Waterloo, Canada — December 8 — The Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), in partnership with the Canadian Centre for Treaty Compliance (CCTC), today announces the Strengthening and Reform of the International Atomic Energy Agency Project.
CIGI Senior Fellow Dr. Trevor Findlay will lead the two-year project from the CCTC, where he also serves as the centre’s director. The project seeks to capitalize on the success of the CIGI-CCTC Nuclear Energy Futures (NEF) Project by advancing ideas about the future of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) contained in the NEF’s 2010 report, The Future of Nuclear Energy to 2030 and its Implications for Global Governance.
The IAEA is the paramount instrument of global governance in the nuclear realm in all three areas of governance concern: nuclear safety, nuclear security and nuclear nonproliferation. Yet, since the agency was established in 1956, there has never been an independent, outside review of its performance.
Through this project, Dr. Findlay and his research team aim to fill this gap by conducting a “root-and-branch” study of the IAEA to examine its origins, past performance and current strengths and weaknesses, both from an organizational and management perspective, as well as from the perspective of the entirety of its mandate.
“The IAEA is under new leadership, its members are divided over whether it deserves major funding increases and it is facing critical compliance challenges from Iran, Syria and North Korea,” Dr. Findlay notes. “There couldn’t be a more appropriate time for an independent external review of the agency.”
The Strengthening and Reform of the International Atomic Energy Agency Project aims to publish its findings and recommendations in a report to be published in late 2011.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Declan Kelly, Communications Specialist, CIGI
Tel: 519.885.2444, ext. 356, Email: [email protected]
The Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) is an independent, nonpartisan think tank on international governance. Led by experienced practitioners and distinguished academics, CIGI supports research, forms networks, advances policy debate and generates ideas for multilateral governance improvements. Conducting an active agenda of research, events and publications, CIGI’s interdisciplinary work includes collaboration with policy, business and academic communities around the world. CIGI was founded in 2001 by Jim Balsillie, co-CEO of RIM (Research In Motion), and collaborates with and gratefully acknowledges support from a number of strategic partners, in particular the Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario. For more information, please visit www.cigionline.org.
The Canadian Centre for Treaty Compliance (CCTC) is located within the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs (NPSIA) and is a research unit of Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. For more information, please visit www.carleton.ca/cctc/.