RATIFICATION PROCESS FOR CHEMICAL WEAPONS TREATY TO RESUME SOON `WITHOUT POLITICAL DISTRACTIONS', FIRST COMMITTEE TOLD

16 October 1996

Press Release
GA/DIS/3055

RATIFICATION PROCESS FOR CHEMICAL WEAPONS TREATY TO RESUME SOON `WITHOUT POLITICAL DISTRACTIONS', FIRST COMMITTEE TOLD

19961016 United States Says It Is Destroying Chemical Weapon Stockpiles; Sri Lanka, Paraguay, Algeria Also Speak

Although ratification of the Chemical Weapons Convention had been withdrawn from consideration in the United States Senate, the ratification process would resume promptly in the next months, without political distractions, the representative of that country said this afternoon, as the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) continued its general debate. The Director of the United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, John Holum, said the United States was actively engaged in destroying its chemical-weapon stockpiles. He added that efforts by States parties to the Biological Weapons Convention to elaborate a compliance protocol would succeed if they remained resolutely focused on the task at hand: preventing deadly diseases from being used as instruments of terror or war. He was referring, respectively, to the following two treaties: the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons; and the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction.

The representative of Algeria warned that the forthcoming entry into force of the Chemical Weapons Convention without ratification by the United States and the Russian Federation weakened it considerably. Maximum participation was needed to meet the conditions for international security, he said. Also this afternoon, the representative of Sri Lanka stressed the need to attract those States who remained outside the regime established by the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, while Paraguay said it was necessary to step up the pace of the process leading towards total nuclear disarmament. The First Committee will meet again at 3 p.m. tomorrow, 17 October, to resume its general debate on disarmament and security issues.

Committee Work Programme

The First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) met this afternoon to continue its general debate. During the 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 1 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, the 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

BERNARD GOONETILLEKE (Sri Lanka) said that despite justifiable euphoria over the CTBT, his country hoped the nuclear-weapon States would abide by the spirit of the Treaty and refrain from conducting underground nuclear-test explosions pending its entry into force.

He said it had been nearly a year and a half since the indefinite extension of the NPT and the Conference on Disarmament had affirmed the need to move with determination towards the full realization of its provisions. Today, a quarter-century after it came into existence, the NPT still lacked universality. Ways must be examined to attract those who remained outside the Treaty. It was important to recall that the nuclear-weapon States had reaffirmed their commitment to pursue in good faith negotiations relating to nuclear disarmament. Those words should now translate into deeds.

Security assurances for the non-nuclear States had been a subject of intense debate since the mid-1960s, he said. While Russia and China were favourably disposed towards an internationally negotiated, legally binding instrument, the other nuclear-weapon States had so far balked the demand of the non-nuclear-weapon States for such a guarantee. Hence the demand of the non-aligned countries, both within the Conference on Disarmament and in the First Committee, for an instrument obliging all nuclear-weapon States to provide a uniform guarantee. Sri Lanka hoped the Conference would take concrete steps towards negotiating such an instrument.

The rivalry between the two super-Powers, which almost turned outer space into a futuristic battlefield, had been overtaken by a spirit of cooperation, he said. The international community could use the present positive climate to build future confidence. The Conference on Disarmament should re-establish its Ad Hoc Committee on that matter. If the term "arms race" was no longer applicable, the item could be addressed in terms of preventing its militarization of outer space.

RAMON DIAZ PEREIRA (Paraguay) said it was necessary to step up the pace of the process leading towards total nuclear disarmament. The Treaties of Tlatelolco and Rarotonga, as well as the CTBT, were proof of the firm steps already taken towards eliminating that terrible threat. The advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on the threat or use of nuclear weapons had produced a doctrine of unquestionable moral force on impeccable legal grounds.

He said Paraguay would co-sponsor the draft resolution by Brazil on the southern hemisphere as a vast, nuclear-weapon-free space. The need remained for important countries to adhere to the NPT and to negotiate a ban on the production of fissile materials for weapons purposes. Tasks aimed at confidence-building among States were important, as was transparency in

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conventional weapons. The Register of Conventional Arms was a valuable mechanism in that effort. The supporters of a total ban on anti-personnel land-mines and blinding laser weapons should be praised, as well as those who had undertaken a voluntary moratorium on their export and production.

JOHN D. HOLUM, Director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency of the United States, said a vast agenda still lay before the international community at a time of unprecedented progress towards peace and disarmament. Leading elements in that agenda included the Chemical Weapons Convention, a fissile material cut-off treaty, further controls on nuclear arms, a stronger NPT, a more enforceable Biological Weapons Convention, and a worldwide ban on nuclear weapons.

