[DRAFT: Hiroshima Report 2013] 1-(11) Disarmament and non-proliferation education and cooperation with civil society

(Following is a draft version, which is subject to be updated or revised. Your comments and feedbacks are welcome!)

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As surveyed in the Hiroshima Report 2012, most countries have not made available information on their activities undertaken with respect to disarmament and non-proliferation education, including cooperation with civil society, or the outcome of these efforts. During the 67th session of the UN General Assembly in July 2012, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a report stating that only nine countries, including Austria, Japan, Mexico and New Zealand, had informed the UN on their implementation of his recommendations.[1]

At the 2013 NPT PrepCom, the NPDI submitted a working paper highlighting the member countries’ commitment to actively promote disarmament and non-proliferation education, including that: Japan co-hosted the Global Forum on Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Education in Nagasaki with the United Nations University in August 2012; and Mexico supported a resolution[2], adopted at the OPANAL General Conference, to establish an open-ended working group for nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation education.[3] The NPDI’s working paper also highlighted the disarmament and non-proliferation education activities by Canada, Japan, Netherlands and Poland as good practices.[4] At the 2013 PrepCom, Japan also reported that:

“Japan initiated the ‘Special Communicators for a World without Nuclear Weapons’ program in 2010. Under the program more than 90 Hibakushas, or atomic bomb survivors, to date have shared their experiences with international audiences. …[And] Foreign Minister Kishida took the initiative in establishing a ‘Youth Communicators for a World without Nuclear Weapons’ program. Under this new program, younger generations are expected to share with the world what they themselves have learned about the harm inflicted by nuclear weapons and what they have themselves thought about what they can do to achieve their elimination.”[5]

Foreign Minister Kishida appointed 15 high school peace ambassadors as the “Youth Special Communicators for a World without Nuclear Weapons” on July 29.

Side events held during the NPT RevCon and PrepCom, and the First Committee of the UN General Assembly, where NGOs can participate, are also important elements of the efforts toward civil society cooperation. In 2013, among the states surveyed in this report: Canada, Egypt, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States, the NPDI, the EU and the EURATOM held side events at the PrepCom; and Canada, Egypt, Japan, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Switzerland and the United States hosted such events at the UN General Assembly First Committee. [6]

Regarding cooperation with civil society, one of the important efforts for governments is to provide more information on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation matters. Among the countries surveyed in this report, the following set up a section or sections on disarmament and non-proliferation on their official homepages (in English) and post enriching information: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Finally, a few countries started to legislate against investment to organizations or companies involved in producing nuclear weapons. Switzerland and Luxembourg enacted national laws, which restrict financing for nuclear weapons production. Some banks and investment funds also have policies against investing in such organizations or companies.[7]

(Drafted by Hirofumi Tosaki, CPDNP)

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[1] A/67/138, 12 July 2012.

[2] CG/E/Res.547, 13 November 2012.

[3] NPT/CONF.2015/PC.II/WP.12, 18 March 2013.

[4] NPT/CONF.2015/PC.I/WP.14, 20 April 2012.

[5] “Statement by H.E. Mr. Mitsuru Kitano Ambassador, Director-General of the Disarmament, Non-Proliferation and Science Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan,” Second Session of the Preparatory Committee for the 20 15 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), General Debate, Geneva, 22 April 2013. “Special Communicators for a World without Nuclear Weapons” have passed on their experience about the real consequence of the use of nuclear weapons to the cities of, among others, Austria, Canada, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Israel, Kazakhstan, Russia, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.

[6] See the following reports issued by the Reaching Critical Will: NPT News in Review (2013); NPT News in Review (2013); First Committee Monitor (2012).

[7] See “Don’t Bank on the Bomb: A Global Report on the Financing of Nuclear Weapons Producers,” IKV Pax Christi and ICAN, October 2013.