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UN Asia-Pacific Regional Disarmament Conference, March 2001, Wellington, Aotearoa / New Zealand.

Official Programme

Resource People and Speakers

Alternative and Fringe Events - in Manukau, Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch

Youth Forum - in Wellington

Accommodation in Wellington

NGO Meetings and Seminars - in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch

Supporters and Sponsors
 

Official Programme

Sub-titled 'Ka hao te rangatahi: A Pacific way to disarmament', the United Nations conference is being organised here by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade on behalf of the UN Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific.

The geographical focus of the UN conference is primarily on South Pacific Forum member states. It will feature the 'Kathmandu process', characteristic of conferences run by the UN Regional Centre. This means that non-government organisation (NGO) specialists take part in the conference as presenters and resource people.

There will be three main themes - nuclear disarmament (including implementation and follow up from the 2000 NPT Review conference and discussion of a nuclear weapon free Southern Hemisphere); illicit trafficking in small arms and light weapons (as part of the regional preparations for the 2001 UN conference on that topic); and other international disarmament related conventions and regimes such as the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, the Chemical Weapons Convention, the Ottawa Convention on land mines, International Atomic Energy Authority Safeguards and the UN Register of Conventional Arms.

No Pacific nation possesses either landmines or nuclear weapons. All of the nuclear weapons, land mines, chemical weapons and small arms (illicit and 'licit') have been brought into the Pacific by former or current colonial powers. It is therefore unfortunate that the key Pacific concerns of decolonisation and demilitarisation, and the role they would play in disarming the region, are not being addressed by the official conference. The role of successive Australian and NZ governments in arming and providing military assistance and training to the the region will not be addressed either ... that is why we are having alternative and fringe events !
 

Resource People and Speakers

We are very pleased to tell you that PMA, with the assistance of a generous travel fund from Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand, is bringing Losena Tubanavau-Salabula here for the PeacePacific and other NGO events:

Losena has been an Assistant Director at the PCRC since 1994, working on demilitarisation. This position includes campaigning, lobbying and advocacy work.

Losena’s current work focus is based on the resolutions of the 8th NFIP Conference and include: the Kwajalein missile range and the US National Missile Defence System; the growing militarisation in the Pacific, in particular internal militarisation; media coverage of Pacific militarisation; the Johnston Atoll Chemical Weapons Disposal Facility; strengthening the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty; the aftermath of nuclear weapons testing and nuclear waste dumping; the plight of the Fiji nuclear test veterans; the impact of increasing Japanese militarism on the Pacific; and opposition to the deployment of the W-88 nuclear warhead in the Pacific.

The NCCD, and a private donor, are bringing Associate Professor Michael Hamel Green of Victoria University, Melbourne, here for the NGO Seminar in Wellington on 29 March. Michael has specialised knowledge about the Rarotonga Treaty, nuclear weapons free zones, and is author of The South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty: a critical Assessment (Peace Research Centre, Australian National University, 1990).

In addition, two Pacific participants in the UN Conference will speak at NGO events (depending on their flight times which the UN has not yet confirmed). They are: Hilda Lini, from Vanuatu, who is currently Director of the PCRC, who is a founding member of the NFIP movement, and was involved in the World Court Project through the World Health Assembly; and Moses Havini, International Representative of the Bougainville People’s Congress, also active in the NFIP movement.

Judge Christopher Weeramantry, Sri Lanka, who gave the dissenting opinion following the International Court of Justice deliberations on the legality of nuclear weapons, and who argued for the supremacy of humanitarian law over any other considerations, will also be at the UN Conference and a speaker at NGO meetings. In his dissent, Weeramantry stated "A global regime which makes safety the result of terror and can speak of survival and annihilation as twin alternatives, makes peace and the human future dependent upon terror. This is not a basis for world order which this Court can endorse."

Senator Douglas Roche, former Canadian Ambassador for Disarmament and Chairman of the Middle Powers Initiative will also be speaking at NGO events.

