RECENT SUCCESSES IN DISARMAMENT TEMPERED BY LINGERING SENSE OF PROMISES UNFULFILLED, CANADA TELLS FIRST COMMITTEE
Press Release
GA/DIS/3054
RECENT SUCCESSES IN DISARMAMENT TEMPERED BY LINGERING SENSE OF PROMISES UNFULFILLED, CANADA TELLS FIRST COMMITTEE
19961015 Stresses Need to Meet Challenges Involving Chemical, Biological Weapons, as General Debate ContinuesThe world's pride in recent disarmament successes was tempered by a lingering sense of promises unfulfilled, the representative of Canada said this afternoon as the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) continued its general debate on disarmament issues.
Stressing the need to meet existing challenges in the realm of chemical and biological weapons, he said: "We must not forget that a cult was able to use toxin weapons. And what a cult can do, nation States can easily exceed if not constrained by mutual commitments and assurances".
Several speakers expressed concern over the delay in entry into force of the chemical weapons Convention. They called on the United States and the Russian Federation in particular, as the two Powers possessing the largest chemical arsenals, to ratify the Convention.
The representative of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea said Japan's undisguised nuclear intentions and its plan to become a nuclear Power was a dangerous threat in the region of the Korean Peninsula. The representative of Japan rejected that assertion, stating that, as the only people in the world to have been victimized by atomic bombs, the Japanese public would vehemently oppose their possession. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea spoke again in exercise of the right of reply.
Statements were also made by the representatives of Brazil, Ecuador, Australia, Egypt, Ukraine, Colombia and South Africa, as well as by the observer for Switzerland.
The Committee will meet again at 3 p.m. tomorrow, 16 October, to continue its general debate.
Committee Work Programme
The First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) met this afternoon to continue its general debate. It will discuss a number of international disarmament agreements, including the Comprehensive Nuclear- Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) -- adopted by the General Assembly on 10 September -- and the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). It will also discuss the Assembly's 1995 decision "to convene its fourth special session on disarmament in 1997, if possible".
The Committee will consider the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons (chemical weapons Convention) -- now one signature short of the 65 needed to enter into force -- as well as the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction (biological weapons Convention).
Other agreements under discussion include the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects (Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons). Protocol II of the Convention, dealing with mines, booby-traps and other such devices, was revised in 1995 to include provisions on internal conflicts and the transfer of land-mines. An additional Protocol IV was also adopted, banning the use and transfer of anti- personnel blinding laser weapons.
Regional agreements to be considered include the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (Treaty of Tlatelolco), the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty (Treaty of Rarotonga), the South-East Asia Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty, and the African Nuclear- Weapon-Free Zone Treaty (Pelindaba Treaty). Also under discussion is the Treaty on the Prohibition of the Emplacement of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction on the Seabed and the Ocean Floor and in the Subsoil thereof (Seabed Treaty).
Other matters being considered by the Committee include the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms and the role of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in the international non- proliferation regime. The Committee was also likely to consider such bilateral agreements as the Treaty on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (START), as well as the signing last year by France, United Kingdom and the United States of the Protocols to the Treaty of Rarotonga, which had already been signed by China and the Russian Federation. (For more background, see Press Release GA/DIS/3051 of 10 October.)
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Statements
KIM CHANG GUK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) said that even after the collapse of the bipolar structure of East-West confrontation, the nuclear-weapon States had not discarded the outdated doctrine that such weapons served as deterrents. Those States should devise a timetable for the elimination of those weapons and implement it.
He said that Asia, particularly North-East Asia, remained the most unstable region in the world. There was military collusion between the United States and Japan and between the United States and south Korea in the area of the Korean Peninsula. Large-scale, joint military exercises were being conducted under the pretext of strengthening the security regime of those countries. Japan's undisguised nuclear intentions and its plan to become a military Power was a dangerous element in the region. Japan should abandon that attempt and instead, atone for its past aggressive crimes by making an honest post-war settlement.
Confidence-building between his country and the United States was a prerequisite for removing the danger of war and ensuring peace on the Korean Peninsula. The Agreed Framework adopted by the two countries two years ago and now being implemented had opened prospects for a fair resolution of the nuclear issue on the Peninsula. Within a month of its signing, his country had frozen most of its graphite-moderated reactors and related nuclear facilities, allowing the IAEA to monitor that freeze.
In April 1994, his Government called for replacement of the outdated armistice system on the Korean Peninsula -- a system totally paralysed by the United States -- with a new peace system, he said. The United States still refused to respond to that proposal, while it continued to deploy huge armed forces in south Korea. The south Korean authorities had transformed the southern portion of the military demarcation line into a war-border zone.
