DISARMAMENT AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY COMMITTEE BEGINS DEBATE 2 OCTOBER
Press Release
GA/DIS/3168
DISARMAMENT AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY COMMITTEE BEGINS DEBATE 2 OCTOBER
20000929 Background ReleaseThe First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) meets on Monday, 2 October, to begin its general debate in the wake of agreements made by 155 countries party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), which set priorities for global disarmament and charted significant new standards for measuring progress towards global nuclear disarmament.
The NPT Review Conference meets every five years to assess compliance of the 187 States parties with, and effectiveness of, the 1968 landmark Treaty, which provides the legal foundation for multilateral actions to prohibit the proliferation of nuclear weapons and to advance nuclear disarmament. The 2000 Conference marked only the second time States parties had concluded a consensus document.
Upon the opening in April of the 2000 NPT Review Conference, the Secretary- General warned that it was no time for complacency when it came to the threat of nuclear war -- which remained a very real and very terrifying possibility at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Following last minute negotiations, he urged an unequivocal undertaking by the nuclear-weapon States to accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals. He said that the stark reality of nuclear war obligated each party to pursue the NPT's non-proliferation and disarmament aims with equal and unwavering determination.
As evidence of the magnitude of the problem, the Secretary-General cited the discovery of clandestine nuclear-weapons development programmes. He also defined the most recent challenge as the growing pressure to deploy national missile defence. Such pressure was jeopardizing the 1972 Treaty on the Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems (the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty) -- by which the United States and the Russian Federation agreed to significantly reduce the number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads. He also warned that those developments could provoke a new arms race, set back nuclear disarmament and non- proliferation, and create new incentives for missile proliferation.
Members of the Secretary-Generals Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters recently discouraged any dismantling of the current strategic security structure in favour of a system whereby each State sought its own invulnerability. One member said that would lead to nuclear anarchy. The Board noted that the other side of the issue was the growing threat of missile proliferation, which was both the cause and effect of the current crisis. Members said that building down the nuclear threat while maintaining strategic stability should be the order of the day.
Board members also warned that the proliferation of ballistic missile defence systems would unbalance the strategic stability of the last half- century, which had been based on nuclear deterrence. Though perverse, they said, mutual assured destruction between the major nuclear-weapon States had sought to provide the world with some assurance that such weapons of mass destruction would never be used.
Concern was also expressed by some Board members that the results of the NPT Review had been skewered by the fact that the agreements had not taken into account the heightened debate over the strategic consequences of possible deployment of national missile defence. Board members from non-States parties made clear that the results of the Review Conference were divorced from the reality of the current political situation, particularly in the nuclear field and, thus, irrelevant. Specifically, they said the lack of debate on the crucial issue of national missile defence plans only served to increase that sense of unreality.
First Committee members are expected to engage in a full-scope debate on the issue of missile proliferation and defence. At the Millennium Summit in September, Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin said that plans to militarize outer space were particularly alarming. He proposed a world conference in Moscow in 2001 on preventing the so-called militarization of outer space. Then, on 18 September, that country's representative told the Millennium Assembly that his delegation would introduce, for the second time, a draft resolution in the Committee supporting the ABM Treaty. A peaceful Earth needed a peaceful outer space, he said. The topic was also the source of intensive debate in the Conference on Disarmament.
The Chinese representative, a co-sponsor of last sessions resolution on the subject, warned the Conference that there would be grave consequences if a United States National Missile Defence System was developed and deployed. That would undermine the global strategic balance and stability, and threaten international peace and security. It was an absolutely urgent task for the international community to take effective measures to halt such a negative development.
At the Millennium Summit, the United States insisted that the proposed amendments to the ABM Treaty would update it and enable it to continue fulfilling its essential purpose. He added that plans for a possible national missile defence system did not involve placing any weapon in outer space. He agreed that it was appropriate for the Conference on Disarmament to keep the agenda item on prevention of an outer space arms race under review, but he also pointed out that there was no arms race in outer space. It was unwise and unrealistic, therefore, to insist on immediate negotiations on a new outer space treaty that would delay the establishment of an appropriate subordinate body to discuss nuclear disarmament.
[The existing outer space treaty refers to the 1963 Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space and under Water (Partial Test-Ban Treaty)].
The Committee will also be challenged by the complexity and scope of the issue of small arms and light weapons. Once again, three draft resolutions - by the delegations of Mali, South Africa, and Germany - are expected to be introduced. The topic is particularly sensitive as it directly affects the national sovereignty of States. Nonetheless, the Secretary-General told his Advisory Board that it is an area where we can -- and must -- make a real, tangible difference. The 2001 international conference on the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in all its aspects offered an unprecedented opportunity, whose outcome must be more than a finely tuned diplomatic instrument, he said. It must make a tangible difference in the lives of the innocent men, women and children who are the victims of conflict, he said.
In addition to issues of nuclear disarmament and conventional weapons -- including landmines and small arms -- the Committee will also consider other weapons of mass destruction, namely chemical and biological weapons, as well as the consolidation and creation of nuclear-weapon-free zones and all other regional and international security measures. It will also examine the functioning and relevance of the United Nations disarmament machinery.
Reports before Committee
The Committee will have before it the annual report of the Conference on Disarmament (document A/55/27), the sole multilateral negotiating body on disarmament. [Not yet issued.]
The Committee will also have before it the annual report of the Disarmament Commission (document A/55/42). The Commission is a specialized deliberative body of the General Assembly. The report recalls that during its 2000 session, held at Headquarters from 26 June to 7 July, it approved its general programme of work, which included the agenda items entitled Ways and means to achieve nuclear disarmament, and Practical confidence-building measures in the field of conventional arms.
The current report contains the reports of the subsidiary bodies of the Commission (the two Working Groups entrusted with considering those items), as well as the Commissions conclusions and recommendations, which included the consensus adoption of those reports and the agreement to submit them to the General Assembly. Annexed to the Commissions report is a paper presented by the Chairman, entitled Ways and means to achieve nuclear disarmament.
The report of the Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters (document A/55/349) covers the work of the Boards thirty-fourth and thirty-fifth sessions in New York from 31 January to 2 February, and in Geneva from 5 to 7 July, respectively. The Board is a group of eminent persons and scholars who meet annually to advise the Secretary-General on studies concerning disarmament and arms limitation. It was established in 1978 by the General Assembly at its tenth special session.
At the years first session, the Board stressed the urgent need to combat complacency in the face of new and alarming dangers to international security, such as enhanced emphasis on nuclear weapons in military doctrines, missile proliferation and the possible deployment of national missile defence systems. With a view to combating that complacency in the long term, the Board recommended that a study be commissioned on disarmament and non-proliferation education and training, and it developed a draft mandate for the study. At its July meeting, the Board addressed the results of the 2000 NPT Review Conference. In response to a resolution of the fifty-fourth General Assembly session, the Board forwarded to the Secretary-General inputs on information with regard to specific measures that could significantly reduce the risk of nuclear war. Members suggested four measures on which emphasis should be given to reduce nuclear danger. (A summary of that discussion is contained in a separate note of the Secretary-General, entitled Reducing nuclear danger.
The note of the Secretary-General on reducing nuclear danger (document A/55/324) summarizes the Board's discussion on specific measures that would significantly reduce the risk of nuclear war. The Board also discussed a wide assortment of other measures and approaches that received varying degrees of support. There was broad agreement that emphasis should be given to the following four measures for reducing nuclear dangers: de-alerting nuclear weapons; reviewing nuclear doctrines; eliminating the tactical nuclear weapons of the two major nuclear-weapon States and, as a first step towards elimination, drastically reducing and removing those weapons to central storage; and creating a climate for implementing nuclear disarmament measures, including education and training programmes on their dangers. Annexed to the report are papers prepared by three Board members from Germany, Argentina and India.
A report entitled Towards a nuclear-weapon-free world: The need for a new agenda (document A/55/217) addresses a request of the Secretary-General to review the resolutions implementation. First introduced in the First Committee in the fifty-third Assembly session, the text called upon the nuclear-weapon States to demonstrate an unequivocal commitment to the speedy and total elimination of their nuclear weapons.
The report contains the Secretary-Generals observations, as well as the responses of the following organizations in exploring the possible elements for developing global verification arrangements as envisaged in that resolution: the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); the Organization for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (OPANAL); the Organization of African Unity (OAU) regarding the African Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty (Treaty of Pelindaba); the South Pacific Forum regarding the South Pacific Nuclear-Free- Zone Treaty (Treaty of Raratonga); the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT); and the Government of Thailand in its capacity as depositary of the Treaty on the South-East Asia Nuclear-Weapon- Free Zone (Bangkok Treaty).
