DO LESS WRANGLING AND MORE NEGOTIATING, NEW ZEALAND FOREIGN MINISTER TELLS CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT
Press Release
DCF/288
DO LESS WRANGLING AND MORE NEGOTIATING, NEW ZEALAND FOREIGN MINISTER TELLS CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT
19970224 Polish Deputy Minister Urges against 'Linkages'; Indonesia Charges "Recalcitrant Attitude" of Some against Nuclear DisarmamentGENEVA, 20 February (UN Information Service) -- The Conference on Disarmament must put less effort into wrangling about process and more into negotiating measures, not only on nuclear weapons, but also to verify the ban on biological weapons and to support implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, which New Zealand hoped would come into force in late April with the United States and the Russian Federation among its members, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of New Zealand said this morning.
Don McKinnon, the country's Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and also its Minister for Disarmament and Arms Control, told the weekly plenary meeting of the Conference that a ban on production of fissile material for use in nuclear weapons was "a step ripe for negotiation", but said it should be part of a broader approach aimed at overall nuclear disarmament. An ad hoc committee with an overarching mandate to contribute to complete disarmament could begin immediately alongside fissile-material "cut-off" negotiations, he added.
Also addressing the Conference was the Secretary of State and First Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Poland, who cautioned that the promise of early, tangible results from the Conference would be jeopardized or lost if efforts to agree on a work programme "were to be complicated by linkage of issues and belittling or total disregard of their intrinsic merit". The Deputy Minister, Eugeniusz Wyzner, called for immediate re-establishment of an ad hoc committee to pursue "cut-off" negotiations and said the Conference also should take on responsibility for negotiating a global ban on anti-personnel land-mines.
Also this morning, the representative of Indonesia charged that the Conference's "highest-priority issue" -- nuclear disarmament -- was not receiving sufficient attention. He called for an ad hoc committee to focus on that goal and added that his delegation "deeply regretted the recalcitrant attitude adopted by some nuclear-weapon States towards the need to immediately negotiate a treaty banning nuclear weapons". Such countries had consistently denied their legal commitments to nuclear disarmament assumed under article VI of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), he said.
Also addressing the plenary were the representatives of Hungary, Ireland, and Switzerland. The representative of Romania, Pavel Grecu, beginning his term at the rotating presidency of the Conference, made a statement on the group's upcoming work.
Several speakers expressed condolences to China on the death yesterday of Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping. The Chinese representative eulogized Mr. Deng as a great revolutionary, statesman, military strategist, and diplomat, who had been chief architect of the country's opening to the outside world and of changes in its economic system. He deeply loved the Chinese people, and they, in turn, deeply loved him. His death was an inestimable loss. The country's peoples were determined to turn their grief into triumph by continuing his work. They would continue to build socialism with Chinese characteristics.
The next plenary meeting of the Conference is scheduled for Thursday, 27 February, at 10 a.m..
Statements
DON McKINNON, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and Minister for Disarmament and Arms Control of New Zealand, said the Conference, during the cold war, had come to accept progress in slow, small steps, punctuated by periods of worrying hiatus as the normal process of international consensus-building on arms control issues. But what was normal in those days need not be true today -- there were opportunities now which had not existed a decade ago, and the Conference must take advantage of them. There was an overwhelming desire now for a world free of nuclear weapons, and the report of the Canberra Commission, introduced to the Conference last month by Australia, identified a range of practical and progressively achievable actions and steps to take. It was important that momentum be maintained and enhanced, in the Conference and elsewhere; where progress was achieved was less important to ordinary citizens than the fact that progress was made.
The Conference must put less effort into wrangling about process and more into negotiating measures not only on nuclear weapons, but also to verify the ban on biological weapons and to support implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, which New Zealand hoped would come into force in late April with the United States and the Russian Federation among its members, the Foreign Minister said. He termed a ban on production of fissile material for use in nuclear weapons a step ripe for negotiation in the Conference, but said it should be part of a broader approach aimed at overall nuclear disarmament.
