UNITED STATES CALLS FOR NEGOTIATIONS IN DISARMAMENT CONFERENCE TO BAN LAND MINES AND PRODUCTION OF FISSILE MATERIAL
Press Release
DCF/309
UNITED STATES CALLS FOR NEGOTIATIONS IN DISARMAMENT CONFERENCE TO BAN LAND MINES AND PRODUCTION OF FISSILE MATERIAL
19970804 GENEVA, 31 July (UN Information Service) -- The future effectiveness of the Conference on Disarmament depends in large measure on whether it can rise to the challenges of banning the production of fissile material and eliminating anti-personnel land mines, a United States representative said this morning.Ralph Earle, Deputy Director of the United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, told a plenary meeting of the Conference that the relative state of affairs with respect to those two issues, "for which the Conference has the leading role", appeared "rather bleak".
The Conference is yet to find agreement on a programme of work for its current session, which resumed on Monday after a one-month break, even though an agenda was adopted earlier in the year. After extensive discussions, the Conference decided on 26 June to appoint a special coordinator to conduct consultations on a possible mandate on anti-personnel land mines.
Mr. Earle also said his country welcomed Canada's initiative, known as the Ottawa process, to agree a ban on anti-personnel land mines by the end of the year. That process and the Conference were complementary, he said. The States expected to sign the Ottawa treaty were those prepared to commit to eliminating anti-personnel land mines by a fixed date, while the Conference included many States that were not prepared to take that step today, he pointed out.
Mr. Earle added that the value of negotiating a land-mine ban in the Conference could be confirmed by looking around the meeting room: more than half the Conference members, including the United States, had not associated themselves with the Brussels Declaration of the Ottawa process. Those countries accounted for half or more of the "world's historical activity with regard to anti-personnel land mines", he said.
Mr. Earle then urged the Conference to consider the reinforcing impact that a fissile material cut-off convention would have on parallel efforts to dismantle nuclear warheads, saying that without such a treaty the chances of achieving the ultimate goal of nuclear disarmament would be decreased significantly.
The Conference's strength was negotiating detailed agreements, he said, adding that the forum should act now while the window of opportunity to negotiate a fissile material cut-off and a ban on anti-personnel land mines was still open.
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