ACTIVITIES OF THE NGO COMMITTEE ON PEACE, VIENNA,

A. Introductory

The electionn of the Board of the Committee and its officers for the period 2003 and 2004 took place at a Business Meeting on 22 January 2003. The composition of the Board is now as shown on this letterhead of the Committee. The Board was elected unanimously, on the basis of a proposal resulting from consultations coordinated by Mr. Felix Betram.

The planning of activities of the Committee took place at Board meetings on 9 October 2002 and 26 February 2003 and in connection with Information and Discussion Meetings.

The Committe has again profited from the cooperation with and the assistance of the UN Office Vienna, in particular of Mr. B. Znamenski and Mr. T. Reitbauer, and from information made available by UN Information Service Vienna, Ms. R. Henke coming to many meetings of the Committee, filling special requests from members of the Committee and sending information on UN activities by e mail. The possibility to use the Press Briefing Room of Vienna International Centre for the meetings of the Committee is greatly appreciated.

B. Information and Discussion Meetings

These meetings took place at the Vienna International Centre, Press Briefing Room

(1) 9 October 2002: "Activities on Peace Issues of NGOs - An Information Exchange". Reports were given by Ellen Hamerschlag (World Peace Council), Eleonore Hauer-Rona (International Council of Women), Klaus Renoldner (International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War), Samuel Welber (Soka Gakkai International).

(2) 23 October 2002: Professor Dr. Jiri Matousek (Professor of Toxicology, Masaryk University, Brno, and Professor of Environmental Chemistry and Technology, Brno University of Technology) spoke on "Banning Chemical Weapons - Forever. The Chemical Weapons Convention and its implementation".

(3) 20 November 2002: Professor Herbert C. Kelman (Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA) spoke on "A Social-Psychological Approach to Conflict Resolution and its Application in the Israeli-Palestinian Case". Principles and experiences with problem-solving workshops for conflict resolution were reported.

(4) 22 January 2003: Ambassador Lamberto Zannier (Director of the Conflict Prevention Centre of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) spoke on "Limitation of Conventional Weapons and Peaceful Conflict Resolution in Europe", inter alia discussing the agreed adaptation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) and the problems hindering its entrance into force.

(5) 26 February 2003: Panel dicussion "The Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) - Preparations for the Review Conference 2005 and Present Challenges". Introductory speakers were Mr. Tariq Rauf (International Atomic Energy Agency, Office of External Relations and Policy Coordination), Mr. Aaron Tovish (NGO Committee on Disarmament, Geneva) and Mr.Klaus Renoldner (Representative of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War at UN Vienna).

26 March 2003: Panel discussion "Children and Armed Conflict". Introductory speakers were Dr. Walter Lichem ( Austrian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Head of the Department for International Organizations), speaking on "Children affected by armed conflicts on the agenda of the United Nations; initiatives by the Human Security Network", Mag. Sylvia Trsek (Austrian Committee for UNICEF) speaking on "The impact of war on children and UNICEF`s response", and Mr. Franz Fluch (Photographer) speaking on "The civil war in Angola - the fate of children and their impressions".

(7) 14 May 2003: "Space Weapons - Can a new arms race be prevented?"
Introductory talks were given by Regina Hagen (Coordinator of International Network of Engineers and Scientists against Proliferation
(INESAP)) and Boris D. Kvok (Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the International Organizations in Vienna).

(8) 4 June 2003: Horst Grabert (Ambassador, ret., Germany) spoke on "The Monopolar World - a New Problem".

C. Other activities

(1) Letter of NGO Representatives to the Permanent Representatives of the States that were members of the UN Security Council, sent on 24 October 2002, regarding weapon inspections in Iraq. This letter * resulted from a discussion in the Committee on 9 October 2002 and was signed by 20 representatives of international NGOs accredited at UN Vienna. It called on the members of the UN Security Council to assure the immediate start of weapons inspections in Iraq by UNMOVIC and IAEA, so that an escalation of the conflict could be prevented and unilateral military action, which would violate key provisions of the UN Charta, could be blocked. The view was also expressed that evaluation of reports of weapons inspectors and decisions on measures to assure the implementation of Security Council resolutions must be the prerogative of that UN body, in conformity with provisions of the UN Charta.

(2) Letter of NGO Representatives to the Secretary General of the United Nations and the President of the UN Security Council, sent end of January 2003, regarding availability of Iraqi reports on weapon holdings. In this letter * , signed by 17 NGO Representatives , UN Security Council Resolution 1441 (of 8 November 2002) was termed as of great importance for reaching a pacific settlement of the conflict over alleged weapons of mass destruction possibly held by Iraq. Concern was expressed that the report submitted by Iraqi authorities in early December 2002 under this resolution was not made available in full to the non-permanent members of the Security Council, thus hindering them from arriving at an objective view of the situation. The Secretary General and the President of the Security Cuncil were asked to assure that all members of the Security Council are equally informed.

(3) Letter of NGO Representatives to the President of the UN Security Council, the President of the UN General Assembly (57th Session) and the UN Secretary General, sent 1 April 2003. In this letter*, signed by 26 NGO Representatives, great concern was expressed about the war against Iraq. Since the Security Council had not been able to assure the maintenance of international peace, the UN General Assembly should meet immediately to consider the conflict with a view to making recommendations for collective measures to restore international peace. The appeal was addressed to the members of the Security Council and to all members of the United Nations to request the convening of an "emergency special session" of the UN General Assembly.

* Full texts of the letters are available on request.

Gertraud Führer Angelika Hofmann, Klaus Renoldner, Thomas Schönfeld

15 September 2003