PRESS BRIEFING BY UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR DISARMAMENT

Press Briefing

PRESS BRIEFING BY UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR DISARMAMENT

A vastly improved atmosphere had prevailed this year in the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) in the afterglow of the successful adoption last May of the Final Document of the 2000 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), and the recent postponement of the deployment of a national missile defence system, the Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs, Jayantha Dhanapala, told correspondents this afternoon at a Headquarters press briefing.

Last night the First Committee had become the first committee to complete its work for the current session, he continued. Existing norms had been strengthened and a number of important decisions had been taken. The Committee acted on 49 disarmament- and security-related draft resolutions and decisions, through its consideration of 21 agenda items of the General Assembly. During its four-and-one-half-week session, from 2 October to 1 November, its work was divided into three phases: general debate; thematic discussion; and action on texts. Chairing the Committee was Mya Than of Myanmar, who was also the Permanent Representative in Geneva.

The number of approved draft texts was slightly less than last year. Of the 49 drafts, 21 were recorded votes, and 28 were approved without a vote, he said. The improved atmosphere had contributed to a growth in support for a number of resolutions. The increasing role of civil society in various countries, the improved atmosphere in North-East Asia, particularly in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and in the Balkans following recent political developments there had, inter alia, contributed to the increased support for texts.

The nuclear issues were responsible for 11 of the recorded votes, which had remained controversial in light of the differing perceptions, he said. In terms of the actual voting, there was increased support for many of the texts,including, most importantly, on the “new agenda” coalition, towards a nuclear-weapon-free world. This year's text had been based largely on the language of the Final Document of the NPT Review Conference. In a substantial improvement, the draft text garnered 146 votes in favour, compared to 90 last year. The draft also attracted the support of three nuclear-weapon States: United States; United Kingdom; and China. The countries that opposed the text were India, Pakistan and Israel. Since they were not party to the NPT, it was not surprising that they found it difficult to accept the language from the outcome of the Treaty's last review.

He drew attention to the draft on the Treaty on the Limitation of Anti- Ballistic Missile Systems (ABM Treaty), which was a repetition of the one presented last year. With 78 votes in favour, 3 against, and 66 abstentions, it had won more support than last year. Last year, the vote was 54 in favour to 4 against, with 73 abstentions. The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) also received much support. There was a Canadian-sponsored draft resolution on fissile material, approved without a vote, which asked the Conference on

Dhanapala Press Briefing - 2 - 2 November 2000

Disarmament to begin work as soon as possible next year on a fissile material cut-off treaty. The Japanese delegation had tabled a new resolution on nuclear disarmament, charting "a path to the total elimination of nuclear weapons”. That also achieved a large measure of support. During the course of the First Committee there was an important statement of the five nuclear-weapon States parties to the NPT, respecting the nuclear-weapon-free status of Mongolia. That was being sent by them to the Security Council.

Apart from the nuclear issues, there were two resolutions calling for two studies to be conducted over the next two years, he said. One was a resolution submitted by Iran on missiles, which requested a panel of governmental experts to undertake a study of the missile issue in all its aspects. That was part of the "norm-building" exercise in the missile area, in which no multilateral norms currently exist. The other study, which had been recommended by the Secretary- General's Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters, was on disarmament education. There had been a large number of resolutions on conventional weapons, many of which were approved without a vote. Of the most important was a decision, approved without a vote, on the dates and venue for the International Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects. The Conference would be held in New York from 9 to 20 July 2001. That was an important step forward.

He said increasing support had also been registered for the resolution on transparency, in particular for the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms. There were other resolutions, including one that congratulated the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research in Geneva on its twentieth anniversary. There was great support for the three United Nations regional centres in Lima, Lomé and Kathmandu. Another resolution reiterated the desire of the Central Asian countries to establish a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the region, on which negotiations would continue next year. There was also increased support for the text on the prevention of an arms race in outer space.

Asked what significance he had attached to the changed voting pattern on the new agenda coalition resolution, and what specifically was needed to prepare for the small arms Conference, the Under-Secretary-General said that the present New Agenda Coalition text was based on the 2000 NPT Review Conference Final Document, and aimed at consolidating its success. Much of the language, therefore, had been acceptable to the three nuclear-weapon States that had supported it, as well as many of the countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which had abstained in the vote last year. The consensus outcome of the NPT Review Conference had helped garner more support for the text.

In a follow-up question, the correspondent asked about the significance of that shift.

Mr. Dhanapala said the New Agenda Coalition would now consider their next step, based on its successful consolidation in the wake of the NPT Review. Clearly, the co-sponsors had a larger following now and they must now look towards implementing the NPT Final Document. On the small arms Conference, the Conventional Arms Branch of the Department for Disarmament Affairs was working very hard on preparations. There was a Preparatory Committee under the Chairmanship of Ambassador Carlos Dos Santos of Mozambique. The next meeting

Dhanapala Press Briefing - 3 - 2 November 2000

of the Preparatory Committee was in January, and its third and final session would be held in March. A decision was still pending on the presidency of the Conference, as well as on rules of procedure.

He said that the Chairman was consulting intensively on the matter, and it was expected that many of those procedural issues would be resolved by the second Preparatory Committee meeting, thus enabling participants to engage in preparations for the political substance of the Conference. During the course of the First Committee, Ambassador Dos Santos had also held informal consultations on a number of issues and he had been given a mandate by Member States to expand on his document on the structure and elements of the Programme of Action.

Another correspondent asked if there was any concern in the Secretariat about the representation of the developing world at the small arms Conference. She had understood that the Swiss Government had offered quite a bit of money to help some of the smaller countries attend a Europe-based Conference. Now that it was in New York, that money would not be available.

Under the normal United Nations practice, Mr. Dhanapala said, if a conference was held outside Headquarters, the host country had to bear the difference in costs. The Secretariat had provided estimates to the Swiss Government about those additional costs, but it had appeared that a majority of countries had preferred to have it in New York, where many more were represented. Happily, the Swiss offer to help the affected countries, particularly the least developed countries, with the travel of officials from their capitals still stood, even though the Conference would take place in New York. That was an extremely admirable gesture on the part of the Swiss Government.

The Japanese had said that their draft resolution had pushed the NPT a bit further, as far as setting some dates, another correspondent said. Had it done that?

He said that, yes, there were some time frames in the text, particularly with regard to the conclusion of negotiations for a fissile material cut-off treaty. That had not been acceptable to all countries, but the text had set certain time frames that were not in the original Final Document of the NPT Review Conference.

Didn't the NPT say those negotiations should be completed within five years, the correspondent asked?

He replied that the resolution was not readily available to him, but he believed that the dates that had appeared in the Australian and Japanese text had referred to the fissile material treaty issue by calling for the immediate commencement and conclusion of those negotiations before 2005. The Final Document had not stated 2005; it had stated that such talks, which should be concluded in under five years, should start from the date of the adoption of a balanced agenda in the Conference on Disarmament, which could be any time. The draft had set a time frame for this issue, which was considered an important non-proliferation and nuclear disarmament step. So, it had set a kind of goal, which countries would attempt to meet when the Conference reassembled in Geneva next year.

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