Pugwash USA

5 2 n d   ( Q u i n q u e n n i a l)
P u g w a s h   C o n f e r e n c e

---

THE 52nd Pugwash Conference scheduled for 9-14 August at UCSD in La Jolla is, first of all, a Pugwash Quinquennial Conference. Held every five years since 1962, these conferences are typically larger than the usual annual conference (200-250 participants compared to 125-150). Quinquennial conferences also mark the election of a new Pugwash Council and the adoption of new guidlines, entitled Principles, Structure and Activities of Pugwash, which lay out the directions and aims of Pugwash for the subsequent five years.

The 52nd Pugwash Conference in La jolla will also be important as both a new President and new Secretary General will take office during the conference.

Substantively, the 52nd Conference will be significant as culminating current work on a number of new Pugwash initiatives. Two Pugwash study groups in particular, on the control and abolition of nuclear weapons, and on issues of humanitarian intervention and state sovereignty, will be preparing final reports to be delivered at the conference.

Secondly, the San Diego location of the 52nd Conference provides Pugwash with a special opportunity to reach out beyond its traditional agenda of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, and issues of conflict and regional security, to scientists and policy specialists in the fields of genetic engineering and biotechnology, computer and information technologies, global climate change, and natural resource and energy technologies. Working with a UCSD conference advisory committee, the Pugwash Council will actively seek out a wide range of new participants and investigate possible new projects emanating from the La Jolla conference that can be continued in the years following.

To maximize its impact and outreach on both traditional and emerging agenda items, the 52nd Conference will incorporate a number of new organizational changes, inculding greater emphasis on panel sessions and plenaries open to the UCSD and San Diego community, better use of television, radio and the media in broadcasting events, and more intensive liaison with scientific and research institutes and companies in the planning of the conference.

Finally, the 52nd Conference provides opportunities for continuing the close collaboration of the Pugwash Conferences with International Student/Young Pugwash (ISYP is a separate organization with its own statutes and agenda), through joint programs and the active involvement of many ISYP members in the 52nd Pugwash Conference.