Det danske Fredsakademi

Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 23. Oktober 2006 / Time Line October 23, 2006

22. Oktober 2006, 24. Oktober 2006

10/23/2006
Nagasaki Appeal 2006
The 2005 Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), held in New York in May 2005, the sixtieth anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ended without progress toward nuclear disarmament. There was much disappointment in the atomic-bombed cities, especially since expectations were running high in that milestone year. North Korea’s nuclear test on October 9 was another blow to people around the world who have devoted themselves to the abolition of nuclear weapons. However, we global citizens will never give up on efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons.
Specific developments since the NPT Review Conference hold hope for the future.
Sensible governments, the United Nations, and NGOs have joined together, learned lessons from the setback, and boldly risen up as demonstrated by the following: The 60 recommendations of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission (WMDC) chaired by Hans Blix, which include the reaffirmation that the goal should be to “outlaw nuclear weapons”; the realization of a new and innovative Central Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone (NWFZ), the first NWFZ of the 21st Century; growing support for Mongolia’s nuclear weapon-free zone status; the increasing engagement of mayors and parliamentarians in nuclear disarmament through Mayors for Peace and the Parliamentary Network for Nuclear Disarmament; the Article VI Forum of the Middle Powers Initiative (MPI) convening likeminded states and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to bring about compliance with the nuclear disarmament obligation; and powerful citizen campaigns to stop the renewal of the Trident nuclear weapons system in the U.K.
Meanwhile, the surviving victims of the atomic bombings, the Hibakusha, although even today suffering from the aftereffects of radiation, are in their old age standing in the vanguard of the campaign to abolish nuclear weapons. Last year, the Hibakusha were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Although they were not awarded the prize, the Selection Committee expressed the highest praise for their activities. In order to expose the realities of the atomic bombings, more and more atomic bomb exhibitions and Hibakushas’ witness accounts are being presented around the world every year. Among them, it is significant that in 2006 one such presentation was made at a U.S. government-operated museum in Nevada, where the U. S. nuclear test site is located. Few words are needed to help those who think of the development of nuclear weapons as a victory for science gain an understanding of the hellish scenes that unfolded beneath the mushroom cloud.
This year marks the tenth anniversary of the historic Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice. The Court found that “the threat or use of nuclear weapons would generally be contrary to the rules of international law” and that /all/ countries have an obligation “to pursue in good faith and bring to a conclusion negotiations” on nuclear disarmament in all its aspects.
This year, the sixty-first anniversary of the atomic bombings, is a new starting point. In Nagasaki, we have come together for the 3rd Nagasaki Global Citizens’ Assembly for the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons and conducted enthusiastic discussions over three days. The opening day was marked by the dedication of a sculpture in Nagasaki Peace Park. “The Cloak of Peace-Te korowai Rangimarie” was presented as a gift of friendship from the people of New Zealand to the people of Nagasaki. We were greatly encouraged by the participation of young people in the Assembly, including high school and university students, who reported on their sustained and broad-based peace activities.
Bearing in mind the results of the activities and discussions we engaged in, and on behalf of global citizens everywhere, we make the following appeal to the peoples of the world.
1. We strongly proclaim that nuclear weapons are the most barbaric, inhumane and cowardly of weapons, and we call upon the governments of all countries, without exception, to renounce the practice of seeking security through nuclear weapons.
2. We strongly condemn the provocative nuclear test conducted by North Korea. We reject any use of force in response and call for a peaceful, diplomatic resolution based upon a return to the six-party talks as well as bilateral talks.
3. Japan, as an atomic-bombed country, has an extremely important role and responsibility to fulfill in the abolition of nuclear weapons. We call on the Japanese government to reaffirm its commitment to the three non-nuclear principles by giving them the force of law through enactment of legislation. We give our support to Japanese citizens calling on their government for a policy shift as soon as possible from that of dependence on the U.S. nuclear weapons umbrella and for its support of an international treaty to abolish nuclear weapons.
