In cooperation with Prof. Paul Meyer, Adjunct Professor of International Studies and Fellow in International Security, Simon Fraser University and Director, Canadian Pugwash Group, SCRAP Weapons has developed the attached Open Letter to advocate the holding of a preparatory committee for the fourth UN Special Session for Disarmament. UNSSOD IV is an agreed goal of UN member states, but for years it has been dealt with via an annual UNGA resolution that calls on states to conduct further “consultations” without yielding any tangible result.

Our Open Letter which we ask representatives of civil society and academia to endorse seeks to break the perpetual cycle of “consultations” by establishing a preparatory committee, the usual mechanism by which the UN addresses the issues required to convene a special session. The Secretary General in his “New Agenda for Peace” has effectively called for such a process to focus on “reform of the disarmament machinery” with specific reference to the Disarmament Commission and the Conference on Disarmament. That machinery is evidently not producing what it was intended to do.

It is hoped that an Open Letter emanating from representatives of civil society and academia may help influence states to take up a more credible and productive approach to convening UNSSOD IV.