Alternative and Fringe Events

PeacePacific: from 10 March to 31 March, good things happening in Manukau, Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

Check this out, and much much more, on the PeaceNetwork website.

Youth Forum

Youth Forum - Saturday 24 March in Wellington, check it out on the PeaceNetwork website.

Accommodation in Wellington

There is accommodation available on Tapu Te Ranga marae for the people involved in the PeacePacific, youth and other NGO events. Some of this accommodation is subsidised to reduce the cost, but there are a limited number of subsidies so you need to get in quick if you’d like to apply for one. To book your accommodation, or apply for a subsidy, click here.

NGO Meetings and Seminars

Auckland / Tamaki Makaurau: Wednesday, 21 March

public meeting with Losena Tubanavau-Salabula from the Pacific Concerns Resource Centre, 7-30pm at Friends Meeting House, 113 Mt Eden Road. For more info contact Joan Macdonald, WILPF, joanmac@pl.net or tel (09) 360 8001.

Wellington / Whanganui ä Tara: Monday, 26 March

Development agencies meeting with Losena Tubanavau-Salabula - update on the work of the PCRC, and to make contact with development agencies and others whose work involves a Pacific focus, from 10am to 11am, at the Council for International Development, level 5, PSA House, 11 Aurora Tce. For more information contact either Louise May at Caritas louise@caritas.org.nz or Edwina Hughes at PMA pma@xtra.co.nz

Wellington / Whanganui ä Tara: Monday, 26 March

UN Model Disarmament Conference for secondary school students, opening by Matt Robson, Minister for Disarmament, from 9am to 3pm, at Circa Theatre, 1 Taranaki Street. Organised by UNA, for more info tel (04) 473 0441 or unanz@xtra.co.nz

Wellington / Whanganui ä Tara: Monday, 26 March

NGO seminar on Pacific perspectives on peace and disarmament - overview and introductory session. Speakers include: representatives of international peace groups in Aotearoa - IPB, IALANA, MPI, IPPNW, A2000, Peace Council and WILPF - give an overview of their Pacific peace work; speakers from the PCRC outline their work as the Secretariat of the NFIP movement, and discuss NFIP peace perspectives; plus Pauline Tangiora; an NFIP speaker; and speakers from the PeacePacific Youth Forum.

There will also be an introduction to the topics of the NGO seminar on Thursday as follows: Southern Hemisphere Nuclear Weapons Free Zone, Llyn Richards; Landmines, Mary Wareham; Small arms - Edwina Hughes; Militarisation of space, Bob White.

From 3pm to 5-30pm, at Circa Theatre, 1 Taranaki Street, free. Organised by the NGO Co-ordinating Group, for more information, or to register your attendance, contact the NGO CG at tel (04) 385 5999 x5086 or prior@wnmeds.ac.nz

Wellington / Whanganui ä Tara: Tuesday, 27 March

‘Decolonisation, Demilitarisation, Human Rights, and the Environment: Challenges for Pacific People in the 21st Century’ a discussion with Losena Tubanavau-Salabula, from 1-15pm to 2-15pm, at Pacific Studies, 6 Kelburn Parade, Victoria University.

Wellington / Whanganui ä Tara: Wednesday 28 March

Third Erich Geiringer Oration with Senator Douglas Roche, by invitation only, co-sponsored by IPPNW Education & Research Trust and PADET, for more info contact IPPNW/A2000 (Wellington), tel (04) 385 5999 x5086 or prior@wnmeds.ac.nz

Wellington / Whanganui ä Tara: Thursday, 29 March

NGO seminar on Pacific perspectives on peace and disarmament - focus sessions
9-30am - The Struggle for a Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific, Losena Tubanavau-Salabula(PCRC), with other NFIP speakers;
11-15am - Southern Hemisphere Nuclear Weapons Free Zone, Llyn Richards (NCCD) and Michael Hamel Green;
12-45pm - Landmine Treaty, Deborah Morris;
2pm - Illicit traffic in small arms in all its aspects, Dr George Salmond (IPPNW), with a panel of David Shearer, Moses Havini, and others.
3pm - Militarisation of Space and Missile Defence Systems, Dr Bob White (Centre for Peace Studies), with a panel of Bryce Harland, Dr Guy Wilson-Roberts (Centre for Strategic Studies) and Losena Tubanavau-Salabula (PCRC);
4pm to 4-30pm - discussion.

