Research Design: Items -- Excerpt from the Hiroshima Report 2012

Items for study, analysis and evaluation of the selected countries’ performance are built mainly upon the following documents that reflect views with wide support on the issues of nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation and nuclear security. Items are also chosen with the aim of providing a certain degree of objective measurements for evaluation.

Ø  The Action Plan and recommendations pertaining to the implementation of the 1995 Middle East resolution contained in the Final Document adopted in the 2010 NPT Review Conference;

Ø  Seventy-six recommendations contained in the 2009 International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (ICNND) report titled “Eliminating Nuclear Threats: A Practical Agenda for Global Policymakers”;

Ø  Proposals sponsored or co-sponsored by Japan at the 2012 NPT Preparatory Committee (PrepCom); and

Ø  “Resolution towards the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons” launched by the Mayors for Peace in 2011.

Research Design: Approach -- Excerpt from the Hiroshima Report 2012

This project focuses on the time period from the conclusion of the 2010 NPT RevCon until the end of 2012. Reference documents are basically open sources, such as speeches, remarks, and working papers delivered at disarmament fora (e.g., NPT Preparatory Committee, UN General Assembly, and Conference on Disarmament) and official documents published by governments and international organizations.

As for the evaluation section, a set of objective evaluation criteria is established by which the respective country’s performance is assessed.

Purpose of the Project: Excerpts from the Hiroshima Report 2012

"The momentum created by U.S. President Barack Obama’s speech in Prague in April 2009 for a world without nuclear weapons seems to be weakening. The number of nuclear weapons has been reduced to around 20,000, equivalent to one-third of the peak at the height of the Cold War. However, the prospects of eliminating nuclear weapons are still distant at best. Even more worrying, the situation regarding nuclear weapons is becoming more and more complex. On the positive side, the New START, a U.S.-Russian bilateral strategic nuclear weapons reduction treaty, was signed in April 2010. In the following month, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference (RevCon) unanimously adopted a Final Document, which contained a specific action plan for nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation and nuclear security, along with key recommendations related to the Middle East. After these positive movements, however, the negotiation on a post-New START bilateral nuclear reduction treaty has yet to be launched, and other nuclear weapons possessors do not even seem to have the intention to start further, if any, reduction of their arsenals. The goals of early entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) and the immediate commencement and early conclusion of Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty (FMCT) negotiations have been reiterated for more than a decade without meaningful progress. Iran and North Korea seem to consolidate their respective nuclear (weapons) capabilities. Notwithstanding gradual reinforcement of nuclear security, the threat of nuclear terrorism remains a high security concern. While problems regarding nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation and nuclear security continue to accumulate, efforts toward solving them have progressed at a snail's pace.

Introduction

The Center for the Promotion of Disarmament and Non-Proliferation (CPDNP), Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA) is commissioned a research project on Evaluating Performances of Selected Countries in the Field of Nuclear Disarmament, Non-Proliferation and Nuclear Security by the Hiroshima Prefecture. The Result of the FY2012 project was published as the Hiroshima Report--Evaluation of Achievement in Nuclear Disarmament, Non-Proliferation and Nuclear Security: 2010-2012.

In FY2013, the CPDNP has launched this blog aiming to provoke discussions on nuclear issues and to get feedbacks for preparing Hiroshima Report 2013. In this blog, experts on nuclear issues will discuss, inter alia, the findings of the Hiroshima Report, on which issues or areas  the international community should make further efforts towards a world without nuclear weapons. The staff of this project will be posting an initial draft of Hiroshima Report 2013. Your comments and feedbacks are welcome!