NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT DISCUSSION OBSTRUCTED BY SOME DELEGATIONS, INDIA TELLS DISARMAMENT CONFERENCE
Press Release
DCF/252
NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT DISCUSSION OBSTRUCTED BY SOME DELEGATIONS, INDIA TELLS DISARMAMENT CONFERENCE
19960216 GENEVA, 15 February (UN Information Service) -- The Conference on Disarmament had failed to agree on a mechanism to discuss nuclear disarmament "due to a lack of flexibility on the part of a few delegations, which were obviously creating obstacles on the road to the fulfilment of those objectives to which they say they are committed", the representative of India said this morning.Responding to criticism of the proposal by India and other Group of 21 members for the immediate establishment of an ad hoc committee on nuclear disarmament, India said there appeared to be a pronounced tendency to believe that life in the Conference had begun with the extension of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) last year. However, the Conference drew its mandate not from the NPT Review and Extension Conference, but from the consensus forged at the General Assembly's first special session on disarmament, where the need for a single multilateral negotiating forum for disarmament was agreed upon and put into effect.
The representative of Belgium agreed that the Conference had a role to play in nuclear disarmament, and added that disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation were part and parcel of the concept of nuclear disarmament. The cornerstone of that effort was the NPT. It was regrettable that certain countries, which were among those most fervently advocating nuclear disarmament, had insisted on staying away from that Treaty.
The Commissioner for Disarmament and Arms Control of Germany expressed concern that its membership was somewhat limited. All States willing to participate in the Conference should do so. He urged delegations to stick to the goal set by the international community to conclude a comprehensive nuclear test-ban treaty in 1996. The representative of Ukraine expressed the hope that the Conference could reach agreement on the start of work of the ad hoc committee on "cut-off", as well as on continuation of previous discussions on security assurances.
Statements
ARUNDHATI GHOSE (India) said that when India joined the Group of 21 in calling for immediate establishment of an ad hoc committee on nuclear disarmament, its aim was accommodation and cooperation, not confrontation.
India regretted that, despite the President's best efforts, delegations had not agreed on a mechanism to discuss nuclear disarmament in the Conference. That was due to a lack of flexibility on the part of a few delegations, which were creating obstacles to the fulfilment of those objectives to which they said they were committed. That attitude could not but affect the test-ban negotiations.
She said there appeared to be a pronounced tendency to believe that life in the Conference had begun with the indefinite extension of the NPT in May 1995, and that all mandates and commitments must flow from the NPT. However, the Conference drew its mandate from the consensus forged in the General Assembly's first special session on disarmament, where the need for a single multilateral negotiating forum for disarmament was agreed upon and put into effect. It was also there that the highest priority in disarmament was accorded to nuclear issues, and where the ultimate goal of eliminating all nuclear weapons was recognized as essential. It was misleading to suggest that the commitment to eliminate nuclear weapons was solely a part of the NPT bargain, she said.
It was unbelievable that the concept of a "timebound framework" for the elimination of nuclear weapons had been characterized as a threat to disarmament, she continued. As far back as the first special session, there was a reference to time-frames. The eventual elimination of all nuclear weapons must be carried out within a finite period if it was to be a sincere commitment and not just rhetoric. The comprehensive test ban would, in effect, freeze the nuclear status of all countries. Such an indefinite freeze would extend the net of discrimination fashioned by the NPT, giving some countries the ability to threaten the very existence of others with nuclear weapons for eternity. The only security the other countries would have would be provided by a commitment that that freeze would lead inevitably to the complete elimination of nuclear weapons.
Another misrepresentation had also to be clarified, she said. It had been argued that the Conference was not the appropriate forum for negotiations on nuclear disarmament. She did not recall having said at any stage that India would wish to be part of bilateral or plurilateral trade-offs between the nuclear-weapon States. Nuclear weapons threatened all countries. Surely, the members of the Conference had the responsibility and right to ensure that the pace of the nuclear-disarmament process, once started, was maintained and speeded up if possible, and its extent deepened and widened. Steps would have to be taken to ensure that, pending elimination of all nuclear weapons, an environment that ensured the security of all States was created. One such step could be a convention prohibiting the use or threatened use of nuclear weapons. Ultimately, a treaty to ban and eliminate nuclear weapons had to be negotiated. Those tasks were not for an esoteric club of vested interests, but for an ad hoc committee on nuclear disarmament in the Conference on Disarmament.
- 3 - Press Release DCF/252 16 February 1996
RUDIGER HARTMANN, Commissioner for Disarmament and Arms Control of Germany, expressed concern that the membership of the Conference was somewhat limited. The role of the Conference could be jeopardized if the issue of expansion of membership was not speedily resolved.
He urged the Conference to stick to the goal of concluding the comprehensive test-ban treaty in 1996. Artificial links to other items would result in delays. Germany strongly welcomed the "zero-threshold approach" and called on China to support that position. The Executive Council of the test- ban organization should be able to act if it suspected an imminent nuclear explosion. With regard to the International Monitoring System, Germany considered noble gas measuring to be an indispensable technology.