A report on missiles (document A/55/116) is submitted in response to a request made at the last Assembly session to the Secretary-General to seek the views of all Member States on the issue in all its aspects. To date, five Member States have replied, as follows: India; Japan; Jordan; Qatar; and the United Kingdom.
In his report on Mongolias international security and nuclear-weapon-free status (document A/55/166), the Secretary-General responds to a resolution of the fifty-third Assembly session that invited Member States, including the five nuclear-weapon States, to cooperate with Mongolia in taking the necessary measures to consolidate and strengthen Mongolia's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, the inviolability of its borders, its economic security, its ecological balance and its nuclear-weapon-free status, as well as its independent foreign policy. The Secretary-General and relevant United Nations bodies were requested to provide the necessary assistance to Mongolia in that regard.
The present report contains an account of the assistance accorded to Mongolia by the Secretariat and relevant United Nations bodies and the various actions taken by that country to promote its nuclear-weapon-free status, including consultations between the five nuclear-weapon States and Mongolia, and to explore ways and means of implementing the resolution.
In the report on convening a fourth special session of the General Assembly devoted to disarmament (document A/55/130), the Secretary-General transmits replies received from the Governments of India and the Russian Federation to a request that he seek the views of Member States on the objectives, agenda and timing of the special session.
The Secretary-General's report on objective information on military matters, including transparency of military expenditures (document A/55/272) contains replies received from Member states on their military expenditures. In its resolution 54/43 of 1 December 1999, the General Assembly called on Member States to report annually, by 30 April, to the Secretary-General their military expenditures for the latest fiscal year for which data were available. The report includes submissions received from 32 governments.
In his report on the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects (document A/55/97), the Secretary-General informed the General Assembly that as at 31 May 2000, 78 States were parties to the Convention and at least two of its protocols. As of that date, 49 States had indicated their consent to be bound by the Conventions amended Protocol II (on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Mines, Booby Traps and Other Devices) which entered into force on 3 December 1998. Forty-eight States had also indicated their consent to be bound by Protocol IV (on Blinding Laser Weapons) which entered into force on 30 July 1998.
In his report on assistance to states for curbing the illicit traffic in small arms and collecting them (document A/55/216), the Secretary-General provides an update on events and activities at the subregional, regional and international levels relating to the provision of assistance to States to address the issue. The activities covered include the first session of the Preparatory Committee for the United Nations Conference on Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in all its Aspects held in New York from 28 February to 3 March; the session of the Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters held from 31 January to 2 February; and the actions taken through the United Nations Trust Fund for the Consolidation of Peace Through Practical Disarmament Measures.
At the session of the Preparatory Committee for the United Nations Conference on Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in all its Aspects, delegates stressed the need for strengthening international, regional and subregional cooperation in international efforts to combat, control and eliminate the illicit circulation and proliferation of small arms and light weapons. Discussion at the Secretary-General's Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters pointed to a triple track approach to the United Nations Conference on Small Arms -- consciousness-raising; creation of international norms; and efforts, initiatives and activities of regions and subregions to address the issue.
On the United Nations Trust Fund for the Consolidation of Peace Through Practical Disarmament Measures, the Secretary-General said that since the fifty- fourth session of the General Assembly, the Department of Disarmament Affairs had worked closely with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and with members of the Group of Interested States in Practical Disarmament Measures, seeking to use the Fund to provide support for projects and programmes on practical disarmament and related development issues. The Trust Fund was established in August 1998 on the recommendation of the Group of Interested States in Practical Disarmament Measures. Requests for United Nations assistance came from the Governments of Albania, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea-Bissau, Niger and Sierra Leone.
In Sierra Leone, following a joint mission of the Programme for Coordination and Assistance for Security and Development (PCASED) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) from 9 March to 2 April, a technical commission was put in place. That commission was charged with the destruction of small arms and light weapons already collected in the framework of the process of disarmament and demilitarization, foreseen in the Lomé Peace Agreement. However, this initiative has been put on hold as a result of the recent outbreak of hostilities in Sierra Leone.
The regional and subregional initiatives covered in the report include the convening by the OAU of the first Continental Meeting of African Experts on Small Arms and Light Weapons in Addis Ababa from 17 to 19 May. The report also mentions the efforts by the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) to negotiate a protocol on the control of firearms, ammunition and other related materials in the SADC region; the resolution expressed by the 10 countries of the Great Lakes region and the Horn of Africa, in their Nairobi Declaration issued of 17 March, to coordinate efforts at tackling the challenges posed by the excessive accumulation and proliferation of small arms and light weapons in the subregion; and the establishment of national commissions against small arms in Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia, Mali and Niger.
In his report on the activities of the United Nations Standing Advisory Committee on Security Questions in Central Africa (document A/55/170), the Secretary-General reviews the activities of the Committee since the submission of his last report (A/54/364). In addition to its two ministerial meetings, the Advisory Committee also organized a subregional conference on the proliferation of and illicit traffic in small arms in Central Africa. That conference had been seen as an opportunity for the Central African states to develop a plan of action that would assist them to effectively address the problem. However, owing to the ongoing armed conflicts within some of the member States of the Committee, the conference was not able to devise a plan of action.
The Secretary-General's report on small arms (document A/55/189) transmits the replies received from governments in response to a request on the subject by the Secretary-General. The General Assembly, in its resolution 54/54 V of 15 December 1999, endorsed the report of the Secretary-General on small arms (document A/54/258) and called upon all Member States to implement the relevant recommendations contained in chapter IV of the report to the extent possible. It also requested the Secretary-General to seek the views of Member States on the report as well as on the implementation of the relevant recommendations. The report of the Secretary-General contains responses received from Brazil, China, Colombia, Jordan and Ukraine.
The Secretary-Generals report on strengthening of security and cooperation in the Mediterranean region (document A/55/254) transmits information received from Members States on means to strengthen security and cooperation in the Mediterranean region. It includes submissions from Algeria, Jordan, Portugal (on behalf of the European Union), Qatar and the Russian Federation. Canada had also responded to the Secretary-Generals request for information and indicated that it had nothing to report.
A report of the Secretary-General on developments in the field of information and telecommunications in the context of international security (document A/55/140) transmits the replies received from governments in response to a request by the Secretary-General. The General Assembly, in its resolution 54/49 of 1 December 1999, invited all Member States to inform the Secretary- General of their views and assessments on the following questions: general appreciation of issues of information security; definition of basic notions related to information security, including unauthorized interference with, or misuse of, information and telecommunications systems and information resources; and advisability of developing international principles that would enhance global information and telecommunications systems, and help to combat information terrorism and criminality. The report contains responses received from Jordan, Qatar and the Russian Federation.
In his report on the relationship between disarmament and development (document A/55/258), the Secretary-General, in pursuance of General Assembly resolution 54/54 T, reports on activities undertaken to promote a better understanding of the disarmament and development relationship in the context of current international relations. The resolution had requested the Secretary- General to continue to take action, through appropriate organs and within available resources, for the implementation of the action programme adopted at the September 1987 International Conference on the Relationship between Disarmament and Development.
The activities covered in the report include a panel discussion on transparency, accountability and good governance organized during the annual Disarmament Week at the United Nations Headquarters on 25 October 1999. The report also states that the presentations made at the symposium on disarmament and development, held on 20 July 1999, had been published in a booklet this June. It added that the UNDP was supporting a number of micro-disarmament projects within the context of its country and regional programming.
A report of the Secretary-General on observance of environmental norms in the drafting and implementation of agreements on disarmament and arms control (document A/55/129) transmits information submitted by Member States on measures they have adopted in furtherance of the subject. Information had been received from Cuba and the Russian Federation in pursuance of resolution 54/54 S of 1 December 1999 by which the General Assembly requested Member States to communicate such information to the Secretary-General.
The Secretary-Generals report on the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa (document A/55/169), which covers the centres activities from September 1999 to July 2000, notes that the centre continues to experience considerable financial difficulties mainly due to lack of voluntary contributions on the basis of which it was established. The Director of the centre has been pursuing a vigorous fund-raising programme and, although a number of donors have made financial contributions to the centre, the costs of staffing and operation remain a concern.
The Secretary-General, in his report on the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia (document A/55/181), said that the centre could be a useful instrument for fostering a climate of cooperation and disarmament in the region. During the period August 1999 to July 2000, the centre continued to promote disarmament and security through the four disarmament meetings that it had organized. In his report on the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (document A/55/169), the Secretary-General reviews the substantive and fund-raising efforts of the centre. The centres activities focused on firearms, ammunition and explosives; conventional arms and peace operations; nuclear disarmament issues; United Nations system activities; and information and public events.
