14 March 2006
The Conference on Disarmament convened for a short plenary meeting on 14 March, with statements by rotating President Republic of Korea, Chile, China, the Russian Federation and Algeria.
The Russian Federation and China commended the recent UNIDIR publication Safeguarding Space Security: Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space. It was timely and would, together with the working paper introduced 16 February by Russia and China, serve a good basis for upcoming PAROS deliberations in the CD. Ambassador Lochshinin of the Russian Federation noted the upcoming conference on space security 30-31 March 2006, and hoped for a PAROS committee to be set up in the CD shortly as part of a balanced programme of work.
Ambassador Martabit of Chile spoke on the Anti-Personnel Mine Convention and underscored that the CD should learn important lessons from the close cooperation between governments and civil society in the work against land mines. The Conference has the right to draw from the input of civil society's experience, he said, referring to the NGOs not being allowed to deliver their International Women's Day statement to the CD.
Ambassador Park of the Republic of Korea introduced the much awaited non-paper: Compilation of proposals and observations on Agenda Items 1 and 2, based on the focused debate on nuclear disarmament under his Presidency. The non-paper compiles quotes from delegations on six topics commonly addressed by delegations: general observations; current status of nuclear weapons reductions by nuclear weapon states; transparency, irreversibility, and verification; military doctrines; nuclear terrorism; and a Fissile Materials Treaty (FMT). Russia called the non-paper a bold step and hoped it would set an example to be followed during sessions on other agenda items.
Ambassador Park pointed out that the compilation is subject to corrections, and received comments from Hamza Khelif of Algeria. Secrétaire diplomatique Khelif stated that the debate focused on nuclear weapon states arsenal reductions and future work towards disarmament, which he wished would have been reflected in the document. He requested the compilation include the Group of 21 proposal for the establishment of an Ad Hoc Committee on disarmament. The non-paper is a substantive outcome from the first of the P6 Presidencies focused debates, and will be useful to governments and NGOs throughout the year.
While giving a general overview of what has been stated during the past weeks, some specific and interesting proposals were not included in the compilation. We hope a review process will be developed for including them, adding another constructive mechanism to this new tool.
Alexandra Sundberg & Jennifer Nordstrom
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Reaching Critical Will project