CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT TO HOLD FIRST PART OF 1996 SESSION AT GENEVA, 22 JANUARY - 29 MARCH
Press Release
DCF/247*
CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT TO HOLD FIRST PART OF 1996 SESSION AT GENEVA, 22 JANUARY - 29 MARCH
19960124 Background Release Priority to Be Given to Negotiations To Conclude Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty(Delayed in transmission.)
GENEVA, 17 January (UN Information Service) -- The Conference on Disarmament, the world's single multilateral negotiating body on disarmament, will give high priority to concluding a comprehensive nuclear-test ban treaty during the first part of its 1996 session, to be held at Geneva from 23 January until 29 March.
At its recent session, the General Assembly welcomed the continuing efforts of the Conference's Ad Hoc Committee on a Nuclear Test Ban to negotiate such a ban. It called on all States participating in the Conference to accord the highest priority to concluding the treaty, so it may be ready for signature by the outset of the Assembly's fifty-first session in September.
Another priority area for the Conference will be the prohibition of the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices. The Conference decided in March 1995 to establish an Ad Hoc Committee on this issue, but did not appoint a Chairman during the session.
With regard to other nuclear questions, the Assembly urged the nuclear- weapon States to stop immediately the qualitative improvement, development, stockpiling and production of nuclear warheads and delivery systems. It called on the Conference to give priority to establishing an ad hoc committee to begin negotiations early in 1966 on a phased programme of nuclear disarmament. The Assembly also recommended that the Conference actively continue intensive negotiations with a view to reaching early agreement on international arrangements to assure non-nuclear-weapon States against the threat or use of such weapons.
* Press Release DCF/246, dated 26 September 1995, should have been numbered DC/2524; and Press Release DC/244 should have been numbered DCF/244.
The Assembly also asked the Conference to intensify its consideration of the question of prevention of an arms race in outer space. It invited the Conference to consider continuing its work on transparency in armaments. The Conference was also asked to continue its efforts to conclude a ban on radiological weapons, taking account of the question of radioactive wastes as part of the scope of such a convention.
At its recent session, the Assembly called for urgent implementation of the Conference's decision to expand its membership. (Earlier, on 21 September 1995, the Conference had decided a decision to allow 23 additional States to become members "at the earliest possible date to be decided by the Conference".) It strongly urged that the new members all assume membership together at the start of its 1996 session and also urged that the Conference consider the other candidatures to date at that session.
The 23 States approved for membership are Austria, Bangladesh, Belarus, Cameroon, Chile, Colombia, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Finland, Iraq, Israel, New Zealand, Norway, Republic of Korea, Senegal, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Syria, Turkey, Ukraine, Viet Nam and Zimbabwe.
During its 1995 session, the Conference considered the following major disarmament issues: nuclear test ban; cessation of the nuclear arms race and nuclear disarmament; prevention of nuclear war; prevention of an arms race in outer space; security guarantees for non-nuclear-weapon States; new types of weapons of mass destruction; radiological weapons; a comprehensive programme of disarmament; and transparency in armaments.
Also during 1995, work was carved out in the following subsidiary bodies of the Conference: the Ad Hoc Committee on a Nuclear Test Ban; and the Ad Hoc Group of Scientific Experts to Consider International Cooperative Measures to Detect and Identify Seismic Events.
The mandate of the Conference on Disarmament is to promote the attainment of general and complete disarmament under effective international control. The first order of business at its 1996 session will be to adopt its agenda and programme of work, taking into account the specific requests addressed to it by the General Assembly, as well as the decisions made by the Conference and proposals submitted by its members. All decisions of the Conference are adopted by consensus.
The 1996 session will be opened by the representative of Myanmar, U Aye, who assumed the Presidency on 1 January. The presidency rotates among all members for a period of four working-weeks, in accordance with the English alphabetical order of the membership. The representatives of the following member States will also serve as President of the Conference during 1996: Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru and Poland.
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The Conference's annual sessions are divided into three parts, lasting 10 weeks, 7 weeks and 7 weeks, respectively. The first part of the 1996 session is scheduled to last until 29 March, the second part from 13 May to 28 June, and the third part from 29 July to 13 September.
Vladimir Petrovsky, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, is also the Secretary-General of the Conference on Disarmament and Personal Representative of Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali to the Conference.