In February of this year, his Government proposed an interim agreement between his country and the United States to prevent an outbreak of armed conflict, he said. That agreement was intended to replace the armistice agreement, pending conclusion of a full peace accord. Peace and security on the Korean Peninsula could not be ensured until it was reunified.
JOSE BUSTANI (Brazil) said he wholeheartedly agreed with the statement last month by the President of the United States to the Assembly that the CTBT pointed towards a century in which the roles and risks of nuclear weapons could be even further reduced and ultimately eliminated. The recent meeting of the Canberra Commission -- the body charged with thoroughly studying the question of eliminating nuclear weapons -- had unanimously concluded that nuclear weapons diminished the security of States, including their possessors, and had no utility apart from deterring a comparably equipped opponent.
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Brazil had already ratified the chemical weapons Convention, he said. It now wished to reinforce the appeal for the Convention's universal ratification. He urged the two chemical Powers -- the United States and the Russian Federation -- to expedite their ratification of it.
He said Brazilian peace-keepers had experienced the suffering caused by the indiscriminate use of land-mines in Mozambique and Angola, as well as in Central America. While the international community worked for their ultimate elimination, all States should abide by the humanitarian restrictions imposed by the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons. It was essential that all States ratify the revised Protocol on land-mines. It was particularly important to keep them out of the hands of those who did not respect international law.
He said Brazil would join other countries in presenting a draft resolution on a nuclear-weapon-free southern hemisphere and adjacent areas. That initiative would aim at having the General Assembly recognize the emergence of that area as nuclear-weapon free, while expressing the legitimate concern of nuclear-weapon-free countries in more than half the world. Promoting that idea would add impetus to the process of nuclear disarmament.
HISAMI KUROKOCHI (Japan) called on those countries which opposed the CTBT to reconsider their position. Japan was ready to extend technical cooperation to developing countries on seismic technologies, which comprised an essential part of the international monitoring system for the detection of nuclear explosions. She added that Japan would hold an international seminar in Kyoto in early December to identify the future direction of nuclear disarmament efforts.
She said negotiations on a cut-off treaty to ban the production of fissile material for weapons purposes should begin as soon as possible. The withdrawal of nuclear warheads from Ukraine and Belarus were clear examples that arms control and disarmament efforts were progressing. She sought fruitful results from the upcoming Review Conference on the biological weapons Convention, and welcomed the fact that the chemical weapons Convention would soon enter into force. It was hoped that the United States and Russia would soon ratify that Convention.
Measures must be taken to strengthen restrictions on land-mines, develop technologies for their detection and clearance, and assist in the rehabilitation of victims, she said. Japan would ratify the new Protocol of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons and supported efforts for a total ban. The excessive accumulation of small arms demanded further attention, as did transparency in armaments. As such, the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms could be further developed. The United Nations Regional Centres for Peace and Disarmament were enhancing regional dialogue and promoting confidence.
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She said Japan intended to possess the minimum necessary level of defence capability required by any independent nation, so it would not be an unstable element in the region by becoming a power vacuum. That posture would never cause a threat to the region.
Responding to the statement by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, she said Japan's relationship with the United States in the area of defense contributed to the region's security, stability and prosperity. Japan would never develop or possess nuclear weapons. It strictly opposed them and was committed to their prohibition. National public sentiment among the Japanese, the only people in the world to have been victimized by atomic bombs, would vehemently oppose their possession. It was totally unthinkable that the country could shift that policy.
LUIS VALENCIA RODRIGUEZ (Ecuador) said a complete ban of the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons, along with the eradication of arsenals, was the only way to achieve general and complete disarmament.
A ban on the production and storage of fissile materials for nuclear weapons proposes would be an important complement to the CTBT. The finding by the International Court of Justice should serve as an essential legal basis for accelerating the process of nuclear disarmament. Nuclear-weapon-free zones were needed, as was recognition of the Antarctic Treaty. Security assurances to non-nuclear-weapon States were also important.
He stressed the importance of bans on weapons of mass destruction, especially chemical, biological and radiological weapons. In view of the danger posed by laser weapons, especially in the hands of drug dealers and terrorists, Ecuador supported the relevant Protocol of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and of Their Destruction, and urged all States to do the same. Regional disarmament needed an international complement. The Register of Conventional Arms was an adequate transparency measure and should be universally accepted. He supported the conclusion of convention prohibiting radiological weapons and stressed the need to reverse the effects of environmental deterioration.
He welcomed the decision to hold a fourth special session on disarmament. That session should pay particular attention to conventional disarmament issues, such as halting the production and trafficking in weapons. That would free resources for economic and social development. Efforts at confidence-building, including bilateral and multilateral dialogue, must be intensified. Ecuador was still excluded from the Conference on Disarmament and urged further examination of its candidature in 1996.
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MARK MOHER (Canada) said the world's pride in recent disarmament successes was tempered by a lingering sense of promises unfulfilled. Such measures as the START I agreement, extension of the NPT, and adoption of the CTBT were insufficient in and of themselves. The world must press for continuous implementation of the START process, broadening it soon to include all nuclear-weapon States. Work must now proceed on a fissile materials cut- off convention, as well as on improving security assurances for non-member States and promoting the extension of nuclear-weapon-free zones.
The challenges in the realm of chemical and biological weapons were also well-known, he said. The chemical weapons Convention must enter into force, with the United States and the Russian Federation living up to their obligations. "We must not forget that a cult was able to use toxin weapons. And what a cult can do, nation States can easily exceed if not constrained by mutual commitments and assurances."
He stressed the urgent need to achieve a global ban on anti-personnel land-mines, recalling that senior officials from 74 countries and numerous international and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) had attended the recent strategy Conference held at Ottawa. That Conference had called for the earliest possible conclusion of such a global ban. It had also outlined many activities which States, international organizations and NGOs could undertake to promote its achievement.
Many opponents of such a ban argued that anti-personnel mines were a security issue, and they were right, he said. It was an issue of human security. That security was shattered every 20 minutes. The Ottawa Conference had demonstrated that there was now sufficient momentum to end that random and relentless evil. The world had a choice: it could "remove 110 million mines, an arm and a leg at a time", or it could act now.
JOHN CAMPBELL (Australia) said the disarmament debate was at an important crossroads. It should not be allowed to falter in its pursuit of a world free of weapons of mass destruction.
He suggested making the most of the preparatory committee for the NPT review conference, strengthening IAEA safeguards, and ensuring operation of the chemical weapons Convention. Early agreement on effective verification machinery for the biological weapons Convention was also needed, along with a ban on the production of fissile material for weapons purposes. Efforts to negotiate a global ban on land-mines must also move forward in order to stop the appalling misuse of those weapons.
He said there was a clear need to reform and update the agenda of the Conference on Disarmament. An appropriate starting point could be the report of the Canberra Commission on the elimination of nuclear weapons. That report
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had emphasized the need for effective verification in order to attain and maintain a nuclear-weapon-free world.
NABIL A. ELARABY (Egypt) drew attention to the International Court of Justice advisory opinion on the threat or use of nuclear weapons. In it, the highest international judicial authority stresses the need to pursue nuclear disarmament in all its aspects. Last August, in the Conference on Disarmament, Egypt had submitted a proposed programme for the elimination of nuclear weapons which aimed at eliminating the gaps in the explicit commitment to nuclear disarmament, especially from the nuclear-weapon States. That programme should be given priority attention, and negotiations begun on a phased programme of nuclear disarmament, aimed at the eventual elimination of nuclear weapons within a time-bound framework.
The central message of last August's Canberra Commission was that the doctrine of nuclear deterrence was militarily redundant and dangerous. He welcomed that message, which once again restated the international community's resolve to pursue nuclear disarmament. Following the extension of the NPT and adoption of the CTBT, the next priority on the disarmament agenda must be a comprehensive agreement banning the production of fissile materials for weapons purposes.
He said Egypt viewed the establishment of nuclear-weapon-free zones around the globe of the highest importance and had welcomed the signing of the Pelindaba Treaty. Regrettably, the Middle East lagged far behind Africa. The international community's persistent call for a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East, had been a response to the existence of an advanced and unsafeguarded nuclear programme in Israel. Egypt once more called on Israel, the only State in the Middle East with such unsafeguarded facilities, to accede to the NPT and place its nuclear facilities under full-scope IAEA safeguards.
He said that one way to enhance disarmament efforts would be to convene a fourth special session of the Assembly on disarmament. Agreement should be reached at the current session on a specific date for that special session, perhaps during 1998 or 1999.
ERWIN HOFER, Observer for Switzerland, said that despite recent successes in arms control and disarmament, there was a negative corollary in the move towards a multi-polar world. The greater freedom of action enjoyed by actors on the world stage also carried a risk of greater insecurity. Conflicts once masked by the equilibrium of the cold war could be rekindled, nourishing the illusion that recourse to arms offered easy solutions. Although the progress in disarmament achieved over the past 12 months was impressive, it remained insufficient.
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Disarmament was not an abstract goal but an instrument capable of strengthening international security, he said. That objective could be attained by the gradual establishment of a stable balance at increasingly lower levels. The limitations of the CTBT had highlighted the need to pursue nuclear disarmament. It was essential to push for implementation of the disarmament obligations that were undertaken when the NPT was indefinitely extended. The momentum engendered by the CTBT must be maintained with negotiations on a cut-off ban on the production of fissile materials for weapons purposes.
