• US Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Christopher Hill on the 6 party talks, 8 April 2008
• US Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Christopher Hill on his meeting with DPRK Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gway, 8 April 2008
• US - Russia Strategic Framework Declaration, 6 April 2008
• Presidents Bush and Putin Press Conference, Sochi, 6 April 2008
• NATO Bucharest Summit Declaration, 3 April 2008

UK Defence Secretary Speech to the Conference on Disarmament, February 2008

Secretary of State for Defence Des Browne has renewed the UK Government's commitment to "have a world free of nuclear weapons" and proposed to "host a conference for technical experts from all five recognised nuclear states, to develop technologies for nuclear disarmament". Browne's speech to the Conference on Disarmament draws on then Secretary of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs Margaret Beckett's speech in June 2007 calling for a World Free of Nuclear Weapons.

Nuclear Non-Proliferation News, December 2007

A monthly news service from the Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy, providing links to a selection of UK and international news stories relevant to UK and NATO nuclear weapons issues. December edition includes:

• Defence Budget cuts as Trident goes ahead
• Trident boosts arms industry profits
• Question marks over UK Nuclear Safety
• Liberal Democrat debate on Trident intensifies
• Scottish Opposition to Trident continues
• Protests continue against Trident
• Foreign Affairs Committee criticises Government's handling of Missile Defence
• Missile Defence sours relations with Russia
• Russia suspends implementation of the CFE Treaty
• Iran nuclear developments

• Other International News

United Nations First Committee, 2007

The UN First Committee took place at the United Nations, NY, from October 8 to November 2. As usual, the Acronym Institute participated and will compile a detailed report of the developments. Details of the resolutions and voting are available below:

• 2007 First Committee Resolutions: Summary and Explanations, compiled on behalf of the Acronym Institute by Michael Spies.

For more information on the First Committee and General Assembly visit our page on the United Nations.

Space without Weapons

• Threat of Weaponisation, by Rebecca Johnson, CONGO Forum on Civil Society and Outer Space: "Where do we stand on using outer space for peaceful purposes?" Vienna, October 8-9, 2007

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