ABOLITION 2000

What is the Network?
The Abolition 2000 Network is a network of over 1100 organisations and growing on every continent working for the abolition of nuclear weapons. It grew from many sources - the World Court Project, the International Coalition for Non-Proliferation, the Global Alliance against Nuclear Arms, the Abolition Caucus, etc. All of these movements are like streams that led into the river that is the Abolition 2000 network. It is not a membership body but is open to all organisations endorsing the ABOLITION STATEMENT, drafted at the NPT Conference in New York in 1995. Its over - arching premise is the vision of entering the 21st century with a plan in place for the elimination of nuclear weapons.

1100 organisations have organised themselves into what was termed a "tight" (rather than the usual loose) network which aims to provide groups concerned with nuclear issues a forum for the exchange of information and the development of joint initiatives. The "tightness" of the network (like the tautness of a web) is defined by how close the members of the network work together and how good the lines of communication are.

The Network Global Office is situated in California, USA, staffed by a facilitator. The Global Network Office is overseen by the Intrim Management Group. The substantive work of the network is done by International Working Groups on issues relating to the abolition of nuclear weapons.

How did it come about?
In 1995 at the Conference to Review and Extend the Non-Proliferation Treaty in New York a group of 40 to 50 activists, representing NGOs from all around the world met each day to coordinate their work and called themselves "The Abolition Caucus". This group drafted a consensus document which was known as the "Abolition Statement". In less than two weeks the first 200 organisations had signed the statement and this number is still growing. Added to this, the International Coalition for Non-Proliferation organised a meeting during the NPT Conference on a Draft Nuclear Weapons Convention, called "Beyond the NPT". The demand for a Convention became the prime focus of the lobbying work of the Abolition Caucus and also of the Abolition Statement. They called on the delegates to

initiate immediately and conclude by the year 2000 negotiations on a nuclear weapons abolition convention that requires the phased elimination of all nuclear weapons within a timebound framework, with provisions for effective verification and enforcement.

The Abolition Caucus requested the NPT parties to adopt this goal in the final report of the Conference. The opposition to the indefinite, unconditional extension of the NPT was clearly expressed in the original statement, which has since been updated to remove references to the Conference and other dates.

Development of the Network
A core group went on to organise a further meeting in The Hague to coincide with the oral hearings at the International Court of Justice in November 1995 of the advisory opinion on the use and threat of use of nuclear weapons (World Court Project). The 60 participants at this meeting agreed by consensus to found a network and defined its structure. The title "Abolition 2000 - A Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons" was chosen.

The idea of a "tight network", consisting of regions, working groups and a distribution/commu -
nications centre (later titled the "Global Network Office") was born. Most importantly it was decided that there should be no central committee to take decisions on behalf of the network, and that initially no common strategy would be decided, except to take action under the only agreed common position: the Abolition Statement, which everybody had signed. The group that had organised the meeting in The Hague was given the task of setting up the office and finding the funding for a staff person for it. A second meeting in Edinburgh in March 1996 gave this group the title "Interim Management Group", whose function is solely to oversee the functioning of the Global Network Office. The members of the Interim Management Group are: Lysiane Alizard (France), Colin Archer (Switzerland), Janet Bloomfield (UK), Reiner Braun (Germany) Jackie Cabasso (USA), Michael Christ (USA), Xanthe Hall (Germany), Pamela Meidell (USA), Alice Slater (USA), and Alyn Ware, (Aotearoa/NZ). It was agreed that this group should be more regionally balanced than it presently is in 1997.

Regions and Working Groups:
The development of strategies and intiatives occurs through the regions and the working groups. Anyone can participate in the activities of the working groups by contacting the convenor. For more information about the purpose and work of each working group, please contact the convenor or the Global Network Office.

Working Groups and Working Group Convenors are:

1) Nuclear Weapons Convention:Jürgen Scheffran, INESAP, Institut für Kernphysik, Schloßgartenstraße 9, D-64289 Darmstadt, Germany, phone: +49-6151-163016, fax: 166039, e-mail scheffran@hrzpub.th-darmstadt.de; AND Alyn Ware, Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy, Inc., 666 Broadway, Suite 625, New York, NY 10012, phone: 212-674-7790, fax: 212-674-6188, e-mail LCNP@aol.com

2) Non-Nuclear Security Model for Europe: Solange Fernex, (WILPF and Greens, France) F-68480 Biederthal, France, phone: +33-1-89-407183, fax: +33-1-89-407804

3) Nuclear Weapon Abolition Days (NWAD) or A-days: A-days (Non-Violent Direct Action Network), For Mother Earth, Gent Ecologisch Centrum, Maria Hendrikaplein 5, 9000 Gent, Belgium, phone/fax: +32-9-242.87.51, e-mail: international@motherearth.org, URL: http://www.motherearth.org
NOTE: To subscribe to the A-days Working Group e-mail listserver, send an e-mail message
to: majordomo@xs4all.nl,
leave subject area blank, 
write in body of message:
subscribe motherearth-a-days@xs4all.nl <your e-mail address>
end

If you want to send messages to the list, then the address to send these messages to, is:
<a-days@motherearth.org>

4) Media, Communication and Outreach: Janet Bloomfield, 25 Farmadine, Saffron-Walden, Essex, England CB11 3HR, phone: +44-179-951 6189, fax: same, call first, e-mail jbloomfield@gn.apc.org

5) CTBT and Beyond: Jackie Cabasso, Western States Legal Foundation (WSLF), 1504 Franklin St. Suite 202, Oakland, CA 94612, USA, phone: +1-510-839 5877, fax: 839 5397, e-mail: wslf@earthlink.net, Website: http://www.wslfweb.org