Above and beyond the destruction of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons loomed the security problems linked to conventional arms, he said. Switzerland gave particularly urgent priority to the intolerable situation caused by anti-personnel land-mines. It was therefore hoped that the revised Protocol II of the Conventional Weapons Convention would soon enter into force. Only a total ban on such weapons could end their devastating effects. Mine-clearance activities must become a priority goal of international cooperation. The peace-keeping responsibilities of the United Nations pointed to the Organization as the natural coordinator of such a programme.
ANATOLI M. ZLENKO (Ukraine) said serious obstacles remained for implementation of the CTBT, similar to those which had prevented its adoption by the Conference on Disarmament. Nevertheless, it was an internationally legal instrument that consolidated the end of the nuclear arms race and hampered the vertical proliferation of nuclear weapons. It should be viewed as an instrument that created the pre-conditions for the realization of global nuclear disarmament.
He said the initiative put forward by Ukraine for creation of a nuclear- weapon-free zone in Central and Eastern Europe, between the Baltic and the Black Sea, was a logical step forward in the disarmament process. Support for the idea would promote confidence among the States of the region and prevent the emergence of new dividing lines within Europe. Together with existing nuclear-weapon-free zones, it would help create the critical mass needed for global nuclear disarmament.
He said Ukraine supported adoption of the revised Protocol II on land- mines. However, that text did not include the required preconditions for overcoming the humanitarian crisis caused by their wholesale and indiscriminate use. There must be a solid barrier against delivery of such weapons to parties in a conflict. Qualitatively new techniques of mine- clearance should be used, to reduce both its costs and risks. The participation of national units in mine-clearance should be conditional on the parties' willingness to pay their salaries, meet transportation costs, and pay compensation for injuries and loss of life.
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The link between the most developed technologies and the military field was no secret, he said. Scientific progress could therefore be a decisive factor, either in strengthening or destabilizing security. His country had created an effective export-control system and a programme of cooperation with other States for the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. It represented one of the most important aspects of Ukraine's foreign policy in the field of arms control and disarmament.
ANDELFO J. GARCIA (Colombia) said nuclear-weapon States should begin firm negotiations towards eliminating those weapons within a specific and established timeframe. There was no justification in the post-cold war era to maintain nuclear arsenals or to create new ones. It was time to destroy all reserves of those deadly weapons of mass destruction.
He had participated actively in the strengthening of the Treaty of Tlatelolco, he said. The southern hemisphere would soon become nuclear- weapon-free; he welcomed the unification of existing nuclear-weapon-free zones with those now being developed. As to the chemical weapons Convention, it was disturbing that it had not entered into force. Its ratification by the acknowledged possessors of such weapons was crucial.
He said conventional weapons and illicit trafficking in them was a matter of serious concern, and he welcomed the Disarmament Commission's 1996 guidelines regarding their transfer. Colombia supported a ban on land- mines, as well as the immediate start of negotiations aimed at banning them. The fourth special session on disarmament should be convened before the end of the century, with the preparatory process to begin at the beginning of 1997.
FREDERICK O. BERGH (South Africa) sought full implementation of Article VI of the NPT, which called for a convention banning the production of fissile material for weapons purposes, establishment of nuclear-weapon-free zones, and security assurances for non-nuclear-weapon States. The signing on 11 April 1996, of Africa's Pelindaba Treaty was a significant event which reflected the ideal of a continent free of nuclear weapons.
He urged maximum flexibility in addressing the outstanding substantive issues relating to the chemical weapons Convention, and urged its ratification by the United States and the Russian Federation -- the major declared possessors of those weapons. A verifiable compliance regime would strengthen the biological weapons Convention.
The build-up of conventional weapons beyond a level legitimate for self- defence was a matter of serious concern, he said. The Disarmament Commission's agreement on guidelines for international arms transfers had been gratifying. There should be universal participation in the Conventional Arms Register; the proliferation of small arms could only be addressed through
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national, regional and international action. South Africa had tightened control over its arms exports and strengthened its laws regulating the possession of firearms. National policies were needed to ensure the clearance and elimination of land-mines.
Right of Reply
Speaking in exercise of the right of reply, MR KIM (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) said he had not singled out Japan without cause. His statement had been based on facts and realities. Japan was annually increasing its defence expenditures to match its economic might. It was also attempting to amend its Constitution in order to permit the dispatch of its armed forces to other countries. It was striving to justify its increased arms, citing the situation on the Korean Peninsula.
Equally seriously, Japan sought to deny its past crimes, he said. It argued that it had conquered Asian countries in order to liberate them from Western colonialism, and refused to apologize to those peoples. Japanese politicians paid ritual tribute to the country's war criminals. All such activities were aimed at helping Japan realize its ambition of becoming a military power in Asia.
As for the nuclear issue, Japan was buying large quantities of nuclear materials from European countries and secretly importing nuclear technology from the United States, he said. What were Japan's hidden intentions? How could his country trust Japan?
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