2 February 2006

Rotating President Ambassador Rapacki of Poland opened the CD plenary of 2 February by announcing the results of bilateral consultations held with all delegations. Unfortunately, yet not surprisingly, Member States still have no consensus on a programme of work, the establishment of ad hoc committees, or appointing Special Coordinators. Romanian Ambassador Doru Costea had not hoped for the "miracle" of agreement on a programme of work, but had at least expected States to have offered alternative proposals or concrete suggestions as how to move forward, to show they are still interested in doing so.

The President also announced the Friends of the Presidents, the Ambassadors of Sri Lanka, Algeria, Bulgaria, Chile, Italy and Japan, tasked with reviewing the agenda and working on the effectiveness of methods of work. The agenda refers to the Decalogue, the 10 item permanent CD agenda that most member states consider sufficiently flexible to cover threats to international peace and security. France, however, expressed "national reservations" about the Decalogue's inclusiveness.

One of the Friends and one of this year's six collaborating Presidents (P6) commented on the CD's methods of work. Sri Lanka's Ambassador Sarala Fernando suggested "wider and more frequent use of informal and open-ended consultations" to substantively deal with issues "pending agreement on establishment of any subsidiary body to commence negotiations". She also reminded that the CD rules of procedure permits inviting the specialized agencies, IAEA or any UN organ to assist advancing the work. Romania asked the CD to consider if "consensus in the CD mean(s) no vote, or vote no?"

The P6 are still working on the details of a timetable, which will be introduced February 9. There are disagreements as to whether the timetable should include issues in addition to the four recognized 'core' issues: Fissile Materials Cut-off Treaty (FMCT), Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space (PAROS), Negative Security Assurances (NSAs) and Nuclear Disarmament. In regards to the timeline and issues on it, Algeria asked the chair if delegations are supposed to wait for the Presidents to publish a list of issues to be dealt with and then react on it, or if silence at this stage will be interpreted as consent. Having waited for so long to begin substantive work, we certainly hope the CD does not find an excuse to reject a timetable for discussions. As Ambassador Makarim Wibisono of Indonesia pointed out: if no substantial work takes place soon, the CD might "become just another deliberative forum or, even worse, will soon be considered as no more than a talk show."

Many of today's 14 statements claimed willingness to consider any suggestion in order to break the CD deadlock, with the A5 proposalstill enjoying the strongest support. Ambassador Valery Loshchinin pointed out the difficult but important compromises his country had made for the "evolving" A5 proposal, to which Russia "is prepared not to object", expecting reciprocal steps from other delegations. Russia, like China, came a long way to agree to a PAROS ad hoc committee with a discussion rather than negotiating mandate. India noted its own compromise, coming from supporting CD 1570 to support the A5 which has a weaker nuclear disarmament mandate. Chile said the A5 could be improved upon in order to increase support for it.

Again, many statements identified negotiating an FMCT as the priority issue, and Japan announced its intention to issue a working paper on the subject. Australian Ambassador Michael Smith maintained that although the most effective FMCT would include appropriate verification measures, the priority should be to start negotiations. Japan and Italy supported this position. India, though acknowledging "recent developments", referring to the US rejection of verifiability in an FMCT, still believes the Shannon Mandate should be the basis for beginning negotiations. The Shannon Mandate, which had consensus support before the US pulled back due to objections over verifiability, details the mandate for negotiations of an FMCT.

Russia reiterated that Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space (PAROS) is their main priority. According to Ambassdor Loshchinin this should be dealt with because there are no weapons in outer space yet and "prevention is always easier than prohibition and reduction."

India cited nuclear disarmament as "a core concern of India's foreign policy." Ambassador Jayad Prasad said India, a nuclear weapon state, is "committed to a nuclear-weapon free world."

Russia said it would not object to an ad hoc committee on nuclear disarmament. It simultaneously said such a committee would be "incomplete and one-sided" without addressing the issue of non-proliferation. Because both issues, together with peaceful uses of atomic energy, are "thoroughly and comprehensively considered within the NPT review process", thought should be given as to how to avoid duplication. Russia also prided itself that "due to joint and concerted efforts of Russia and the United States we have less and less nuclear weapons remaining on Earth." Nevertheless, were it not for Russia and the United States, there would certainly be less nuclear weapons on Earth altogether.

There were two proposals from the floor to consider issues in addition to the four core issues. Based on informal consultations initiated by France and Switzerland on Civil Critical Infrastructure, French Ambassador François Rivasseau introduced a working paper with a draft mandate for the issue. Switzerland then said they would like to create an open-ended group of governmental experts. According to the working paper, this group would compile best practices ensuring safety and security for civil critical infrastructure, and present a report to the CD this year.

Australia distributed a letter requesting the inclusion of Man Portable Air Defense Systems (MANPADS) in the 2006 work of the CD. Ambassador Smith said UN General Assembly resolution 60/77, adopted by consensus this year, illustrated that an "international consensus on the need to prevent the illicit transfer of MANPADS already exists." Chile and Turkey supported the proposal, Ambassador Türkekul Kurttekin noting that new items still do not exclude previously recognized core issues.

As the CD feels more pressure from the outside world for its lengthy impasse, Sri Lanka asked the Conference to "be mindful of management reforms in New York, which will bring further pressure here and decrease resources" due to the deadlock. Even though rumors circulate about suspending the CD or allocating its work to other venues, Indonesia explained that "the presence of weapons of mass destruction poses a serious threat and a great danger not only to countries that own them, but to all countries, to all human beings. Addressing such a problem certainly does not belong to a handful of countries; instead, a multilateral approach should be the best way to proceed."

Ambassador Costea used the word 'frustration' in order to describe the current atmosphere in the CD, while Indonesia reminded the meeting of Robert Cecil's words written on the wall outside the Council Chamber. "Here is a great work for peace in which we can all participate. The nations must disarm or perish".

Alex Sundberg
Disarmament Intern

Jennifer Nordstrom
Reaching Critical Will 

Women's International League for Peace and Freedom