DISARMAMENT CONFERENCE DISCUSSES METHODS OF WORK

Press Release
DCF/361

DISARMAMENT CONFERENCE DISCUSSES METHODS OF WORK

(Reissued as received.)

GENEVA, 25 February (UN Information Service) -- Small arms, fissile materials, nuclear disarmament, outer space and anti-personnel landmines were among the issues addressed by member States in their statements to the Conference on Disarmament this morning.

Speakers were of the view that the accumulation and uncontrolled circulation of small arms had given rise to mounting concern by governments and civil society. The observer delegation of Switzerland expressed concern about the problem of ballistics and traumatic effects.

He said Switzerland will organize a second international seminar on ballistics and their traumatic effects, which will be held on 23 and 24 March in Thun. The seminar will be held in the context of the preparation for the 2001 Review Conference of the Convention on the Prohibition of Certain Conventional Arms.

The President of the Conference, Victor Rodriguez Cedeno, Permanent Representative of Venezuela, announced that during their informal meeting of last Tuesday, they were able to clearly identify certain points of agreement concerning the Conference's programme of work. He said he would continue his efforts to find acceptable solutions to the issues of nuclear disarmament and the prevention of arms race in outer space.

The President also said that in keeping with the decision of Zimbabwe not to take the presidency of the Conference from 24 May to 20 June, the presidency will be assumed successively by Viet Nam, 15 March to 23 May; Algeria, 24 May to 20 June; Argentine, 21 June to 15 August; and Australia, from 16 August to 31 December. The presidency of the Conference rotates among members States according to the English alphabetical order.

The next plenary meeting of the Conference on Disarmament will be held at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 4 March.

Statements

HARALD KREID (Austria) said the risk of nuclear confrontation between rival Powers had diminished, but not completely disappeared, as events in South Asia had recently shown. The world was still faced with acute risks connected to the possession of nuclear weapons, such as their accidental use and their continued proliferation. Some worrying gaps in the global network of nuclear safeguards represented a considerable safety risk. The knowledge about the quality of physical protection in nuclear-weapon States was incomplete and insufficient. Out of the total fissile material of weapon grade quality which was estimated at roughly 2,000 tons, almost 1,400 tons were declared or undeclared excess material. These figures alone witness the magnitude and urgency of the question of safeguards and controls of existing stocks which could not be ignored by the international community.

With regard to small arms, Mr. Kreid stressed that the accumulation and uncontrolled circulation of small arms had given rise to a mounting expression of concern by governments and civil society. Countless were the victims, mostly among civilians, who had suffered or were still suffering every day under the impact of the destabilizing accumulation of small arms and light weapons. Small arms and light weapons were the real killers nowadays. Of the 49 conflicts fought in the early 1990s, 46 were fought with small arms only. Their disastrous legacy effectively blocked rehabilitation in a post-conflict situation, hampered economic and social progress, and had put international peace and stability at stake. The threat posed by illicit arms trading should be addressed through appropriate measures at the national, regional and international levels.

Mr. Kreid said that on 1 March, the Ottawa Convention on Anti-Personnel Mines would enter into force. Negotiations of a new free-standing legal instrument dealing exclusively with a transfer ban, even if fully compatible with the provisions of the Ottawa Convention, would raise a number of political and legal problems, such as lack of global vocation, setting a precedent by negotiating a partial ban after a clear majority of States had signed a comprehensive one, proliferation of legal instruments dealing with the same content, among others. That was not meant to say that it would disparage the idea of transforming the unilateral export ban decisions taken by most remaining anti-personnel mines producers into an obligation binding under international law. He saw the merit of such a concept, but the adequate legal framework already existed.

FRANK MAJOOR (Netherlands) recalled that for 42 months now members had been trying to move the Conference to substantive work, and although he sensed considerable flexibility on all sides, the various pieces simply did not want to fall into place. The Conference on Disarmament was rapidly loosing credibility; at a time when opportunities for and challenges to disarmament and non-proliferation took turns, the Conference should be at the centre of

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international efforts to keep the international community on the right track and to steer it to new imaginative approaches to arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation. The Conference could not sit by idly.

Mr. Majoor said his country would join those countries that did wish the fissile treaty negotiations to start without further delay. While the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) was widely seen as the qualitative end of the nuclear arms race, a prohibition on the production of fissile material could be seen as the quantitative end thereof, in the sense that it would cap the amount of fissile material available for military purpose worldwide. That was seen as an important further step towards the complete elimination of nuclear weapons. The Netherlands regarded it as a significant multilateral endeavour, in which nuclear-weapon States and non-nuclear-weapon States together try to diminish nuclear danger by agreeing on a production ban and on an international verification regime. A fissile- material treaty was also regarded as an important strengthening of the proliferation regime and a meaningful and necessary step on the road to complete nuclear disarmament.

Mr. Majoor further said that the prohibition on the production of fissile material should be verified internationally and effectively, including through a mechanism that covered undeclared facilities. His delegation agreed with the expressed view of other delegations that a verification regime should focus on enrichment and reprocessing plants, since those were the essential production facilities for weapons usable fissile material. That focused approach would also be the most cost-effective one. He believed that it would be useful to establish in the Conference on Disarmament a mechanism that would allow for exchange of information and of views on nuclear disarmament.

MUNIR AKRAM (Pakistan) said that his delegation had outlined its substantive position and approach to the highest priority goal of nuclear disarmament. However, he said that his country was concerned at recent developments, which revealed the obvious desire of some, if not all, of the nuclear-weapon States to indefinitely retain and progressively enhance their nuclear weapons capabilities. Other concerns included the non-implementation of important arms reduction agreements between the major nuclear Powers; and the initiative of active programmes to develop "anti-missile shields", which were likely to destabilize global and regional nuclear stability and possibly escalate a new spiral in the nuclear and missile race around the world. Those concerns needed to be effectively addressed by the international community, specially by the Conference on Disarmament.

Mr. Akram suggested that the Conference should conclude rapidly a convention committing all States to the elimination of nuclear weapons, hopefully within a relatively short period of time. It should also negotiate a protocol to the CTBT to monitor non-explosive nuclear testing to effectively prevent the further development and refinement of nuclear weapons; and

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identify measures to halt and progressively reverse nuclear and missile development on a global basis. He affirmed that his delegation fully subscribed to the proposal of the Group of 21 to establish an ad hoc committee on nuclear disarmament.

Concerning the militarization of outer space, Mr. Akram emphasized that the "province of mankind" was today under the threat of being transformed into yet another arena for military competition and escalation, with the aim of achieving the ultimate instruments for complete global domination. His delegation was concerned that the militarization of outer space, which was being pursued by certain quarters, would be inevitably perceived as designed to achieve global domination and, thus, provoke new strategic antagonisms. The absence of global rivalry among the major Powers might be replaced by new, dangerous and destabilizing confrontations. Pakistan believed that it was timely for the Conference to re-establish the Ad Hoc Committee on the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space.

ERWIN H. HOFER, observer for Switzerland, drew the attention of the Conference to the follow-up of the Convention of 1980 on the prohibition or limitation of the use of certain conventional weapons. He expressed concern about the problem of ballistics and their traumatic effects. Certain regimes of arms of small calibre still produced traumatic effects and provoked serious bodily harm. A number of provisions of international law in the disarmament and humanitarian fields had been dealing with the issue, but it was up to the international negotiators, as well as the experts, to consider that such provisions were still of actuality. In effect, it would be convenient to adapt international law in keeping with the evolution of recent techniques.

Mr. Hofer told the Conference that the Swiss authorities had organized an international seminar of experts on ballistics and their traumatic effects in October 1997 in Thun which arose lively interest. Another seminar would be held on 23 and 24 March also in Thun. A representative from each member or observing State of the review Conference on the 1980 Convention would participate in the seminar. Also, representatives of some non-governmental organizations would also be invited to participate. Switzerland believed that the meeting would be a forum to pursue and deepen technical discussions. His country considered that the issue of arms of massive destruction remained a priority in the efforts of disarmament and their control.

PETKO DRAGANOV (Bulgaria), speaking on behalf of 22 members of the Conference, said that those States considered that the Conference on Disarmament had a clear mandate to address conventional disarmament issues. As part of its mandate, the Conference had a role to play in strengthening the existing international regime against anti-personnel landmines. That would involve the negotiation of a ban on the transfer of mines, as a complement to existing international agreements on landmines. There was an expectation that the Conference would undertake that work, as evidenced by the strong support

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accorded by General Assembly resolution 52/38H, which invited the Conference to intensify its efforts on anti-personnel landmines.

Mr. Draganov said that the entry into force of Amended Protocol II of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons and the imminent entry into force of the Ottawa Convention represented major achievements. However, many historical users, producers and exporters of landmines, which were also members of the Conference, were not, for the moment, in a position to accede to the Ottawa Convention or to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons. An anti-personnel landmines transfer ban negotiated by the entire Conference membership would, therefore, bring those countries at least some of the way towards the goal of a total ban and, in due course, encourage increased participation in the existing international instruments. The task of implementing a global regime against landmines would be enhanced if a transfer ban in the Disarmament Conference was pursued.

JOELLE BOURGOIS (France) noted that the adoption of the programme of work still seemed out of reach. In the meantime, many swords had been crossed by each and every one not to give the impression of having sacrificed their national policy to the benefit of objectives dictated by others. Soon, the necessity to act should lead each one to give up. "The menu of resistance is on the table, it is the negotiation of the treaty of fissile materials. It is not very appetizing. No one has the desire to taste it." It was, however, the best recipe to the Conference on Disarmament "which differs in that from the temples of gastronomy", she stated.

Ms. Bourgois reaffirmed that her country defended since many years the role, competence and the specificity of the Conference on Disarmament as a unique multilateral forum of negotiations in the field of disarmament. According to some corners, the Conference had lost its raison d'être with the end of the cold war. Yet, the question of the Middle East had not been resolved. The nuclear test conducted by India and then by Pakistan had radically modified Asia's scenery. The arms race had moved from the nuclear ground to that of ballistic missiles. Africa, suffocated with mines, was devastated by the use of small arms which also brutally affected other regions, including the Balkans. International law on nuclear weapons and conventional arms should be established in order to prevent humanity from their devastating effects.

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