Can the humanitarian initiative give the NPT an energy boost?

The contrast in mood and sense of accomplishment (not to mention purpose) between the Olso and Nayarit conferences and the NPT PrepCom could not be more obvious. Although the PrepCom is still in its first week and cannot be judged fairly yet, the statements in the general debate, with a few exceptions, have hardly broken any new ground. The Member States have danced more or less politely around the fact that there has been little or no progress in implementing the 2010 Action Plan, and the overall feeling of malaise has been hard to ignore. This does not bode well for the Review Conference itself, since a successful outcome depends upon a positive evaluation of the steps that have been taken to implement the Action Plan.

[I’ve hopped over to the ICAN website momentarily, so the rest of this article is there, along with the latest news about ICAN’s participation at the PrepCom.]