CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT TO OPEN 1998 SESSION ON 20 JANUARY
Press Release
DCF/317
CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT TO OPEN 1998 SESSION ON 20 JANUARY
19980116 Background ReleaseGENEVA, 16 January (UN Information Service) -- The Conference on Disarmament, the world's sole multilateral forum for disarmament negotiations, will open its 1998 session on Tuesday, 20 January at the United Nations Office at Geneva.
The 1998 session will open under the presidency of the Ambassador of Sweden, Lars Norberg, who assumes the functions for four working weeks. The presidency of the Conference rotates amongst its members according to the English alphabetical order for four-week periods. During the first part of the session, which will continue until 27 March, the presidency will be held by Sweden, Switzerland and Syria. The second part will take place from 11 May to 26 June and the third part from 27 July to 9 September.
At the opening of the session, the Conference will hear a message from Secretary-General Kofi Annan, which will be read out by Vladimir Petrovsky, his Personal Representative and the Secretary-General of the Conference on Disarmament.
The agenda for the 1997 Conference covered questions related to the cessation of the nuclear arms race and nuclear disarmament; prevention of nuclear war; prevention of an arms race in outer space; effective international arrangements to assure non-nuclear-weapon States against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons; new types of weapons of mass destruction and radiological weapons; and transparency in armaments.
The General Assembly, at its last session, expressed the hope that appropriate consultations during the intersessional period could lead to commencement of early work on various agenda items. The Conference during its 1997 session was unable to adopt a programme of work. Last June, at the end of the second part of the 1997 session, the Conference decided to appoint special coordinators to explore issues related to the expansion of its membership; review of its agenda; and improvement of its functioning. At the start of the new session, the Conference will decide upon maintaining these negotiating mechanisms.
The Conference on Disarmament last year also appointed a Special Coordinator on anti-personnel landmines. On 3 December 1997, after negotiations within the Ottawa process, the Convention on the Prohibition of Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction, was opened to signature. The General Assembly, in a resolution related to anti-personnel landmines, invited the Conference on Disarmament to intensify its efforts on the issue. The Conference is expected to discuss the role it will play after Ottawa.
Last year's Special Coordinator on the review of the agenda of the Conference, Peter Naray (Hungary), said that some delegations had stressed that nuclear disarmament should remain the absolute priority of any future agenda and urged that the agenda remain unchanged. He said other delegations were of the opinion that the agenda should be brought in line with the profound changes which had occurred in the world in the last couple of years. Some other delegations considered that the Conference should give priority to start negotiations on a fissile material cut-off treaty. During its last session, the General Assembly encouraged the Conference to intensify its examination of its agenda and methods of work.
On the issue of expanding the membership of the Conference, the Special Coordinator on Conference expansion, Harald Kreid (Austria), said in his report last year that while there was no delegation opposed to expansion in principle, there were divergent views as to the appropriate timing, scope and possible selection criteria for new members. It was decided to continue discussions on this issue. The General Assembly encouraged the Conference to continue to revise its composition.
Mounir Zahran (Egypt), Special Coordinator on the improved and effective functioning of the Conference, said in his report that consultations had shown the need to maintain certain procedures such as the rule of consensus in decision-making and the practise of rotating the presidency of the Conference every four weeks. Further consultations were needed on other questions, including whether to allow non-governmental organizations to address the plenary sessions of the Conference.
The negotiations on the agenda for 1998 will take into account decisions adopted by the Conference, proposals presented by its Members, as well as the recommendations of the General Assembly at its fifty-second session.
In particular, the General Assembly expressed its concern at the continuing opposition by some States to the establishment of an ad hoc committee on nuclear disarmament in the Conference on Disarmament. It reiterated its call upon the Conference to establish, on a priority basis, an ad hoc committee on nuclear disarmament to commence negotiations early in 1998
- 3 - Press Release DCF/317 16 January 1998
on a phased programme of nuclear disarmament and for the eventual elimination of nuclear weapons within a time-bound framework through a nuclear weapons convention.
The Assembly also reiterated, in another resolution, that nuclear disarmament has the highest priority in efforts to advance disarmament on a universal basis. It reaffirmed that the Conference on Disarmament was the single multilateral disarmament negotiating forum of the international community.
The Assembly also adopted a resolution in which it reiterated its request that the Conference commence negotiations in order to reach agreement on an international convention prohibiting the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons under any circumstances.
The General Assembly also reaffirmed that the Conference on Disarmament had a primary role to play in the negotiation of a multilateral agreement or agreements as appropriate to prevent an arms race in outer space. It invited the Conference to restore its ad hoc committee on the prevention of an arms race in outer space during the 1998 session to discuss this issue.
Another resolution adopted by the Assembly recommended that the Conference on Disarmament actively continue intensive negotiations with a view to reaching early agreement and concluding effective international arrangements to assure non-nuclear weapon States against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons.
The Assembly approved without a vote a resolution which requested the Conference on Disarmament to intensify efforts towards an early conclusion of a convention on the prohibition of radiological weapons, and to take into account in the negotiations for the convention, radioactive wastes as part of the scope of such a convention.
The General Assembly invited the Conference on Disarmament to consider continuing its work undertaken in the field of transparency in armaments. It also requested the Conference to consider the formulation of principles that could serve as a framework for regional agreements on conventional arms control. The Assembly said it looked forward to a report of the Conference on this subject.
Questions on Nuclear Disarmament
During the course of its session last year, the Conference on Disarmament did not establish any ad hoc committee on nuclear disarmament, although numerous questions related to nuclear disarmament were raised by its members. Certain delegations revised the question of elaborating a treaty to prohibit fissile material for nuclear weapons or other explosive devices. The
- 4 - Press Release DCF/317 16 January 1998
Conference also examined the importance of starting and reaching a rapid conclusion to negotiations on a universal and non-discriminatory convention to prohibit the production of fissile material destined for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devises. The Conference had reached an agreement in 1995 on the mandate to create an ad hoc committee on fissile material charged with negotiating such a treaty, but the committee did not meet in 1996 and 1997.
At its last session, the General Assembly adopted resolution 52/38L in which it expressed its concern at the continuing opposition by some States to the establishment of an ad hoc committee on nuclear disarmament in the Conference on Disarmament. It reiterated its call upon the Conference to establish the committee, on a priority basis, to commence negotiations early in 1998 on a phased programme of nuclear disarmament and for the eventual elimination of nuclear weapons within a time-bound framework through a nuclear weapons convention. It urged the Conference on Disarmament to take into account in this regard the proposal of 28 delegations for a programme of action for the elimination of nuclear weapons, as well as the mandate for the ad hoc committee on nuclear disarmament, proposed by the 26 delegations.
The Assembly also adopted resolution 52/39 in which it reiterated its request that the Conference commence negotiations in order to reach agreement on an international convention prohibiting the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons under any circumstances.
The Conference on Disarmament was unable to reach agreement last year on restoring its ad hoc committees charged, respectively, with examining questions related to the prevention of an arms race in outer space; security assurances for non-nuclear weapons States against the use or threat of such weapons; and transparency in armaments. The Assembly reiterated to the Conference its request to re-establish these committees.
Concerning the question on reaching effective international arrangements to assure non-nuclear weapon States against the use and threat of use of nuclear weapons, the General Assembly adopted resolution 52/36 in which it noted with satisfaction that there was no objection in the Conference, in principle, to the idea of such an international convention, although difficulties as regards evolving a common approach acceptable to all had been pointed out. It recommended that the Conference should actively continue intensive negotiations with a view to reaching early agreement and concluding effective international arrangements to assure non-nuclear-weapon States against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons, taking into account the widespread support for the conclusion of an international convention and giving consideration to any other proposals designed to secure the same objective.
- 5 - Press Release DCF/317 16 January 1998
The General Assembly invited the Conference on Disarmament to restore its ad hoc committee on the prevention of an arms race in outer space during the 1998 session, reaffirming that the Conference had the primary role to play in the negotiation of a multilateral agreement or agreements as appropriate. It invited the Conference to re-establish the ad hoc committee on this issue in 1998 (resolution 52/37).
The Assembly adopted, without a vote, resolution 52/38I in which it asked the Conference on Disarmament to intensify efforts towards an early conclusion of a convention on the prohibition of radiological weapons and to include in its report to the General Assembly at its fifty-third session the progress achieved in the negotiations on this subject. It requested the Conference to take into account in the negotiations for the convention radioactive wastes as part of the scope of such a convention.
The Assembly also adopted resolution 52/38R in which it invited the Conference on Disarmament to consider continuing its work undertaken in the field of transparency in armaments.
The Assembly requested the Conference on Disarmament to consider the formulation of principles that could serve as a framework for regional agreements on conventional arms control. The Assembly said it looked forward to a report of the Conference on this subject.
Composition of Conference
The following States are members of the Conference on Disarmament: Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Cuba, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Myanmar, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian Federation, Senegal, Slovakia, Spain, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yugoslavia, and Zimbabwe.
* *** *