Engaging parliamentarians in the process to achieve a

Engaging parliamentarians in the process to achieve a Middle East Zone free from Nuclear Weapons and other Weapons of Mass Destruction Alyn Ware Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament www. pnnd. org

Vital role of parliamentarians • Elected representatives of civil society • Help shape government policy • Parliaments as a public arena

More freedom than governments • Don’t have to always focus on entrenched government positions • Able to put forward ‘smart’ approaches to provide possibility of success

Varied arenas of action • Nationally – encourage good faith participation by their government • Regionally – demonstrate possibility of agreement between Middle East actors • Internationally – demonstrate global concern, importance of the issue and strength of global support

Regional and Global • Middle East Zone as a diplomatic approach to preventing proliferation – a viable alternative to the use of force or to accepting proliferation

Actions - National • • Questions Debates Resolutions Statements – party, individual

Actions – Regional and International • Resolutions – Parliamentary Assembly for the Mediterranean – Inter Parliamentary Union – OSCE PA, NATO PA • Civil society meetings • Intergovernmental meetings – NPT, UN General Assembly • Joint statement

Joint Parliamentary Statement for a Middle East Zone Free from Nuclear Weapons and all other Weapons of Mass Destruction • Drafted after consultations with parliamentarians and disarmament experts from Israel, Egypt, Iran and globally; • Based on UN General Assembly resolution and IPU 2009 resolution • Released at the PNND Assembly in Bern, Oct 2011 • Available in – Arabic, English, French, German, Hebrew, Japanese, Greek, Spanish • Opportunities to present at NPT, UN General Assembly etc… www. pnnd. org