On-site inspections should be governed by a regulation ensuring that they could be carried out immediately after a possible event, he said. The test-ban organization should be modelled on that of the chemical weapons Convention. With regard to entry into force, he favoured a solution providing for a ratification threshold under 60. Germany would do its best in connection with the funding of the Preparatory Commission's budget in 1997.
Another topic of great importance to his Government was the early start of cut-off negotiations. He hoped the Conference would establish an ad hoc committee on cut-off on the basis of the mandate already agreed. General Assembly resolution 48/75 stressed the importance of a cut-off treaty. It also stated that nuclear disarmament was a third topic in its own right in the programme of action for implementation of article VI of the NPT. The process of implementation must be continued, and the Conference should examine the options for doing so.
He urged the Conference to step up negotiations on a verification protocol for the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction (Biological Weapons Convention). Conventional arms control also deserved greater attention at the Conference, specifically in the Transparency in Armament Ad Hoc Committee, which could also consider mine-related issues once the Conference for the United Nations Weaponry Convention was concluded.
OLEXANDER SLIPCHENKO (Ukraine) restated his country's support for a comprehensive nuclear-test ban based on a true "zero-yield" standard. Reference to "peaceful nuclear explosions" should be excluded from the text of the draft treaty. Negotiations on verification should result in the creation of an international monitoring system with precisely defined parameters and procedures. A number of issues concerning on-site inspections were yet to be resolved. Those included: the sequence of steps to be taken if an inspection produced contradictory or incomplete data; the procedure for lifting an allegation of non-compliance when an inspection provided no reliable data to
- 4 - Press Release DCF/252 16 February 1996
corraborate such a claim; and what should be done when a State party was not satisfied with a decision from the test-ban organization on non-compliance.
Notwithstanding the crucial importance of negotiations on a nuclear-test ban, other items in the Conference's agenda should not be forgotten, he said. Ukraine hoped the Conference could reach agreement on the start of work of the ad hoc committee on "cut-off", as well as on continuation of previous discussions on security assurances. Another important issue was expansion of the Conference's membership. Ukraine did not consider admission to the Conference to be special favour. Rather, it was an invitation to contribute to common productive work based on a country's experience in the field of arms control and disarmament. The Conference had to remake itself in order to maintain status and prestige.
ALAIN GUILLAUME (Belgium) said his country had always spoken out against empty rhetoric and manoeuvres disguised as generous proposals. Nuclear disarmament concerned everyone. Disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation were part and parcel of the concept of nuclear disarmament. The Conference had tried for years to prevent the disease of nuclear proliferation from spreading. The cornerstone of that effort was the NPT. It was regrettable that certain countries, which were among those most fervently advocating nuclear disarmament, insisted on distancing themselves from that Treaty. Not only did they prevent the NPT from achieving universality, but they also failed to understand that nuclear disarmament would be negotiated little by little within that Treaty; when that day came, they would not be around the negotiating table.
None the less, the Conference had a role to play in nuclear disarmament, as evidenced by the current negotiations on a comprehensive test-ban treaty, he said. A treaty on "cut-off" also had its place in nuclear disarmament. It was, therefore, unfortunate that countries supposedly in favour of disarmament had neutralized the cut-off committee. The Conference was the natural negotiating framework for measures on nuclear non-proliferation. A sincere commitment to non-proliferation could not be reconciled with a rejection of the NPT by those countries whose nuclear potential was in everyone's mind. In dismantling of arsenals of the nuclear-weapon States, efficiency and political realism required that negotiations be left to those Powers themselves. Placing the issue in a multilateral framework was counterproductive at the current stage. That would imperil efforts towards non-proliferation and the reduction of nuclear armaments.
U AYE (Myanmar), speaking as outgoing President, said it was agreed that the highest priority at this year's session must necessarily be accorded to the negotiations on a comprehensive test-ban treaty. Given the complexity of the subject and the many outstanding issues yet to be satisfactorily addressed, completing negotiations remained a challenging task. Efforts must
- 5 - Press Release DCF/252 16 February 1996
focus on resolving the key issues of scope, the preamble, entry into force, on-site inspections and national technical means.
He said that the Conference had entrusted him with conducting intensive consultations on nuclear disarmament with a view to developing a basis for consensus. However, despite his efforts, that had not been possible. The Conference had taken a significant step to de-link the issue of nuclear disarmament from other items. As a result, he had anticipated greater flexibility by some delegations on the issue of nuclear disarmament. Those expectations had not yet been realized, but consultations had proven to be productive.
Another important issue during his tenure had been expansion of the membership of the Conference, he said. Intensive consultations had been held with group coordinators, members of the Group of 23, and other non-member States, both collectively and bilaterally. Although it had not been possible to implement the decision to expand the Conference, consultations had been most valuable and would certainly contribute to finding a solution to that outstanding issue.
* *** *