An ad hoc committee with an overarching mandate to contribute to that ultimate goal could begin immediately alongside the "cut-off" negotiations, while also considering longer-term issues, he said. New Zealand would be pleased to see negotiation in the Conference on anti-personnel land-mines
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proceed in parallel with the Ottawa process, provided there was political willingness to reach early agreement on a strong mandate. In addition, the Conference should develop further global measures to curtail destabilizing build-ups of conventional arms.
EUGENIUSZ WYZNER, Secretary of State and First Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Poland, said the agenda approved last week by the Conference must provide a framework for a realistic work programme, carrying a promise of early and tangible results. The promise of such results would be jeopardized or lost if efforts to agree on a work programme were to be complicated by linkage of issues and belittling or total disregard of their intrinsic merit.
With the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) off the agenda, negotiation of an early "cut-off" treaty on fissile material production appeared to Poland to be the next logical step for the Conference to take, he went on. The relevant ad hoc committee should be re-established and negotiations launched as soon as possible.
On the matter of land-mines, the issue was not whether to seek a ban, but how and where to go about it, he said. Poland was strongly in favour of rapid progress. It had enacted a moratorium on export of land-mines and had supported and even co-sponsored international initiatives to explore the possibility of a global ban. Responsibility for negotiating a full ban should lie with the Conference, and an appropriate negotiating process should envisage active participation of the principal producers, exporters, and users of land-mines.
Poland strongly supported calls for early establishment by the Conference of an appropriate ad hoc committee, he said. Nothing should stand in the way of a comprehensive reassessment of the question of transparency in armaments, including work on further improvement of the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms to include other categories of weapons, which could make the instrument more effective and attract more States to support it. On the matter of the Chemical Weapons Convention, he stressed that for the Convention to be fully effective, it had to obtain universal support and as many ratifications as possible by the time of its entry into force.
PAVEL GRECU (Romania), incoming President of the Conference, said progress and concrete objectives and results were expected by the world from the Conference, and he would spare no effort to serve the interests of the Conference to the best of his ability, in a balanced, open, and pragmatic way.
It was now high time for all friends of the CTBT to make every effort to speed up the ratification process and the entry into force of the treaty, he said. Meanwhile, the Conference must address the legitimate question of what should be next on the disarmament agenda. The real problem now facing the
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Conference was how it could best promote nuclear disarmament so as to complement and build on existing achievements, and he considered that seeking the views of member States on how to deal with the issue was one of his most urgent tasks.
He further hoped that consensus on the important initiative on banning production of fissile materials for nuclear weapons purposes could be invigorated and brought to fruition. The Conference also would be remiss if it overlooked the acute problem of conventional armaments, in particular anti-personnel land-mines. The Conference's future work should address the issue comprehensively, taking into account all relevant aspects, including national security and defence concerns. Finally, the Conference needed to address the question of adapting its agenda to present-day realities.
PETER NARAY (Hungary) said Hungary was confident there was common ground and shared interest that could lead to elaboration of a concrete programme of work for the Conference, but the aim of satisfying divergent expectations and priorities did not justify the creation of artificial linkages. As shown by recent experience, such linkages only damaged the efficiency and credibility of the group. Hungary strongly advocated commencement of work on a fissile material "cut-off" treaty; that issue was ripe for serious negotiations and was the sort of concrete measure the Conference needed to focus on. The country urged delegations to overcome procedural difficulties and get down to substantive work on the issue.
Similarly, he continued, the Conference should find an appropriate place in its programme of work for conventional disarmament. Its composition, the presence of major producers and exporters of land-mines, and the available rich experience and expertise made it the appropriate forum for negotiating a ban on anti-personnel land-mines. Hungary supported the proposal of France to establish an ad hoc committee on the matter, and it was flexible about a possible phased approach in order to comply with existing realities. The country also looked forward to imminent entry into force of the Chemical Weapons Convention and actively promoted strengthening the Biological Weapons Convention through and effective and workable verification mechanism.
