25 January 2006

On 24 January, the Conference on Disarmament (CD), the world's sole multilateral body devoted to negotiating arms control and disarmament treaties, opened its first session of 2006 under the Presidency of Poland. With 65 delegations present, only 6 were represented by women. In his opening statement, Ambassador Zdzislaw Rapacki brought up the disappointments of last year: the failure to adequately reflect arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation in the final document of the September UN Summit, as well as theNon-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference not living up to the expectations of the international community. He emphasized the importance of breaking the stalemate in the CD by the delegations showing “creativity, flexibility and, above all, political will to make this Conference live up to the challenges outside this room”. In a remark supported by both Netherlands and South Africa, Ambassador Rapacki concluded that “the world outside will not wait until the CD adopts its program of work”. And the world outside was indeed listening, with more than 40 civil society representatives present in the gallery of the Council Chamber.

This year the rotating Presidents of the CD, Poland, Republic of Korea, Romania, the Russian Federation, Senegal and Slovakia, intend to cooperate closely in order to assure continuity by consecutive Presidents. They have named themselves the “P6”. Moreover, a group of states will be appointed as Friends of Presidents to assist the P6 throughout the 2006 CD in informal consultations on gaining consensus on a programme of work and on improving the CD’s methods of work. As a means of creating a framework for a substantive session, the Polish Ambassador encouraged the submission of working papers, proposals and ideas from delegations and NGOs alike. Organizing side-events on topics of particular interest, he added, will provide “a good opportunity for academic and civil society engagement in our deliberations on the substance of the CD”.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan drew attention to the inadequacy of using procedural means or fine-tuning already existing proposals to break the impasse of the CD. He called on capitals to “thoroughly reassess attitudes towards the Conference, and develop a new political consensus on priorities in arms control and disarmament”, in a message distributed to the delegates. 

The Ambassador of the Netherlands, Johannes Landman, urged the P6 to immediately propose a timetable for the discussion of the four issues that have emerged in each of the recent proposals for a programme of work: a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT), Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space (PAROS), Nuclear Disarmament, and Negative Security Assurances (NSAs), allowing for an early start for discussions. This, held the Ambassador, “would create the conditions for a much-needed momentum in the CD that could indeed pave the way for a common understanding as to what issues are ripe for immediate negotiations and which ones deserves further study and reflection”.

Ambassador Glaudine Mtshali of South Africa expressed her delegation’s support for the efforts of the P6 “to steer us towards consensual work programme for this year that will break the deadlock that has now plagued the CD for almost a decade.” Ambassador Mtshali concluded by stating that the agenda adopted by the CD in 1979 – the Decalogue – remains applicable in today’s international environment and contains sufficient flexibility to allow for varied discussions, and consequently should be adopted by the Conference. The draft agenda contained in CD/WP/540 was indeed adopted at the resumption of the formal plenary after a short informal discussion in closed chambers.

At the resumption of the plenary, Turkey and Cyprus both took the floor to rehash an old argument after agreement was reached on allowing observer states to participate in the CD according to the rules of procedure. Turkey referenced CD/1438 and CD/1738 – letters submitted by their government in past years questioning the legal status of Cyprus.  The Ambassador from Cyprus reiterated that these matters had been dealt with in their response documents – CD/1439 and CD/1740. This argument between Turkey and Cyprus has plagued the CD for a number of years and is considered one of the reasons the CD has not formally expanded its membership.

Concluding the first plenary of the 2006 CD, Peru, the outgoing President, congratulated the cooperation among the P6 and wished the best of luck to the upcoming year of the Conference. And good luck with resuming substantive work is needed, since, borrowing the words of the Netherlands’ Ambassador Landman: “Frankly speaking; in a world that is becoming ever more dangerous, there is no place for a CD that lounges about.”

The next meeting of the CD will be held Thursday 26 January at 10 am.

- Alex Sundberg, Disarmament Intern
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom