'VIRTUALLY UNRESTRAINED TRANSFER OF WEAPONS' A MATTER OF IMMENSE CONCERN, ICRC OBSERVER SAYS

18 October 1996

Press Release
GA/DIS/3058

'VIRTUALLY UNRESTRAINED TRANSFER OF WEAPONS' A MATTER OF IMMENSE CONCERN, ICRC OBSERVER SAYS

19961018 Stresses Link between Light Weapons, Humanitarian Violations, as First Committee Continues General Debate

The virtually unrestrained transfer of weapons, particularly small arms, was a matter of immense concern, the observer for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Peter Küng, said this afternoon, as the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) continued its general debate.

Enormous quantities of light weapons were available to virtually any individual or group that sought them, and they were all too often used in flagrant violation of the norms of humanitarian law, he said. In the coming year, the ICRC would undertake a study on the relationship between arms availability and such violations.

States must break the bonds of the past and forge a new attitude in support of absolute, unconditional nuclear disarmament, the Foreign Minister of Costa Rica, Fernando Naranjo Villalobos, told the Committee. In his country, resources once used for military expansion were now used for development, and political democracy had been consolidated, fostering a broad, pluralistic system.

The representative of Bangladesh cited difficulties faced by least developed countries in meeting their financial obligations under the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). He said non-nuclear-weapon States that were parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) should be considered to have acceded automatically to the CTBT, so as to exempt them from those financial burdens.

Statements were also made by the representatives of the United Arab Emirates, New Zealand, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Singapore.

The First Committee will meet again at 10 a.m. on Monday, 21 October, to continue its general debate on disarmament issues.

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 and on Their Destruction (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, 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.

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It was also likely to discuss an Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which ruled that States were obliged to pursue good- faith negotiations aimed at complete nuclear disarmament. (For additional background, see Press Release GA/DIS/3051 of 10 October.)

Statements

MOHAMMAD J. SAMHAN (United Arab Emirates) said the world today was marked by an escalation of regional and civil conflicts, continued occupation of territory, drug trafficking and terrorism, which increased the gap between developed and developing countries, while failing to protect international security. The principles of the Charter and international law could only be realized if States respected their primacy. The international community should not be duped by the claims of certain States on the question of regional security when those States produced and stockpiled nuclear weapons of enormous destructive capacity.

The Middle East, and particularly the Arab Gulf, had suffered greatly from conflicts over the past five decades, he said. The signing of the Rarotonga Treaty by all five nuclear-weapon States, together with the establishment of new nuclear-free zones in South-East Asia and Africa, were welcome developments. However, Israel's possession of every kind of weapon of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons, was contrary to the principles of the Middle East peace process, which required political and military balance among the States of the region. All the Arab States had acceded to the NPT regime. Israel must be urged to accede to the Treaty and place its nuclear facilities under IAEA safeguards.

The indiscriminate use of land-mines, whose effects lingered long after the settlement of conflicts, was a matter of concern to the entire international community, he said. His country supported all moves for a total ban on their production, stockpiling and transfer. Illicit trafficking in fissile materials was equally disturbing; it seriously threatened international security, ethnic and civil harmony, and the environment.

He said his country welcomed the decision to hold a fourth special session on disarmament. The membership of the Conference on Disarmament must be expanded. The Advisory Opinion of the World Court on the legality of nuclear weapons was a welcome development.

MICHAEL POWLES (New Zealand) said the CTBT should be valued as both a means to an end-testing and as a step on the road to nuclear disarmament. The Committee should reaffirm the obligation defined by the World Court. While negotiations on a convention on nuclear weapons was not yet within reach, intermediate steps could be undertaken. The Russian Federation should ratify START II as soon as possible to enable START III to get under way. It was time for the Conference on Disarmament to take up the issue of a cut-off on

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the production of fissile material for weapons purposes. A register of fissile material stocks and a verifiable ban on the production of new nuclear weapons could complement such a convention.

The four nuclear-weapon-free zone treaties embodied the aspirations of nearly two thirds of the Assembly's membership, he said. To build on that common objective, New Zealand had co-sponsored a resolution urging further cooperation between those zones. Enhancing the NPT review process, together with preparation for the fourth special session on disarmament, could contribute to the achievement of consensus on measures for nuclear disarmament.

The entry into force of the Chemical Weapons Convention, with its provisions for verification, would contribute towards ridding the world of weapons of mass destruction, he said. The Biological Weapons Convention did not have such a verification system -- a deficiency that must be remedied. Conventional arms, too, extracted an appalling toll around the world. Transparency was an obvious and essential first step towards managing such arms. The growing acceptance of the Register of Conventional Arms was a welcome development -- particularly the strong support it had received from the Asia-Pacific region. New Zealand also attached considerable importance to early achievement of a total ban on land-mines and had co-sponsored a resolution with the United States towards that end.

MUHAMED SACIRBEY (Bosnia and Herzegovina) said his country continued to experience the effects of war. It had endured the massive use of conventional weapons against non-military targets and continued to live with the horrors of anti-personnel land-mines. The measures agreed to in the spirit of the Dayton accords had begun to yield their first results. However, it seemed that some parties were not cooperating in good faith in reporting armaments levels. Neither were they pursuing the agreed level of armaments destruction. Regional organizations and individual countries which had information on the true armaments levels of the parties should be forthcoming with the General Assembly, with the parties, and with the international community as a whole.

Stressing the need for transparency in arms control efforts, he called on States to support the Conventional Arms Register. His country's neighbours should approach military issues in a transparent manner, so as to diminish and eliminate mistrust, misperception and potentially deadly mistakes.

The second issue of utmost importance to Bosnia and Herzegovina was that of anti-personnel land-mines, he said. More than 3 million of those deadly devices littered his homeland. Their continued presence delayed the return of refugees, freedom of movement and economic reconstruction -- factors on which the peace of his country depended. It was hoped an international conference would soon be convened to sign a comprehensive agreement banning anti- personnel land-mines.

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Equal in importance to the banning of land-mines were efforts for their removal and destruction, he said. There should be a sharing of information on mine-removal technology and techniques, and perhaps an international database on such methods. Developing and economically poorer countries simply could not afford the expenditures needed to establish research and development mechanisms from scratch.

ANWARUL KARIM CHOWDHURY (Bangladesh) said the CTBT was a significant step towards nuclear non-proliferation, while the establishment of nuclear- weapon-free zones was evidence of real progress at the regional level. Bilaterally, the framework accord between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the United States, and the transfer of nuclear weapons from Belarus and Ukraine, had far-reaching implications. The Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice and the report of the Canberra Commission on elimination of nuclear weapons were important global developments.

He regretted the difference of opinion on the appropriate forum for negotiations on nuclear disarmament. It was hoped the Canberra report and World Court Opinion would facilitate negotiations. While Bangladesh supported the CTBT, it was difficult to meet its financial obligations as a least developed country. Non-nuclear-weapon States that were parties to the NPT should be considered to have acceded automatically to the CTBT, so as to exempt them from financial burdens.

He said Bangladesh welcomed the progress made on a legally binding verification regime for the Biological Weapons Convention and was also completing ratification procedures for the Chemical Weapons Convention. Meanwhile, unilateral destruction by the United States of its chemical weapons stockpiles would encourage others to eliminate such weapons. The unilateral decision by several countries to enforce a moratorium on such mines and to destroy their existing stockpiles was commendable. However, there was also a need to focus on rehabilitation of their victims.

The continued arms race posed a formidable security threat in many regions and drained the resources of many countries, he said. Regional disarmament depended largely on understanding the problem at the global level, as well as on courageous participation by the major Powers. The linkage between disarmament and development, an issue which had retreated, should be the primary focus in preparations for the fourth special session on disarmament. According to a 1992 human development report, a 3 per cent annual cut in military spending throughout the 1990s would yield a $1.5 trillion for human development by the year 2000. Where was the peace dividend that the end of the cold war had so emphatically promised?

PETER KÜNG, observer for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), welcomed a number of improvements in the Protocol II on land-mines, the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, particularly its extension to

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cover both international and non-international conflicts. However, the new limitations on actual use of anti-personnel mines were weak and complex. There was a danger that those provisions would not be implemented in the types of conflict in which such weapons had most recently been used.

The ICRC would promote adherence to the amended Protocol II, but urged States to go far beyond its provisions and to renounce the production, transfer and use of such mines. Twenty-five States had already renounced or suspended their use, and 11 States were destroying their stockpiles. He strongly supported Canada's initiative in inviting foreign ministers to Ottawa in December 1997 to sign a new treaty that would totally prohibit anti- personnel mines.

The virtually unrestrained transfer of weapons, particularly small arms, was a matter of immense concern, he said. Enormous quantities of light weapons were available to virtually any individual or group that sought them, and they were all too often used in flagrant violation of the norms of humanitarian law. In the coming year, the ICRC would undertake a study on the relationship between arms availability and such violations.

He said the adoption of Protocol IV to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons was a landmark achievement. For only the second time in history, the international community had been able to proscribe an inhumane weapon before having to witness its effects on the battlefield. It had also been a pleasure to see the World Court reaffirmed certain rules as intransgressible. Those included an absolute prohibition of weapons that were, by their nature, indiscriminate, as well as the prohibition of weapons that caused unnecessary suffering. Also welcomed was the Court's emphasis that humanitarian law applied to all weapons without exception, including new ones.

TAN SOO SAN (Singapore) said the end of the cold war had not changed the fundamental dynamic of an international system of sovereign States. The major Powers still stubbornly defended their privileges, and a web of ambition and vested interests still stymied many worthy efforts at international disarmament.

Perhaps what had been achieved since the end of the cold war was the best that could be achieved, she said. Perhaps the only way forward was through a pragmatic approach that some would call piecemeal, but others would call realistic. In that spirit, Singapore had supported the indefinite extension of the NPT, as well as the CTBT. Those were not inconsequential steps, even though there were clearly many more steps to be taken before the vision of a nuclear-weapon-free world became a reality.

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Last May, Singapore declared a two-year moratorium on the export of anti-personnel land-mines lacking self-destruct or self-neutralizing mechanisms, she said. Although a very modest step, it had been made in the spirit of wanting to lower the risk of civilian deaths and mutilations. Nevertheless, it was not practical to have a blanket ban on all types of anti- personnel land-mines, since many countries saw a need for them for their legitimate self-defence.

Singapore did not oppose the initiative aimed at establishing a global ban, however. Indeed, it was now clear that technological initiatives were under way which would render land-mines obsolete as a means of defence. Nevertheless, since every country had legitimate security interests, it was hoped the technologically advanced countries would share their technology so that everyone, and not just a favoured few, could protect themselves without recourse to such horrendous weapons.

FERNANDO NARANJO VILLALOBOS, Foreign Minister of Costa Rica, said his country followed a policy of disarmament of its own free well. Resources once used for military expansion were now used for development. Political democracy had been consolidated, fostering a broad, pluralistic system. It was not mere chance that Costa Rica's foreign policy included the objective of nuclear and conventional disarmament.

States must break the bonds of the past and forge a new attitude in support of absolute, unconditional nuclear disarmament, he said. The World Court's Advisory Opinion on that matter deserved the Committee's support. Nuclear-weapon-free zones had freed a broad area of the world from the threat of nuclear annihilation. It was especially important to safeguard the region of the Middle East.

He said his country supported reinforcement of the Chemical Weapons Convention and Biological Weapons Convention, as well as the strengthening of their verification machineries. Central America was deeply concerned about anti-personnel land-mines, and it was high time for the United Nations to take resolute action with respect to them. The international arms trade was also a matter of great concern and represented a further burden on developing nations.

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