CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT TO OPEN YEAR 2000 SESSION ON 17 JANUARY
Press Release
DCF/383
CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT TO OPEN YEAR 2000 SESSION ON 17 JANUARY
20000114 Background Release(Reissued as received.)
GENEVA, 14 January (UN Information Service) -- The Conference on Disarmament, the worlds sole multilateral forum for disarmament negotiations, will open its year 2000 session on Monday, 17 January, at the United Nations Office at Geneva. The first public meeting will take place at 10 a.m. Tuesday, 18 January.
The year 2000 session will open under the presidency of Ambassador Harald Kreid of Austria. The presidency of the Conference rotates amongst its Member States according to the English alphabetical order for four week periods. During the first part of the session, which will continue until 24 March, the presidency will also be held by the Ambassadors of Bangladesh and Belarus. The second part of the Conference will take place from 22 May to 7 July and the third part from 7 August to 22 September.
In accordance with its Rules of Procedure, the Conference "shall adopt its agenda for the year at the beginning of the session. In doing so, the Conference shall take into account the recommendations made to it by the United Nations General Assembly, the proposals by its Members and decisions of the Conference."
In 1999, the Conference was not able to reach agreement on its programme of work. While agreement had been reached on most of the elements of a programme, differences remained on nuclear disarmament and prevention of an arms race in outer space.
At its fifty-fourth session, the General Assembly adopted 47 resolutions and 4 decisions concerning disarmament and international security. Among other issues, the General Assembly urged the Conference to fulfil its role as the single multilateral disarmament negotiating forum and regretted the lack of progress in disarmament negotiations, particularly nuclear disarmament, during the 1999 session.
The General Assembly called upon the Conference on Disarmament to establish, on a priority basis, an Ad Hoc Committee on nuclear disarmament to commence negotiations early in 2000 on a phased programme of nuclear disarmament and for the eventual elimination of nuclear weapons, through a set of legal instruments, which might include a nuclear weapons convention.
The General Assembly also stressed that sustained efforts were needed, within the framework of the Conference and under the umbrella of the United Nations, to make progress on the entire range of disarmament issues. It welcomed the decision of the Conference to admit five new members, and noted that the Conference recognized the importance of continuing consultations on the question of expansion of its membership. The Conference was encouraged to continue the ongoing review of its agenda and methods.
During its 1999 session, the Conference considered the following questions:
Cessation of Nuclear Arms Race and Nuclear Disarmament
Nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation, covered under item 1 of the agenda entitled Cessation of the nuclear arms race and nuclear disarmament, were among the most debated issues in the Conference. The rotating presidency of the Conference continued, throughout the session, to pursue intensive consultations and to seek the views of the Member States on appropriate methods and approaches for dealing with agenda item 1, taking into consideration all proposals and views in this respect.
In its 1999 session, the General Assembly called upon the Conference on Disarmament to establish, on a priority basis, an ad hoc committee on nuclear disarmament to commence negotiations early in 2000 on a phased programme of nuclear disarmament and for the eventual elimination of nuclear weapons, through a set of legal instruments, which might include a nuclear weapons convention. It noted with regret that the Conference on Disarmament, during its 1999 session, had been unable to establish such an ad hoc committee. The General Assembly called for the convening of an international conference on nuclear disarmament at an early date with the objective of arriving at an agreement or agreements on a phased programme of nuclear disarmament and for the eventual total elimination of nuclear weapons, through a set of legal instruments, which may include a nuclear weapons convention.
The General Assembly also stressed that in order to make advancements towards the ultimate goal of eliminating nuclear weapons, it was important and necessary to pursue such actions as intensive negotiations in the Conference on Disarmament on the early conclusion of a non-discriminatory, multilateral and internationally and effectively verifiable treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other explosive devices on the basis of the report of the Special Coordinator of 1995 and the mandate contained therein, and pending its entry into force, a moratorium on the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons. Another resolution called on the Conference to re-establish the Ad Hoc Committee under item 1 of its agenda of a non-discriminatory, multilateral and internationally and effectively verifiable treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices and urged all States to observe a moratorium on the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices. It also called upon the Conference to establish an appropriate subsidiary body to deal with nuclear disarmament.
In other resolutions, the Assembly called upon all States to conclude agreements for nuclear non-proliferation, disarmament and confidence-building measures at the regional and subregional levels. The Assembly stressed that sustained efforts were needed, within the framework of the Conference on Disarmament and under the umbrella of the United Nations, to make progress on the entire range of disarmament issues. It also called for the examination of ways and means to diminish the role of nuclear weapons in security policies, so as to enhance strategic stability, facilitate the process of the elimination of those weapons and contribute to international confidence and security.
The General Assembly also urged the Conference to fulfil its role as the single multilateral disarmament negotiating forum and regretted the lack of progress in disarmament negotiations, particularly nuclear disarmament, during the 1999 session. It emphasized the need for the Conference on Disarmament to commence negotiations on a phased programme for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons with a specified framework of time.
Negative Security Assurances
Effective international arrangements for guaranteeing non-nuclear-arms States against the use or threat of use of such weapons is one of the items on the provisional programme of work of the Conference. The General Assembly, in a resolution on conclusion of effective international arrangements to assure non- nuclear-weapon Sates against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons, noted with satisfaction that in the Conference on Disarmament, there was no objection in principle to the idea of an international convention to provide such assurances to the non-nuclear-weapon States. The Assembly noted that difficulties with regard to evolving a common approach acceptable to all had also been pointed out and recommended that the Conference actively continue intensive negotiations with a view to reaching early agreement and concluding effective international arrangements to assure the 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.
Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space
The prevention of an outer space arms race continued to be one of the two major blocking stones which have not allowed the Conference to adopt its programme of work. On this subject, the General Assembly called in a resolution upon all States, in particular those with major space capabilities, to contribute actively to the prevention of an arms race in outer space and to refrain from actions contrary to that objective in the interest of maintaining international peace and security and promoting international cooperation. The Assembly noted that there were no objections in principle in the Conference on Disarmament to the re-establishment of the Ad Hoc Committee on the prevention of an armed race in outer space and invited the Conference to establish this Ad Hoc Committee as early as possible in the year 2000 session. It reiterated that the Conference, as the single multilateral disarmament negotiating forum, has the primary role in the negotiation of a multilateral agreement or agreements as appropriate on the subject.
Anti-Personnel Landmines
In 1999, the Conference applauded the entry into force of the Convention of the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-personnel Mines and on Their Destruction. The Conference was expected to continue in the year 2000 discussions on the best method for it to debate a ban on the transfer of landmines. The General Assembly in December 1999 invited all States that had not signed the Convention to accede to it without delay.
Transparency in Armaments
In a resolution on transparency in armaments, the General Assembly invited the Conference on Disarmament to consider continuing its work undertaken in this field. The Assembly continued to take the view that an enhanced level of transparency in armaments contributed greatly to confidence-building and security among Sates and that the establishment of the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms constituted an important step forward to the promotion of transparency in military matters.
Issues Regarding Organization of Work of Conference
The General Assembly welcomed the decision of the Conference on 5 August to admit five new members, and noted that the Conference recognized the importance of continuing consultations on the question of expansion of its membership. It also welcomed the Conferences strong collective interest in commencing substantive work as soon as possible during its 2000 session. The Conference was encouraged to continue the ongoing review of its agenda and methods.
Conference on Disarmament
The Conference, which works on the basis of consensus, emerged from the decisions of the 1978 special session of the General Assembly on disarmament. Membership stands at 66.
The annual sessions of the Conference are divided into three parts. The Secretary-General of the Conference is Vladimir Petrovsky, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, who is also the Personal Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General.
Member States of Conference
The 66 members of the Conference are: Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Cuba, Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ecuador*, Egypt, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland*, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan*, Kenya, Malaysia*, Mexico, Mongolia, Myanmar, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian Federation, Senegal, Slovakia, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Tunisia*, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yugoslavia and Zimbabwe.
The five new members admitted on 5 August are marked with asterisks (*).
Representatives of the following non-member States also participated in the 1999 work of the Conference as observers: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Brunei Darussalam, Costa Rica, Côte dIvoire, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Gabon, Georgia, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Holy See, Iceland, Jamaica, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malta, Mauritius, Nepal, Oman, Philippines, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Singapore, Slovenia, Sudan, Swaziland, Thailand, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, Yemen and Zambia.
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