The report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Disarmament Information Programme (document A/55/128) details the resources and activities that the Department of Disarmament Affairs had developed to carry out a reinvigorated outreach programme in its substantive priority areas of weapons of mass destruction and conventional weapons, particularly small arms and light weapons. The report states that the programme had intensified its interaction with the public, particularly non-governmental organizations and research institutes, in keeping with the Secretary-Generals desire to strengthen United Nations ties with civil society. It had also expanded the volume of its publications output since the previous report. The activities that had been organized under the programme include an exhibit entitled Taking Aim at Small Arms: Defending Childrens Rights, which had been produced and displayed in collaboration with United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in 1999. The department had also initiated a series of discussion topics in the field of arms limitation and disarmament, with a view to broadening understanding and facilitating discussion among states and civil society.
In an addendum to the report (document A/55/128/Add.1), the Secretary- General provides an update on the status of financing the information and outreach activities of the Department of Disarmament Affairs, which are supported by the Voluntary Trust Fund of the United Nations Disarmament Information Programme. He states that a balance of $487,012 was available in the Fund as of 31 December 1999.
The Secretary-Generals report on the United Nations disarmament fellowship, training and advisory services (document A/55/152) states that fellowships were awarded to 26 officials in 1999 and 28 officials in 2000. The 1999 fellows included six women. That number is expected to go up to 10 in 2000. The programme of studies is structured into three segments, the first of which is held at the United Nations Office at Geneva and aims to expose participants to various aspects of multilateral negotiations on disarmament. The second segment involves study visits to intergovernmental organizations of relevance in the field of disarmament as well as to Member States at their invitation. The third segment, held at Headquarters, allows fellows to familiarize themselves with the work of both the First Committee and the Department of Disarmament Affairs. So far, the programme has trained some 500 officials from more than 150 Member States.
The Committee will also have before it the following notes of the Secretary- General:
In a note on the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on the Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons (document A/55/131), the Secretary-General transmits information received from governments which include Cuba, New Zealand and Qatar.
A note on measures to uphold the 1925 Geneva Protocol (document A/55/115) reproduces the resolution of the Assembly's fifty-third session, which renews its previous call to all States to strictly observe the principles and objectives of
the Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare, signed at Geneva on 17 June 1925. It reaffirms the vital necessity of upholding its provisions and calls upon those States that continue to maintain reservations to the Protocol to withdraw them. The note responds to a request that the Secretary-General report on the implementation of that resolution at the fifty-fifth session. The report finds that since the adoption of the resolution, the withdrawal of reservations by one State party -- Canada -- was reported on 19 October 1999.
A note by the Secretary-General transmits a report on the continuing operation of the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms and its further development (document A/55/281) prepared with the assistance of a group of governmental experts. The note states that consistent participation in the Register by all major producers, exporters and importers of major conventional weapons had enabled the Register to cover the great bulk of the global trade in its seven categories. A total of 149 governments, including 146 Member States, had participated in the Register at least once. However, participation was yet to reach desired universality. Some States did not see the relevance of the Register, in its current form, to their essential security interests.
By its resolution 54/54 O of 1 December 1999, the General Assembly had requested the Secretary-General, with the assistance of a group of governmental experts convened in 2000 on the basis of equitable geographical representation, to prepare a report on the continuing operation of the Register and its further development, taking into account the work of the Conference on Disarmament, the views expressed by Member States and his reports on the continuing operation of the Register and its further development.
The report recommends, among other things: that Member States nominate national focal points of contact for matters connected with the Register; and that details of such contact point be sent with the annual submission; that the Secretariat assist Member States, as appropriate, in the implementation of agreed regional and subregional confidence-building measures; that the Assembly decide on an appropriate time to conduct a full review of the continuing operation and further development of the Register; and that the Assembly should also consider a provision for additional resources to the Secretariat to operate and maintain the Register.
A note of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Regional Centres for Peace and Disarmament (document A/55/151) states that the activities of the three regional centres and their implementation, as well as their financial and staffing situations, are contained in the reports of the Secretary-General on the three regional centres.
Also before the Committee will be the following reports and/or notes of the Secretary-General, which will be summarized in the Press Releases of the First Committee upon their issuance: conclusion of effective international arrangements to assure non-nuclear-weapon States against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons; creation of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East; transparency in armaments; nuclear disarmament; convention on the prohibition of the use of nuclear weapons; report of the Conference on Disarmament; the risk of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East; small arms; and illicit traffic in small arms.
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