NON-ALIGNED COUNTRIES RESTATE PROPOSAL FOR CREATION OF COMMITTEE ON NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT WITHIN DISARMAMENT CONFERENCE
Press Release
DCF/310
NON-ALIGNED COUNTRIES RESTATE PROPOSAL FOR CREATION OF COMMITTEE ON NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT WITHIN DISARMAMENT CONFERENCE
19970808 (Reissued as received.)GENEVA, 7 August (UN Information Service) -- The Group of 21 non-aligned countries reiterated this morning a proposal for the establishment of a negotiating committee on nuclear disarmament within the Conference on Disarmament.
Speaking on behalf of the Group, Ejoh Abuah, representative of Nigeria, said they placed the highest priority on the issue of nuclear disarmament. The Group of 21 regretted that its 5 June proposals for an ad hoc committee on nuclear disarmament had been rejected out of hand as inappropriate by certain delegations, he added, recalling the Group's further suggestions for the re-establishment of ad hoc committees on the prevention of an arms race in outer space and on effective international arrangements to assure non-nuclear- weapon States against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons.
The call for the establishment of an ad hoc committee on nuclear disarmament was echoed by representatives of Cameroon and Bangladesh.
Earlier in the morning, the Conference heard a statement from the representative of the Netherlands, Jaap Ramaker, who is leaving Geneva to become his country's ambassador to the United Nations in New York.
Statements
JAAP RAMAKER (Netherlands), in a farewell statement, said the time had come to thoroughly reflect on the meaning of the description of the Conference as "the single multilateral negotiating forum in the field of disarmament". Disarmament efforts went on elsewhere in the world. The Conference, for the first time in its history, was even encountering a form of competition. Last month, the Secretary-General of the United Nations had presented his reform package to the Member States. While the Secretary-General had limited his proposals to his sphere of competence, it was clear that intergovernmental bodies would have to follow suit, and the Conference was no exception. Like other forums, it would have to take into account a changed and continuously changing world. In that connection, he welcomed the fact that special coordinators on the agenda and on improved and effective functioning had been approved.
Mr. Ramaker said that in the last analysis it was not procedures or methods of work that often prevented substantive progress, but rather differences on the substance of the security policies of countries. An in-depth reflection on the immediate and longer-term possibilities and "impossibilities" of the Conference in the new security environment of today's world seemed in order. Perhaps, there was room for another informal group of wise men and women at the Conference, such as the one formed in the late 1980s.
EJOH ABUAH (Nigeria), speaking on behalf of the Group of 21 non-aligned countries, said the Group attached the highest priority to the issue of nuclear disarmament. To that end, on 5 June, the Group had proposed the establishment of an ad hoc committee on nuclear disarmament (document CD/1462). The Group of 21 regretted that its proposals had been rejected out of hand as inappropriate by certain delegations. In the context of those proposals, the Group recalled its suggestion for the re-establishment of ad hoc committees on the prevention of an arms race in outer space and on effective international arrangements to assure non-nuclear-weapon States against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons. Certain delegations had asked for time to obtain instructions from their competent authorities in that regard. The Group would now wish to be able to benefit from those instructions, which should have been received by now, so that work on those committees could go forward.
Mr. Abuah said the Group also committed itself to cooperate with the recently appointed special coordinators on expansion of the Conference, the agenda, improved and effective functioning of the Conference, and the question of anti-personnel land-mines
FRANCOIS XAVIER NGOUBEYOU (Cameroon) said that despite the fact that the general feeling seemed to be one of disappointment due to the inability of members to agree on a work programme for the year, there were many reasons for which the Conference could be proud and look to the future with some degree of optimism. The Conference, among other things, had succeeded in the recent past, and under conditions similar to those persisting today, in concluding the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and the Conventions on biological and chemical weapons, and agreed to the expansion of its membership. Most recently, it had appointed four special coordinators. Those achievements, small as they might seem, represented the will and the determination of members to forge ahead in the search for adequate solutions to the numerous disarmament problems facing the world today.
As part of its commitment to contribute to disarmament goals, Cameroon has worked in solidarity with other members, and in particular with the Group of 21, in putting forward proposals deemed necessary in pushing forward the work of the Conference, he went on. Cameroon fully supported the Group's proposals on the work programme and on a mandate for the establishment of an
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ad hoc committee on nuclear disarmament. Today, those proposals were as relevant as they ever were. That, notwithstanding, Cameroon also held the view that the question of anti-personnel land-mines merited careful examination. His delegation was prepared to discuss the issue in or outside the Conference. Indeed, Cameroon was in the Ottawa process and it looked forward to Conference efforts to complement that mechanism.
The representative of Bangladesh said his delegation associated itself to the statement delivered on behalf of the Group of 21. Bangladesh was deeply disappointed about the lack of progress in the Conference on the question of a programme of work. It called on delegations to make an effort to advance the work of the forum in a spirit of give and take. The Conference should take into account the principal concern of the international community in the area of disarmament. For its part, Bangladesh was ready to examine proposals made by other delegations. Respect for the views of others was indispensable in achieving progress in the Conference.
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