Day Nine at the NPT

Today at the NPT PrepCom brought yet another morning of closed door discussions. The fate of the 2nd draft of chair's recommendations for 2010 hung in the balance. Upon resuming formal discussions in Conference Room 1, the Chair, Ambassador Boniface Guwa Chidyausiku of Zimbabwe, announced that consensus had not been reached on his Draft Recommendations version 2. At present the discussion is about how to proceed. Many delegations are urging the chair to move forward, to try to reach a consensus on a document. How this will turn out is anyone's guess.

Over lunchtime The Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy hosted a roundtable discussion with Max Kampelman, Dr Patricia Lewis and Dr Randy Rydell, chaired by Dr Rebecca Johnson. The focus was on the prospects for outlawing the use of nuclear weapons. In her final comments, Dr Patricia Lewis said "It is ideas that start in our minds that make things happen. Nuclear weapons are man-made, and we can get rid of them." This gathering coincides with the launch of Dr Rebecca Johnson's new book - Unfinished Business: The Negotiation of the CTBT and the End of Nuclear Testing. The entire document is now available online via the UNIDIR site. Just click on the link above and you too can read her work!

Yours from an expectant NPT PrepCom

Ruth Mitchell