In the case of chemical weapons, the proper forum for discussion was the ratification process in individual States. Of the 65 States needed to trigger the 180-day countdown towards entry into force, 64 had now deposited instruments of ratification. Regrettably the United States -- where the Convention had been withdrawn from consideration in the Senate -- was not among them. But every nation should know that the United States ratification process would resume promptly in the next months, without political distractions. Meanwhile, his country was actively destroying its chemical weapon stockpiles.

A ban on production of fissile materials must be an urgent priority, he said. Such a ban would provide a perfect opportunity for the Conference on Disarmament to confirm once again its viability and effectiveness. Its long experience and substantive expertise should be put to use, not to pasture. Negotiating a fissile-materials cut-off treaty there would build on its success in the CTBT negotiations. A multilateral, effectively verifiable treaty would complement the CTBT's qualitative cap on nuclear weapons by capping, worldwide, the fissile material available for nuclear weapons. The cause of international peace and security would be stronger the sooner the Conference turned to that task.

The world's nuclear arsenals must keep shrinking, he said. There had been dramatic progress in recent years. The United States and the Russian Federation had both reduced nuclear delivery vehicles below the limits set for December 1999. France was in the process of eliminating its land-based nuclear-armed missiles. By the end of 1998, the United Kingdom would have only one nuclear-weapon system. The United States President had told the Assembly that once Russia had ratified START II the two countries were ready to discuss the possibilities of further cuts, as well as limiting and monitoring nuclear warheads and materials. That would make deep reductions irreversible.

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He said it had been proposed that strategic arms control efforts be moved to a global forum such as the Conference on Disarmament. However, the Conference was an inappropriate forum for such a task. Last year's NPT conference had recognized the practical realities when its programme of action declared that efforts to reduce nuclear weapons should be pursued by the nuclear-weapon States.

The next priority was to strengthen the NPT and its safeguards, he said. The IAEA should be given a stronger role and sharper tools for conducting worldwide inspections. Its Board of Governors was urged to approve a protocol to give the Agency greater access to relevant information, sites, and technologies, such as environmental sampling, to reinforce its capacity to detect undeclared nuclear activities. He added that universal adherence to the NPT was drawing ever closer, with only seven countries remaining outside this regime. The United States was working to ensure that the 1997 Preparatory Conference for the NPT Review Conference, scheduled for the year 2000, would be substantive and balanced.

After two years of discussion, the Ad Hoc Group appointed by States parties to the Biological Weapons Convention had identified the basic framework for a compliance protocol, he said That group had agreed to intensify its work over the next 12 months. Its efforts would succeed if it remained resolutely focused on the task at hand -- preventing deadly diseases from being used as instruments of terror or war.

He said the past year had seen a major step in the agreement on an amended Protocol II of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, banning non-detectable and unmarked anti-personnel land-mines. The task now was to negotiate a global ban on their use, production, stockpiling and transfer. Whatever route was chosen towards that end, the United States was committed to such a ban. It was also working hard to find alternatives for circumstances in which such mines remained a military necessity.

The progress of the past half-century had been remarkable, he said. The international community would decide, through the fateful choices it made on how to proceed, whether the disarmament momentum of the past year would be sustained or squandered. If it chose badly, it would risk not only tomorrow's progress, but today's. If it chose well, the next half-century of progress could be even greater than the last, and future generations would celebrate towering victories in the cause of security, disarmament and peace.

ABDALLAH BAALI (Algeria) said that the world's recent step back from confrontation had cleared the way for international cooperation in disarmament. Algeria, convinced that disarmament was at the heart of the problem of peace and international security, had demonstrated its conviction actively participating in the drafting of the CTBT, adhering to the NPT, and ratifying the Chemical Weapons Convention.

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Today more than ever, the international community was unanimous in believing that the complete elimination of nuclear weapons was the prime disarmament objective, he said. That unanimity had been buttressed by the recent advisory opinion of the ICJ. A cut-off on the production of fissile materials for weapons purposes should work in unison with such factors as the absence of nuclear testing.

A nuclear-weapon-free zone should be established in the Middle East, he said. The forthcoming entry into force of the Chemical Weapons Convention without ratification by the United States and the Russian Federation weakened it considerably. Maximum participation was needed to meet the conditions for international security. Expanding the membership of the Conference on Disarmament was necessary and would revitalize its functioning as a multilateral forum.

Algeria would work for the security and development of the Mediterranean region, he said. Initiatives by the non-aligned States should deal effectively and urgently with the question of the illicit transfer of conventional arms, as a factor which contributed to terrorism. Disarmament measures should be neither partial nor selective.

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