AGUS TARMIDZI (Indonesia) said that at this juncture, when nuclear war was hardly conceivable, the issue of complete nuclear disarmament could no longer be brushed aside and treated as a trivial issue. An ad hoc committee on the subject should be established. The Indonesian delegation deeply regretted the recalcitrant attitude adopted by some nuclear-weapon States towards the need to immediately negotiate a treaty banning nuclear weapons. They had, instead, consistently denied their multilateral legal commitments to nuclear disarmament assumed under article VI of the NPT. If such a one-sided perception continued, Indonesia felt that it would ultimately imperil the legal nature of the treaty.
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On possible negotiation of a fissile material "cut-off" treaty, Indonesia felt that would be a significant contribution, but that such a treaty should also be seen as a disarmament commitment, and should encompass not only future but past production, he said. Brushing aside the issue of existing stockpiles of fissile material would render such a treaty a mere non-proliferation issue. A treaty with such a characteristic had no added value and was unappealing to Indonesia.
On the subject of land-mines, Indonesia, while horrified at the effects of those abhorrent weapons, thought negotiation of a ban on them fell more within the scope of humanitarian issues, although it would not stand in the way of an agreement on the issue being discussed, if the Conference so wished. But the delegation reiterated that the Conference should not be sidetracked from negotiating the highest-priority item on its agenda, nuclear disarmament.
ANNE ANDERSON (Ireland) said some delegations were reluctant to embark on an immediate negotiation of a "cut-off" unless and until it was placed in the context of an overall programme to achieve nuclear disarmament. Ireland believed linkages such as that were usually counter-productive, but also felt that the concerns of countries supporting such a linkage should be considered and addressed -- nuclear-weapon States might, jointly, set out their perspective on disarmament to imbue the words "systematic and progressive" disarmament with meaning and so reassure those nations that worried that the matter was not receiving the attention it deserved.
The objective of a fissile-material "cut-off" treaty and other Conference efforts should be clear, she said. The objective was nuclear disarmament and the process used to achieve it was not an end in itself. The Conference should establish a forum or mechanism to enable it to consider what nuclear disarmament measures it might negotiate in addition to or after conclusion of a "cut-off" convention.
Ireland, on balance, could see merit in a Conference attempt to negotiate a ban on anti-personnel land-mines, she said, but it should build on what had already been achieved, be comprehensive from the outset, be aimed at achieving a quick result, and reinforce and complement other efforts, such as the Ottawa process.
Ireland now headed the list of 17 delegations seeking admission as full members of the Conference, she said, adding that it had been waiting for 15 years. What did the Conference propose to do about all of the applications and when would it take action?
ERWIN H. HOFER (Switzerland) said an ad hoc committee should be set up without delay to negotiate a fissile material "cut-off" treaty; that would be a logical continuation of the Conference's work. Switzerland was deeply committed to the banning of anti-personnel land-mines. Production had been
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banned within Switzerland since 1969, and Swiss troops no longer had them. Destruction of the country's existing stockpiles of mines would be completed this year. To be effective, a global treaty must prohibit manufacture, possession, transfer, and use of mines, and it also must require the destruction of existing stocks of mines.
Switzerland was prepared to support any initiative taken along those lines and would participate any appropriate discussion of the topic in any appropriate framework, he said. It supported the Ottawa process, but also saw that the Conference could make an appreciable contribution to a ban on land-mines. If an ad hoc committee were formed by the Conference on the topic of a ban, it should take into consideration that the group's mandate should include focus on a comprehensive ban, including destruction of stocks. It should not be a phased approach, and it should be borne in mind that the issue was more humanitarian than it was military -- the focus should be on individual rights rather than States' concerns, he stressed. Switzerland did consider that an instrument prohibiting land-mines would only be effective if it contained precise rules and was concluded rapidly.
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