4. To address legitimate regional security concerns, underlined by the North Korean nuclear test, we call for establishment of a Northeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone. In Japan, we support local authorities that have made nuclear-free declarations, and encourage citizens and local authorities to cooperate and strive toward this goal.
5. The control of weapons useable fissile material is necessary to prevent nuclear proliferation. We call upon the government of Japan to reconsider its nuclear fuel cycle program, including the production of plutonium.
6. Agreements reached at the 2000 NPT Review Conference, including the “unequivocal undertaking by the nuclear weapon states to accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals,” remain valid today. These include a diminishing role for nuclear weapons in security policies; taking nuclear weapons off high-alert status; ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT); negotiation of a verifiable Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT); and the principle of irreversible nuclear disarmament. We call on all governments to assure implementation of these commitments. A return to these commitments should be the starting point of the 2010 NPT Review Conference.
7. We oppose the double standards that accept some nuclear programs, and reject others. None are acceptable. We oppose the proposed nuclear deal between the United States and India. We appeal not only to the governments of those two countries, but also to all the governments participating in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to reject it.
8. We oppose the development of missile defense programs, including those that will lead to the weaponization of space. The promotion of missile defenses is serving to escalate competition for armaments, including nuclear arms, on a regional basis and throughout the world.
9. We call for the implementation of the recommendations of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission (WMDC). Let us promote these recommendations to national governments, parliaments, local governments, and civil society. Though it is clear that the United States and Russia need to cut their arsenals more rapidly and deeply, each of the nuclear weapon states must undertake further substantial reduction in their reliance on nuclear weapons. All nuclear weapon states should commit not to develop new or replacement nuclear weapons.
10. We call for strengthened efforts to/ /encourage parliaments and local governments to act for the cause of nuclear disarmament, and to organize wide-ranging mass movements around the world. Current positive examples, unfolding on a worldwide scale, include the Emergency Action Plan of the Mayors for Peace (2020 Vision), the ongoing efforts of the Abolition 2000 Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons, and the new IPPNW International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).
11. We endorse and support the campaigns and civil resistance by British citizens and others who are acting to stop the renewal of the Trident nuclear weapons system and to promote the denuclearization of Europe. Also we encourage and support the campaign of US citizens against the nuclear weapon policies of the US government aimed at the indefinite possession of nuclear weapons, such as the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) program, and the development of new delivery systems for “global strike” capability. We further encourage and support the campaign of French citizens who are working to stop the development of new nuclear warheads and missiles.
12. We encourage and support all member states of Nuclear Weapons Free Zone (NWFZ) treaties, which constitute almost two-thirds of the community of nations, and call upon them to play even more active roles in promoting nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. We encourage the establishment of single state NWFZs and other regional NWFZs, and especially call on the governments in the Middle East to commence negotiations for the early and unconditional establishment of a zone free of nuclear weapons as well as other weapons of mass destruction.
13. To promote peace education and learning, we call for the establishment of public education systems which incorporate the recommendations of the United Nations Study on Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Education, using a variety of teaching methods and content, to suit each sector of society, including youth, university students, the general public, opinion leaders and decision makers.
14. We call upon the media and entertainment industries as well as artists everywhere to help dramatize, graphically depict and awaken citizens of earth to the dangers posed by nuclear weapons.
15. We call upon citizens everywhere to add their voices to those of the Hibakusha in calling for the total elimination of nuclear weapons before these weapons destroy our cities, our countries and civilization itself.
The 3'rd Nagasaki Global Citizens’ Assembly for the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons

10/23/2006
Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006
NORTH KOREA, TURKMENISTAN, ERITREA THE WORST VIOLATORS OF PRESS FREEDOM
France, the United States and Japan slip further
Gaps widen inside the European Union
New countries have moved ahead of some Western democracies in the fifth annual Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index, issued today, while the most repressive countries are still the same ones.
“Unfortunately nothing has changed in the countries that are the worst predators of press freedom,” the organisation said, “and journalists in North Korea, Eritrea, Turkmenistan, Cuba, Burma and China are still risking their life or imprisonment for trying to keep us informed. These situations are extremely serious and it is urgent that leaders of these countries accept criticism and stop routinely cracking down on the media so harshly.
"Each year new countries in less-developed parts of the world move up the Index to positions above some European countries or the United States. This is good news and shows once again that, even though very poor, countries can be very observant of freedom of expression. Meanwhile the steady erosion of press freedom in the United States, France and Japan is extremely alarming,” Reporters Without Borders said.
The three worst violators of free expression – North Korea, bottom of the Index at 168th place, Turkmenistan (167th) and Eritrea (166th) – have clamped down further. The torture death of Turkmenistan journalist Ogulsapar Muradova shows that the country’s leader, “President-for- Life” Separmurad Nyazov, is willing to use extreme violence against those who dare to criticise him. Reporters Without Borders is also extremely concerned about a number of Eritrean journalists who have been imprisoned in secret for more than five years. The all-powerful North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, also continues to totally control the media.
Northern European countries once again come top of the Index, with no recorded censorship, threats, intimidation or physical reprisals in Finland, Ireland, Iceland and the Netherlands, which all share first place.
Deterioration in the United States and Japan, with France also slipping
The United States (53rd) has fallen nine places since last year, after being in 17th position in the first year of the Index, in 2002. Relations between the media and the Bush administration sharply deteriorated after the president used the pretext of “national security” to regard as suspicious any journalist who questioned his “war on terrorism.” The zeal of federal courts which, unlike those in 33 US states, refuse to recognise the media’s right not to reveal its sources, even threatens journalists whose investigations have no connection at all with terrorism.
Freelance journalist and blogger Josh Wolf was imprisoned when he refused to hand over his video archives. Sudanese cameraman Sami al-Haj, who works for the pan-Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera, has been held without trial since June 2002 at the US military base at Guantanamo, and Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein has been held by US authorities in Iraq since April this year.
France (35th) slipped five places during the past year, to make a loss of 24 places in five years. The increase in searches of media offices and journalists’ homes is very worrying for media organisations and trade unions. Autumn 2005 was an especially bad time for French journalists, several of whom were physically attacked or threatened during a trade union dispute involving privatisation of the Corsican firm SNCM and during violent demonstrations in French city suburbs in November.
Rising nationalism and the system of exclusive press clubs (kishas) threatened democratic gains in Japan, which fell 14 places to 51st. The newspaper Nihon Keizai was firebombed and several journalists physically attacked by far-right activists (uyoku).
Fallout from the row over the "Mohammed cartoons”
Denmark (19th) dropped from joint first place because of serious threats against the authors of the Mohammed cartoons published there in autumn 2005. For the first time in recent years in a country that is very observant of civil liberties, journalists had to have police protection due to threats against them because of their work.
Yemen (149th) slipped four places, mainly because of the arrest of several journalists and closure of newspapers that reprinted the cartoons. Journalists were harassed for the same reason in Algeria (126th), Jordan (109th), Indonesia (103rd) and India (105th).
But except for Yemen and Saudi Arabia (161st), all the Arab peninsula countries considerably improved their rank. Kuwait (73rd) kept its place at the top of the group, just ahead of the United Arab Emirates (77th) and Qatar (80th).
Gaps widen inside the European Union
The first 15 countries in the Index are all members of the European Union (EU), except for Norway (6th) and Switzerland (8th), and most of the leaders are still northern European states. Among the 25 EU member-countries, Poland (58th) remains in lowest position because of an increase in censorship. Prison sentences and fines for defamation and insults to a person’s dignity or religious feelings are common. An attempt to punish the newspaper Tageszeitung for “publicly insulting a state institution” after it printed a satirical article about President Lech Kaczynski is typical of the efforts to control the media by the Catholic/conservative coalition that came to power in November 2005.
Poland shared 58th place with Romania, whose rise in the Index shows that present or future membership of the EU is having a good effect on freedom of expression in Eastern Europe. Romania decriminalised defamation in June 2006.
Germany fell to 23rd place after a series of incidents, including admission by the state intelligence service of its illegal surveillance of the media for more than a decade, prosecution of two journalists of the magazine Cicero for “aiding to betray state secrets”, death threats to a cartoonist on the newspaper Tagesspiegel and problems of access to data since passage of a freedom of information act (Informationsfreiheitsgesetz). Switzerland (8th) slipped seven places, mainly due to prosecution of two media outlets under article 293 of the criminal code that punishes “publication of secret official debates.”