Nuclear Questions
The question of a comprehensive nuclear test ban has been prominent on the international disarmament agenda since 1954. Efforts to negotiate such a ban contributed to the conclusion in 1963 of the Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space, and under Water (the Partial Test-Ban Treaty).
In 1993, the Conference on Disarmament agreed for the first time on a negotiating mandate for a comprehensive ban and started negotiations in January 1994. It directed its Ad Hoc Committee on a Nuclear Test Ban "to negotiate intensively a universal and multilaterally and effectively verifiable comprehensive nuclear test-ban treaty, which would contribute effectively to the prevention of the proliferation of nuclear weapons in all its aspects, to the process of nuclear disarmament and therefore to the enhancement of international peace and security".
The Ad Hoc Committee established two working groups -- one on verification and the other on legal and institutional issues. The main working document, the "rolling text", represents the present stage of the draft treaty provisions. It includes provisions which command a certain degree of consensus as well as those which require further negotiation. The main questions still to be resolved relate to the scope of the ban, the verification system, the institutional framework and the convention's entry into force.
During its recent session, the General Assembly welcomed the continuing efforts to negotiate a comprehensive nuclear test-ban treaty in the Ad Hoc Committee, as well as the significant contributions to the elaboration of the rolling text made by States participating in those negotiations. It called on all States participating in the Conference, in particular the nuclear-weapon States, to conclude the treaty as a task of the highest priority, so as to enable its signature by the outset of the fifty-first session of the Assembly in September 1996.
It further called on the Conference to re-establish the Ad Hoc Committee
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at the beginning of its 1996 session in order to complete the final text of the treaty as soon as possible in 1996, and urged all States to support those negotiations and their prompt conclusion. It also asked the Secretary-General to ensure the provision to the Conference of adequate administrative, substantive and conference support services.
During the Conference's 1995 session, the Ad Hoc Group of Scientific Experts to Consider International Cooperative Measures to Detect and Identify Seismic Events continued to work on measures which might be established for the international exchange of seismological data under a protocol of the comprehensive test ban. The Group of Experts met from 27 November to 1 December 1995 and will meet again from 12 to 23 February 1996. Its Chairman is Ola Dahlmann (Sweden).
By another resolution, the Assembly invited the Conference to take every necessary measure to include environmental norms in arms limitation and disarmament treaties and agreements.
Desiring to reduce the threat posed by nuclear weapons, the Assembly recognized that the time was now opportune for all nuclear-weapon States to undertake effective nuclear disarmament and for the eventual elimination of those weapons. It called on the Conference to establish, on a priority basis, an ad hoc committee on nuclear disarmament to commence negotiations early in 1996 on a phased programme of nuclear disarmament and for the eventual elimination of nuclear weapons within a time-bound framework.
Under another text, the Assembly stressed that an international convention would be an important step in a phased programme towards the complete elimination of nuclear weapons within a time-bound framework. It restated its request to the Conference to begin negotiations, in order to reach agreement on an international convention prohibiting the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons under any circumstances, taking as a possible basis the draft convention annexed to the above-mentioned resolution.
The draft convention states, in brief, that States parties thereto would solemnly undertake not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons under any circumstances. The Convention would be of unlimited duration, it would be open to all States for signature and would enter into force when 25 governments -- including those of the five nuclear-weapon States -- had deposited their instruments of ratification.
Ban on Production of Fissile Material for Weapons
Prohibition of the production of fissile material for weapons purposes is expected to be another priority during the Conference's 1996 session. On 23 March 1995, the Conference adopted the report by Special Coordinator Gerald
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Shannon (Canada) on the most appropriate arrangement to negotiate a non- discriminatory, multilateral and verifiable treaty to ban the production of such materials. It states that following consultations, agreement had been reached on the mandate for an ad hoc committee.
During the consultations, delegations expressed concerns about a variety of issues relating to fissile material, including the appropriate scope of the convention, the report states. Some delegations felt that the committee's mandate would only allow consideration of the future production of fissile material. Others maintained that past production could also be considered. Still others believed that the committee should also consider such issues as the management of the material. The report indicates that the mandate for the committee does not preclude any delegation from raising any of those issues.
Although the Conference adopted the report and established the Committee, it did not appoint a Chairman during the 1995 session.
