For Immediate Release: May 31, 2006

Contacts: John Burroughs (LCNP), 212 818 1861, cell 917 439 4585
Jacqueline Cabasso (WSLF), cell 510 306 0119
Jennifer Nordstrom (RCW), 212 682 1265, cell 718 290 6399

Media Advisory

Disarmament Advocates Available to Comment on the Blix Commission Report on WMD to Be Released June 1 at the UN; wmdreport.org Launched

New York - On June 1, at the United Nations, Hans Blix, Chairman of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission will present the Commission’s final report to Secretary-General Kofi Annan and General Assembly President Jan Eliasson at 11 a.m. and hold a 12:30 p.m. press conference. The report is now available at www.wmdcommission.org. It assesses current dangers posed by nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons, and makes recommendations to reduce those dangers.

Representatives of non-governmental organizations specializing in disarmament issues are available for comment on the report. The Lawyers’ Committee on Nuclear Policy, Western States Legal Foundation, and Reaching Critical Will/WILPF, in partnership with the Arms Control Association, have formed a project to assess the report and analyze its implications, especially for U.S. policy, and today launched the project’s website, www.wmdreport.org.

Each of the organizations has long experience tracking the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and other disarmament/non-proliferation forums. The New York-based Lawyers’ Committee on Nuclear Policy (www.lcnp.org) specializes in the legal aspects of disarmament and security matters. LCNP’s executive director, John Burroughs, is co-editor of a 2003 book, Rule of Power or Rule of Law?, that covers the issues addressed by the WMD Commission. The California-based Western States Legal Foundation (www.wslfweb.org and the blog www.DisarmamentActivist.org) monitors the U.S. nuclear weapons complex, for instance the recently delayed explosive test in Nevada, “Divine Strake,” that would simulate nuclear effects. WSLF’s executive director, Jacqueline Cabasso, is a widely recognized organizer, advocate, and analyst. Reaching Critical Will, a project of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, based in New York, plays an essential role for both civil society and governments in reporting on the UN and NPT through its intensively used website, www.reachingcriticalwill.org. Jennifer Nordstrom, RCW project associate, has been following developments at the UN and also the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva on a daily basis.

Civil Society Review of the Final Report of the WMD Commission
a project of the Lawyers’ Committee on Nuclear Policy,
Western States Legal Foundation, and Reaching Critical Will/WILPF,
in partnership with the Arms Control Association
www.wmdreport.org

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