The end of the Berlusconi era saw a slight improvement in Italy’s position (to 40th), mainly due to repeated criticism of the then prime minister’s abuse of broadcasting time during the April 2006 parliamentary election campaign. Spain fell one place (to 41st) due to passage by the Catalonian government of a restrictive broadcasting law.
Repressive trend in former Soviet bloc countries but methods vary
The ex-USSR performs worst for press freedom among European countries. The situation in Russia (147th) and Belarus (151st) has not improved. Russia, which suffers from a basic lack of democracy, continues slowly but steadily dismantling the free media, with industrial groups close to President Vladimir Putin buying up nearly all independent media outlets and with passage of a law discouraging NGO activity.
Each year several journalists are murdered in Russia with complete impunity. The person who ordered the July 2004 killing in Moscow of Paul Klebnikov, editor of the Russian edition of Forbes magazine, remains publicly unknown. The murder of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya in early October 2006 is a poor omen for the coming year.
In Central Asia, President Islam Karimov continues to rule Uzbekistan (155th) Soviet-style more harshly than ever since the May 2005 uprising in Andijan. It has been hard for foreign journalists to get entry visas since the regime began classing them as troublemakers or terrorists in February 2006 and the offices of correspondents for the BBC and Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty were closed. Beatings and arrests continued and independent journalist Djamshid Karimov, the president’s nephew, was put in a mental hospital in Samarkand without explanation and without being allowed visits from his family.
Newcomers to the top ranks
Two countries moved into the Index’s top 20 for the first time. Bolivia (16th) was best-placed among less-developed countries and during the year its journalists enjoyed the same level of freedom as colleagues in Canada or Austria. But the growing polarisation between state-run and privately-owned media and between supporters and opponents of President Evo Morales could complicate the situation.
Bosnia-Herzegovina (19th) continued its gradual rise up the Index since the end of the war in ex- Yugoslavia and is now placed above its European Union member-state neighbours Greece (32nd) and Italy (40th).
Ghana (34th) rose 32 places to become fourth in Africa behind the continent’s three traditional leaders – Benin (23rd), Namibia (26th) and Mauritius (32nd). Economic conditions are still difficult for the Ghanaian media but it is no longer threatened by the authorities.
Panama (39th) is enjoying political peace which has helped the growth of a free and vigorous media and the country moved up 27 places over the year.
War, the destroyer of press freedom
Lebanon has fallen from 56th to 107th place in five years, as the country’s media continues to suffer from the region’s poisonous political atmosphere, with a series of bomb attacks in 2005 and Israeli military attacks this year. The Lebanese media – some of the freest and most experienced in the Arab world – desperately need peace and guarantees of security. The inability of the Palestinian Authority (134th) to maintain stability in its territories and the behaviour of Israel (135th) outside its borders seriously threaten freedom of expression in the Middle East. Things are much the same in Sri Lanka, which ranked 51st in 2002, when there was peace, but has now sunk to 141st because fighting between government and rebel forces has resumed in earnest. Dozens of Tamil journalists have been physically attacked after being accused by one side or the other of being biased against them.
Press freedom in Nepal (159th) has shifted according to the state of the fighting that has disrupted the country for several years. The “democatic revolution” and the revolt against the monarchy in April this year led immediately to more basic freedoms and the country should gain a lot of ground in next year’s Index.
Welcome changes of regime
Changes of ruler are sometimes good for press freeedom, as in the case of Haiti, which has risen from 125th to 87th place in two years after the flight into exile of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in early 2004. Several murders of journalists remain unpunished but violence against the media has abated.
Togo (66th) has risen 29 places since the death of President Gnassingbe Eyadema in February 2005, the accession to power of his son and internationally-backed efforts to make peace with the opposition.
A coup in Mauritania in August 2005 ended the heavy censorship of the local media and the country has risen to 77th position after being 138th in 2004, one of the biggest improvements in the Index.
Reporters Without Borders compiled the Index by asking the 14 freedom of expression organisations that are its partners worldwide, its network of 130 correspondents, as well as journalists, researchers, jurists and human rights activists, to answer 50 questions about press freedom in their countries. The Index covers 168 nations. Others were not included for lack of data about them. 5 rue Geoffroy-Marie - 75009 Paris – Tel : 33 1 44 83 84 67 – Fax : 33 1 45 23 11 51 europe@rsf.org – For more: www.rsf.org

10/23/2006
CONTRACTS from the United States Department of Defense
Tompkins Builders Inc., Washington, D.C., was awarded on Oct. 16, 2006, a $57,421,000 firm-fixed-price contract for construction of an addition to the Langley Air Force Base Hospital. Work will be performed at Langley Air Force Base, Va., and is expected to be completed by Nov. 15, 2008. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There were an unknown number of bids solicited via the world wide web on Jan. 31, 2006, and two bids were received. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Norfolk, Va., is the contracting activity (W91236-07-C-0011).
Northrop Grumman Mission Systems, Carson, Calif., is being awarded a $13,017,011 cost-plus-award fee and cost-plus-fixed fee contract modification. This modification incorporates the re-planned program schedule for Space Based Space Surveillance (SBSS) due to budget reduction in FY 03 and FY 04. It also incorporates a program launch slip from June 2007 to December 2008 for SBSS. The award will be made to Northrop Grumman Mission Systems as a contractor modification to an existing contract. At this time, no funds have been obligated. This work will be complete December 2008. Space Superiority Systems Wing, Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif., is the contracting activity. (FA8819-04-C-0002/P00039)

10/23/2006

Top