Security Assurances for Non-Nuclear Weapon States
Also during its fiftieth regular session, the Assembly reaffirmed the need to reach an early agreement on effective international arrangements to assure non-nuclear-weapon States against the use or threatened use of nuclear weapons. It noted with satisfaction that in the Conference there was no objection, in principle, to the idea of an international convention on such assurances, although there difficulties in evolving a common approach acceptable to all.
The Assembly recommended that further intensive efforts should be devoted to the search for a common approach or formula. It also recommended that the Conference should actively continue intensive negotiations to conclude effective security arrangements for non-nuclear-weapon States.
Prevention of Arms Race in Outer Space
By another resolution, the Assembly reaffirmed the importance and urgency of preventing an arms race in outer space and the readiness of all States to contribute to that common objective. It emphasized the need for further measures, with appropriate provisions for verification, to prevent an outer space arms race. It also called upon all States, in particular those with major space capabilities, to contribute actively to the peaceful use of outer space.
The Assembly reiterated that the Conference, as the single multilateral disarmament negotiating forum, had the primary role in negotiating any multilateral agreement or agreements on preventing an outer space arms race. It asked the Conference to re-establish its Ad Hoc Committee on the matter.
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The Conference was asked to intensify its consideration of the question, building upon areas of convergence and taking into account relevant proposals and initiatives. It was also asked to re-establish, at the beginning of its 1996 session, an ad hoc committee with an adequate mandate, to continue building upon areas of convergence, with a view to negotiating an agreement or agreements, as appropriate, to prevent an arms race in outer space.
Radiological Weapons
Under a resolution on radiological weapons, the Assembly took note of the part of the report of the Conference relating to a future convention on the prohibition of such weapons. It called on all States to take appropriate measures to prevent any dumping of nuclear or radioactive wastes that would infringe upon the sovereignty of States. It asked the Conference, in negotiating such a convention, to take account of the question of radioactive wastes within its scope. It also asked the Conference to intensify its efforts towards an early conclusion of such a convention.
Transparency in Armaments
the Assembly reaffirmed its determination to ensure the effective operation of the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms, by a text on transparency in armaments. It called on Member States to provide the requested data and information for the Register and reaffirmed its decision to keep the scope of and participation in the Register under review. The Conference was invited to consider continuing its work in that area.
Regional Approaches to Disarmament
Addressing the importance of regional approaches to disarmament, the Assembly asked the Conference, as a first step, to consider formulating principles to serve as a framework for regional agreements on conventional arms control.
Role of Conference on Disarmament
By another text, the Assembly reaffirmed the role of the Conference on Disarmament as the single multilateral disarmament negotiating forum. It welcomed the Conference's determination to fulfil that role in the light of the evolving international situation and urged it to continue as a priority task its negotiations to conclude a comprehensive nuclear-test ban. It acknowledged the Conference's decision regarding its composition and the commitment to implement that decision at the earliest possible date and urged it to reach a consensus on its programme of work at the beginning of the 1996 session.
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Also at its recent session, the Assembly reaffirmed the importance of further enhancing the dialogue and cooperation among the Conference, the Disarmament Commission and the First Committee of the General Assembly.
Expansion of Conference Membership
On expansion of membership of the Conference, the Assembly recognized the legitimate aspirations of all countries that had applied for membership to participate fully in the Conference's work. It called for urgent implementation of the Conference's decision on the matter and strongly urged that the new members should all assume membership together at the start of the Conference's 1996 session. It also urged that the other candidatures to date be further considered by the Conference at its 1996 session.
Participants in Work of Conference
The Conference consists of 38 States, comprising the five nuclear-weapon States (China, France, Russian Federation, United Kingdom and United States), other militarily significant States, and neutral and non-aligned countries which form the Group of 21. In recent years, the Conference has approved requests from an increasing number of non-members to participate in its work. During the 1995 session, 52 such States participated in the work of the Conference.
The following 37 member States participated in the work of the Conference in 1995: Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Cuba, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Myanmar, Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Sri Lanka, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela and Zaire.
The following 52 non-member States took part as observers: Armenia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belarus, Brunei Darusalaam, Cameroon, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, Ghana, Greece, Holy See, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Jordan, Kazakstan, Kuwait, Libya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Malta, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Philippines, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Senegal, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Swaziland, Switzerland, Syria, Tanzania, Thailand, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, Viet Nam, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
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