31 January 2008
President Samir Labidi of Tunisia opened today's Conference on Disarmament (CD) session by briefly discussing the calendar of activities. He emphasized that the Conference needs to remain flexible to take into consideration any progress that may occur as a result of discussions. Delegates from Argentina, Syria, Colombia, Morocco, Mexico, Indonesia, Germany, Russia, Israel, China, and the Netherlands then took the floor.
Speaking on behalf of the Latin American countries who are members of the CD—Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela—and also of the Latin American observer countries—Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, and Guatemala—Argentina's Ambassador Gondra stated that a fissile materials cut-off treaty (FMCT) would be "the next logical step" in the disarmament regime. He said the FMCT would help to achieve the nuclear disarmament obligation agreed to in Article 6 of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), emphasizing that the concerns of states around verification issues and existing stocks must be taken into consideration. Ambassador Gondra said the Conference must "renew its responsibility as a negotiating forum for disarmament," arguing that progress on disarmament in the framework of the CD could give a clear signal to the NPT regime, in time for the 2010 Review Conference. He also recognized that the L.1. package has majority support and hopes that it could lead to the adoption of a programme of work for the year.
Colombia's Ambassador Forero Urcos announced that his government ratified the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) on 29 January 2008. Colombia initially signed the CTBT in September 1996. Since that time, the government has cited constitutional issues preventing their ratification. This ratification brings the total number of Annex 2 ratifications to 35, leaving only 9 states whose ratification is needed for the CTBT to enter into force. The announcement was welcomed by the Netherlands and Germany. China's delegation also congratulated Colombia, and added that the Chinese government is "still in the process of reviewing the final ratification of CTBT," but that what it has done "has already exceeded the requirements of the CTBT."
The delegates from Argentina, Indonesia, Mexico, and Morocco highlighted the issue of nuclear weapon free zones (NWFZs). Argentina's Ambassador Gondra reminded the Conference that Latin American was the first to establish a populated nuclear free zone. Germany's delegation stated that they would have "subscribe to every word" said by Ambassador Gondra if geography was not an obstacle. Many people do wish that Germany too could become part of a NWFZ. It is unfortunate that the NATO nuclear doctrine prohibits this. Perhaps Germany could raise this issue at the upcoming NATO Summit in April. Morocco's Ambassador Loulichki also mentioned that "the establishment of nuclear free zones particularly in the Middle East remains an essential means for achieving nuclear non-proliferation and consequently achieving nuclear disarmament."
Syria's delegation stated that they wanted the CD to focus on negative security assurances (NSAs) and the FMCT, and suggested that bringing up "political questions that are not within its mandate" such as terrorism—as raised by Israel on Tuesday—will "disrupt the work of the Conference". This prompted an informal response by Israel's delegate, who reminded the Conference that the Rules of Procedure allow for any subject to be raised at any time.
The Conference also saw the inclusion of Jordan as an observer.
The next plenary is on Tuesday, 5 February at 10am.
- Sandra Fong and Susi Snyder, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom