GLOBAL NORMS TO REDUCE ACCUMULATION, TRANSFER OF SMALL ARMS URGENTLY NEEDED, BANGLADESH TELLS DISARMAMENT COMMISSION
Press Release
DC/2635
GLOBAL NORMS TO REDUCE ACCUMULATION, TRANSFER OF SMALL ARMS URGENTLY NEEDED, BANGLADESH TELLS DISARMAMENT COMMISSION
19990412 Indonesia, Iran, Cuba, Kyrgyzstan Also Speak, As Commission Continues General Exchange of ViewsThe absence of global norms to reduce the accumulation and transfer of small arms -- the abundant and easy-to-use tools of conflict -- was a matter of utmost urgency, the Disarmament Commission was told this afternoon, as it continued its general exchange of views on the formulation of conventional arms control guidelines, the establishment of nuclear-weapon-free zones and the convening of a fourth special session of the General Assembly devoted to disarmament.
The representative of Bangladesh told the Commission that a global consensus must be built on monitoring and controlling illicit arms transfers and on their links to trafficking in other contraband goods. Illicit international transfers of small arms and their accumulation threatened national and regional security, and destabilized States. Transparency was a central focus of conventional arms control, and his Government had recently decided to provide the necessary information for inclusion in the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms.
The Indonesian representative highlighted the pre-eminence of nuclear- weapon-free zones on the disarmament agenda. Despite positive developments towards the creation and consolidation of such zones, the nuclear-weapon States had failed to ratify the Protocol of the South-East Asia Nuclear- Weapon-Free Zone Treaty (Bangkok Treaty). That had raised unsettling questions about the right of States to create zones on the basis of arrangements freely arrived at among the States concerned. The Commission's ongoing deliberations had delineated the rights and obligations of States both within and outside nuclear-weapon-free zones. It had also had defined important guidelines to further consolidate existing zones and create new ones.
The Iranian representative stressed that additional nuclear-weapon-free zones would serve as important confidence-building, non-proliferation and disarmament measures. Recent developments in South Asia had underscored the
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vitality of the nuclear issue. Similarly, the gravity of the situation in the Middle East, where no such zone had been established, could not be underestimated. Since a selective approach to nuclear non-proliferation would be disastrous, "extra-regional" countries, particularly the nuclear-weapon States, had a responsibility in the establishment of nuclear-weapon-free zones, which should be well elaborated in the Commission's relevant guidelines and recommendations.
Statements were also made by the representatives of Cuba and Kyrgyzstan.
The Commission will meet again at 10 a.m. Tuesday, 13 April, to continue its general exchange of views.
Commission Work Programme
The Disarmament Commission met this afternoon to continue its general exchange of views, which was a prelude to the meetings of its working groups on the three issues before it: the establishment of nuclear-weapon-free zones; the convening of a fourth special session of the General Assembly devoted to disarmament; and the formulation of conventional arms control guidelines.
Statements
MAKARIM WIBISONO (Indonesia) said the current session could be a concrete demonstration that a multilateral forum could make a contribution to the collective efforts for arms control and disarmament. Indonesia was an early proponent of nuclear weapon-free zones and those zones were pre-eminent on the disarmament agenda. The nuclear-weapon States, however, had failed to ratify the protocol to the South-East Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone Treaty (Bangkok Treaty). The Commission's working papers: delineated the rights and obligations of States within nuclear-weapon-free zones; contained important guidelines to further consolidate the zones and create new ones; and facilitated formal links between existing and potential zones.
It was significant that the General Assembly had mandated a fourth year of consideration of the fourth special session of the General Assembly devoted to disarmament, he said. The opportunity to reach consensus on the session over the next three weeks should not be missed. That called for a flexible and constructive approach, as proposed by the Non-Aligned Movement, which would submerge differences in the larger interest of the international community.
Indonesia was gratified to note the significance accorded by Member States to consolidating peace, focusing particular attention on small arms and illicit transfers of arms, he said. Such concerns had been fully reflected in a series of activities undertaken in various regions, among them the approach adopted by the United Nations in Mali and surrounding African nations and the task force of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Collectively, they demonstrated the complexity of the issues involved and the methods through which they could be resolved. Indonesia's consideration of the issue had been greatly enriched by those and other endeavours and by calls for coordinated efforts by regional and subregional organizations such as the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) regional forum.
MEHDI DANESH-YAZDI (Iran) said it was imperative for the Commission to fulfil its mandate by adopting the necessary recommendations and guidelines on the three agenda items at the current session. Despite General Assembly resolutions, which had unquestionably underlined the significance of convening
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a fourth special session on disarmament, the meeting had yet to materialize and agreement had yet to be reached on its agenda and objectives. The adoption of the relevant resolution by consensus clearly demonstrated the determination of its co-sponsors to find a common understanding, with a view to convening that session.
He said that the convening of a high-level disarmament session at the beginning of a new century would provide the international community with the opportunity to objectively review its past achievements in the area of war prevention, disarmament and security and set a disarmament agenda for the future. The fourth special session should have a balanced agenda that would address the concerns of all States. The agenda, however, should not ignore or depart from the priorities envisaged by the first special session on disarmament.
He said that nuclear weapons had no place in any future global security system, and should be totally banned and destroyed. A civilized community of human beings and States was not possible without accepting the premise that all States had an equal right to survival and to peace and security for their people. Nuclear weapons, by their very existence, undermined that basic principle, as well as the most fundamental human rights and the very foundation of international humanitarian law. Their elimination undoubtedly remained the highest priority of the international community. For that reason, the special session should effectively deal with that issue and contemplate strengthening the central role of the United Nations in the disarmament process.
The creation of additional nuclear-weapon-free zones was an important confidence-building, non-proliferation and disarmament measure, he said. Recent developments in South Asia underscored the vitality of the nuclear issue. Similarly, the gravity of the situation in the Middle East, where no such zone had been established, could not be underestimated. The clandestine nuclear programmes of Israel -- the only State in the region not party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) -- and its refusal to place its installations under the safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) prevented the realization of that significant goal in the Middle East. The international community must pressure Israel to immediately abandon its nuclear programmes and to accede, without preconditions, to the NPT and place its facilities under IAEA safeguards.
A selective approach to nuclear non-proliferation would have disastrous effects, he went on. Hence, the responsibility of "extra-regional" countries, particularly the nuclear-weapon States, in the establishment of nuclear- weapon-free zones should be well elaborated in the Commission's relevant guidelines and recommendations. The obstacles that hindered the establishment of nuclear-weapon-free zones in such sensitive regions as the Middle East should be identified and properly dealt with, taking into account that the
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establishment of those zones should not be contingent upon any other requirements.
ANWARUL KARIM CHOWDHURY (Bangladesh) said that, despite calls for the universal acceptance of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) and the NPT, the international community had yet to agree on the time-bound elimination of nuclear weapons. In the field of conventional arms, attention had remained focused on transparency in armaments. In that respect, his Government had recently decided to provide the necessary information for inclusion in the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms.
Continuing, he said that the open sale and easy availability of small arms was a matter of serious concern. It was the abundant and ready supply of easy-to-use tools of conflict that was responsible for some 90 per cent of the deaths and injuries in armed conflict, of which 80 per cent were women and children. While the major armies of the world were disarming, civilians were rearming. The illicit international transfer of small arms and their accumulation in many countries constituted a threat to their populations and to national and regional security and destabilized States.
The absence of global norms to reduce the accumulation or transfer of such weapons exacerbated the problem, which must be addressed as a matter of utmost urgency. One approach was to build a global consensus on monitoring and controlling illicit arms transfers and recognize the links to trafficking in other contraband goods. The holding of a United Nations Conference on all aspects of the illicit arms trade in the near future would be an important step in that direction. Concerning landmines, the first meeting of States parties to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction (Ottawa Convention) next month in Mozambique would hopefully contribute to endeavours aimed at eliminating those menacing weapons of destruction.
He said his country called for an early convening of the fourth special session on disarmament, since it was time for the international community to review implementation of the three previous special sessions on disarmament and take stock of the international security and disarmament situation in the post-cold war era. While nuclear disarmament should remain the highest priority, emerging challenges should be identified and an agreed plan of action should be formulated to deal with those in the true spirit of multilateralism. Only a special session of the General Assembly could address the subject of disarmament, taking into account its relationship to development.
RAFAEL DAUSA CESPEDES (Cuba) said he firmly supported the work of the Commission as the single deliberative body on disarmament that enjoyed universal participation. It was through dialogue that agreements acceptable to all would be reached.
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It was quite deplorable that at present the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was pursuing military aggression against Yugoslavia in violation of international law, he continued. The authority of the Security Council, which neither authorized nor was asked to authorize it, was being discounted. Some of the countries that were leading those actions in Europe were the same leaders who refused to initiate multilateral discussions on nuclear disarmament. That lack of will on the part of some members had caused the Conference on Disarmament to fail to establish a committee to consider nuclear disarmament, although the international community had attached great importance to such consideration.
In the current year, the Commission faced a difficult and important task, as it had to address and complete three complex topics, he said. The high volume of work required in the three week session would make it difficult for small delegations to attend parallel meetings. In keeping with the rationalization of the Commission's work approved by the General Assembly, he hoped that parallel meetings of subsidiary organs of the Commission would not take place in the future. One element that contributed to a favourable launch of the session was the early appointment of the chairmen of the working groups, thus allowing informal consultations on the issues to be held early.
After two years considering two of the issues before it and now three years considering the fourth special session, the positions of all delegations on the topics were well known, he said. On nuclear-weapon-free zones, Cuba believed the document presented by the working group chairman was an excellent foundation, as it included formulations that should allow consensus to be reached. Each zone was the product of specific regional circumstances.
Cuba's position on the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (Treaty of Tlatelolco) must be seen in the context of the exceptional situation of the blockade and the aggressive climate enacted by the United States against Cuba, he said. In 1995, Cuba had signed the Treaty. Ratification would be linked to a change in circumstances that would allow full respect between Cuba and the United States to emerge, with the end of United States aggression. Cuba had signed the regional agreement for nuclear cooperation in America and was currently talking to the IAEA about its incorporation into the IAEA safeguards regime.
Regarding the fourth special General Assembly session, the situation was clear, he said. Owing to a lack of political will on the part of the world's prime military Power, despite General Assembly resolutions the possibility of holding the session seemed to be receding into the distance. The Non-Aligned Movement had promoted holding the session. It was a crucial year for the topic and the search for consensus could not be manipulated to indefinitely postpone agreement. Cuba held that the Final Document of the first special General Assembly session was the basic reference for developing a programme of action on disarmament for the future.
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Regarding guidelines on conventional arms control, that was most complex topic the Commission was executed to examine and finalize in the current year, he said. The Commission would have to achieve a clear definition of the scope of the topic to avoid diverging and dangerous interpretations. The text would have to include principles for the formulation of practical disarmament while respecting sovereign and territorial integrity, State consent and non- interference in internal affairs. The guidelines were not an end in themselves, but must be part of global approach to addressing the basic causes of conflict. Lasting peace implied a link between disarmament and development, which implied financial support from those in a position to provide it. Cuba would cooperate and contribute with concrete proposals.
ZAMIRA ESHMAMBETOVA (Kyrgyzstan) said her delegation strongly supported the establishment of nuclear-weapon-free zones in various parts of the world, and their expansion was important to building a nuclear-free world. They contributed to non-proliferation and disarmament and enhanced regional and global peace and security. Kyrgyzstan had vigorously pushed the idea of the establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in Central Asia. It had submitted a working paper to the 1996 Review and Extension Conference of the Parties to the NPT and submitted specific proposals to a consultative meeting of experts of the Central Asian countries, the nuclear-weapon States and the United Nations, held in Bishkek in July 1998. That consultative group had noted the progress that had been made.
Meetings of Central Asian experts had been held subsequently in Geneva and Tashkent, she said. Almost 80 per cent of the draft was now agreed upon. The remainder would require political will and vision from the region's States. Her Government would spare no effort in trying to form a nuclear- weapon-free zone to Central Asia.
While each zone was different, the negotiation of certain guidelines and principles for zones was helpful for both emerging and future zones, she said. As horizontal non-proliferation would not make the world safer without accompanying vertical non-proliferation and reductions of stockpiles, Kyrgyzstan supported the proposal for the fourth special session of the General Assembly devoted to disarmament. The session should address nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation and other weapons of mass destruction, irrespective of budgetary constraints.
Conventional weapons, such as small arms, had become a major menace causing millions of civilian casualties, she said. She fully supported the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms, as well as regional efforts to that effect, such as the European Union Code of Conduct on Arms Exports. Those ensured transparency and, therefore, helped overcome mistrust and tension. Her country fully supported the work of the Panel of Governmental Experts on Small Arms and appreciated its recommendations. She hoped the Commission's current session would ensure its continuity and efficiency and enhance its unique role as a multilateral deliberative body on disarmament.
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