6) Weapons Usable Radioactive Materials: Martin B. Kalinowski, IANUS, Hochschulstr. 10, 64289 Darmstadt, Germany. Tel.: +49-6151-163016; FAX: +49-6151-166039; Internet, private: KALINOWSKI@HRZPUB.TU-DARMSTADT.DE; Internet, group: IANUS@HRZPUB.TU-DARMSTADT.DE Web: http://www.tu-darmstadt.de/ze/ianus/welcome.htm AND: .../inesap.htm

7) Overcoming Nuclear Threats/Legal Issues: Rob Green (WCP UK), 2 Chiswick House,
High Street, Twyford, Berks RG10 8AG, UK, phone/fax: +44-734 340 258,
e-mail robwcpuk@gn.apc.org

8) NPT Prep Coms: Alice Slater (GRACE), 15 E. 26th St., New York, NY 10010, USA,
phone: 212/726 9161, fax: 212/726 9160, e-mail alsater@igc.apc.org; AND Edith Ballantine, WILPF/International, Case Postale 28, 1 Rue de Varemb, CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland,
phone: +41 22 733 6175, fax: 740 1063, e-mail womensleague@gn.apc.org
damjanov@math.uni-hamburg.de

9) Radiation Health Effects Working Group: Trisha Pritikin, (Hanford Downwinders Coalition), 439 Boynton Ave. Berkeley, CA 94707, USA, phone: 510/524 0834, fax: 510/524 0834,
e-mail pritikin@vdn.com; AND Pamela Meidell (Atomic Mirror), P.O. Box 220, Port Hueneme, CA 93044, phone: 805/985 5073, fax: 805/985 7563, e-mail pmeidell@igc.org

10) Religious Working Group: Howard Hallman, (Methodists United For Peace with Justice), 1500 16th St. NW, Washington D.C., 20036, USA, phone: 301/896 0013, fax: 301/896 0013, e-mail: mupj@igc.apc.org; AND Clayton Ramey, (Fellowship of Reconciliation),
521 North Broadway, Nyack, New York, 10960, USA, phone: 914/358 4601,
fax: 914/358 4924, e-mail: cramey@igc.apc.org; AND David Gracie (American Friends Service Committee), 1501 Cherry St., Philadelphia, PA, 19102, USA, phone: 215/241 7162,
fax: 215/241-7177, e-mail: dgracie@afsc.org,
NOTE: To subscribe to the Religious Working Group e-mail listserver, contact Howard Hallman at: mupj@igc.apc.org

11) NATO Working Group: Karina Wood, 1819 H Street, NW, Suite 420, Washington, D.C. 20006, USA, phone: 202/862-9740 ext. 3044, fax: 202/862-9762, e-mail kwood@igc.apc.org. AND Ben Cramer, Appel des Cents pour la Paix, 17-19 Place de L'Argonne, F-75019 Paris, France, phone: +33-1-42-09-23-78, fax: +33-1-42-0-23-50, e-mail: appel100@worldnet.fr.
NOTE: To subscribe to the NATO Working Group e-mail listserver, send an email message to:
majordomo@igc.apc.org,
leave subject area blank,
write in body of message: <your email> sign-on start3-europenwfz@igc.apc.org

12) Space Weapons Working Group: Bruce K. Gagnon, Coordinator, Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, PO Box 90083, Gainesville, FL. 32607, USA, phone/fax: (352) 337-9274, e-mail: globalnet@mindspring.com, website: http://www.space4peace.org

13) Working Group on Responses to Missile Defense: Andrew Lichterman, Western States Legal Foundation (WSLF), 1504 Franklin St. Suite 202, Oakland, CA 94612, USA, phone: +1-510-839 5877, fax: 839 5397, e-mail: wslf@earthlink.net, Website: http://www.wslfweb.org

What you can do
* Get your organisation to sign the Abolition Statement. New signatories should send their
name, address, telephone and fax number, E-Mail address, affiliation and number of members to:

Xanthe Hall, IPPNW Germany, Koertestrasse 10, D-10967 Berlin 61, Germany
tel: +49.30.693.0244, fax: +49.30.693.8166, E-mail: ippnw@oln.comlink.apc.org
Website: http://www.ippnw.de

or to:
Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, NAPF, 1187 Coast Village Road, Suite 123, Santa Barbara,
CA 93108-2794, USA tel: +1.805.965.3443, fax: +1.805.568.0466,
E- mail: wagingpeace@napf.org, Website: http://www.wagingpeace.org

All signatories are invited to yearly meetings of the Network.

* Join the E-Mail list server "abolition-caucus" by sending a message to: abolition-caucus-subscribe@egroups.com.

In the text body of the message and not the title one should put the word: end.

* Those allready overloaded with e-mail are adviced to subscribe to the European list of Abolition 2000 Network by sending an e-mail to: abolition-europe-subscribe@egroups.com

In the text body of the message and not the title one should put the word: end.

* Take part in one or more of the substantive working groups. Contact the convenor of your preferred issue and ask them what the method of communicating with the group is or to send you information on the issue.

* Take part in a regional or national network, or in setting one up. The more developed these networks become, the easier it will be to make consensus decisions on points of strategy in the future, should we wish to do so. Regional networks currently exist in Australia, Aotearoa-New Zealand, Britian, Canada, Germany, the United States. If you would like to know the contact
person in your region, please contact the Global Network Office.

Networking is a skill which relates to non-violence. Each group or individual takes
on work according to their interest and ability. Networking looks for common ground
in preference to conflict. Its basis is cooperation and complementation rather than
competition. The challenge for this network is to abolish nuclear weapons.