From 9-30am to 4-30pm, at Circa Theatre, 1 Taranaki Street, $15/$5 (includes lunch). Organised by the NGO Co-ordinating Group, for more information, or to register your attendance, contact the NGO CG at tel (04) 385 5999 x5086 or prior@wnmeds.ac.nz

Wellington / Whanganui ä Tara: Thursday, 29 March

'Paradise or Universal Death: International Law and Nuclear Weapons', a public address by Judge Weeramantry - 5-30pm for refreshments; 6-00pm, welcome by Pauline Tangiora, Rongomaiwahine; introduction by Matt Robson, Minster for Disarmament, then Judge Weeramantry to 8-00pm, at St Andrew's on the Terrace, 30 The Terrace. Organised by International Law Association, for more info contact Alyn Ware tel (04) 499 3443 or alynw@attglob

During the week of the UN Conference - there will be informal meetings, focus groups and briefing sessions at the PMA offices and Tapu Te Ranga marae. For more info, contact PMA at pma@xtra.co.nz or tel (04) 382 8129.

An information display - focussing on Pacific peace and disarmament issues, with information about the UN Asia-Pacific Regional Disarmament Conference will be on show in Wellington City Library, from 19 to 30 March.

The NGO Co-ordinating Group for the two Wellington seminars included representatives of: IPPNW, Abolition 2000 (Wellington), PeacePacific, PMA, PeaceNetwork, NCCD, Peace Foundation, WILPF (Aotearoa), Peace Council, CALM and UNA. The seminars have received support from: IPPNW, Abolition 2000 (Wellington), PMA, PeaceNetwork, NCCD, Peace Foundation, WILPF (Aotearoa), Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand, CALM, the International Security and Arms Control division (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade), and Saints Information.

Christchurch / Ötautahi: Friday, 23 March

‘A World without Landmines’ Mary Wareham, a New Zealander with Human Rights Watch (USA) speaking at 6-30pm at the United Nations Association of NZ Canterbury Branch AGM, venue and more info from Graham French, tel/fax (03) 389 7822, or g.ffrench@xtra.co.nz

Christchurch / Ötautahi: Friday, 30 March

'Paradise or Universal Death: International Law and Nuclear Weapons', Judge Weeramantry speaks from 12 noon to 1pm at the University of Canterbury Law School Room 108. Co-sponsored by the Law and Politics Departments of the University and the Disarmament and Security Centre. For more info contact DSC tel (03) 348 1353 or 348 1350.

Christchurch / Ötautahi: Friday, 30 March

'The Right to Peace and the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons', Senator Douglas Roche speaks at 7-30pm at the Knox Church Hall, cnr Bealey Ave and Victoria Street. Co-sponsored by IPPNW(NZ)/Abolition 2000, PADET and the DSC. For more info contact DSC tel (03) 348 1353 or 348 1350.

Christchurch / Ötautahi: Saturday, 31 March

Development agencies meeting with Losena Tubanavau-Salabula, for more info contact Anna, tel (03) 348 1350 or anna@chch.planet.org.nz

Supporters and Sponsors

The NGO Co-ordinating Group organising the NGO events around the conference is made up of representatives from Abolition 2000 (Wellington), International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, Peace Movement Aotearoa, PeaceNetwork, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (Aotearoa), Campaign Against Landmines (NZ), Peace Foundation and the National Consultative Committee on Disarmament. All of these groups are contributing towards the costs of the NGO events, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has also provided a grant.

Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand has generously provided a grant to enable Peace Movement Aotearoa and PeaceNetwork to bring two resource people from the Pacific Concerns Resource Centre to the PeacePacific events and the NGO seminars.