14 February 2008

Outgoing President Samir Labidi opened the Conference on Disarmament (CD), bidding farewell to Ambassador Carlos Antonio da Rocha Paranhos of Brazil and Ambassador Wolfgang Petritsch of Austria. Members of the Conference also heard statements from representatives of Brazil, Nigeria, Malaysia, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Sri Lanka (speaking on behalf of the Group of 21), Syria, the Russian Federation, China, Morocco, Italy, Pakistan, and Algeria.

Bulgarian Ambassador Petko Draganov announced that on 13 February, the Council of Ministers of Bulgaria imposed a moratorium on the use of cluster munitions by the Bulgarian Armed Forces, pending the advent of an international treaty banning such weapons, and called on other CD members to follow suit. The timing of such a decision is impeccable, with the Wellington Cluster Munitions Conference, the next stage of the Oslo Process, beginning Monday. However, according to Human Rights Watch and the Cluster Munitions Coalition, Bulgaria also produces cluster munitions, yet this moratorium appears to only be on the use of the weapons. Ambassador Faysal Khabbaz Hamoui of Syria welcomed Bulgaria's moratorium, and said he hoped others would follow suit. While Syria is not a user or producer of cluster munitions, according to Human Rights Watch, it has KMG-U aerial dispensers and the RBK series of cluster bombs "in service" (as of June 2007). Syria has also not acceded to Protocol V of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, which currently contains the only legally-binding obligations "to minimise the risks and effects of explosive remnants of war in post-conflict situations."

The ambassadors of Switzerland and Malaysia welcomed the draft treaty on the prevention of the placement of weapons in outer space (PPWT). Ambassador Jürg Streuli of Switzerland stated, "a number of technical and legal points still needed to be worked out," and recognized the need to overcome "significant political obstacles." Malaysia's Ambassador Hsu King Bee said the draft PPWT is "a positive step," and expressed hope "that the CD would set an objective to approach the issues in a comprehensive manner, engaging in structured substantive discussions with a view for an early commencement of negotiations, for an international legally binding treaty." She also proposed the "establishment of Ad Hoc Committee with the appropriate mandate agreeable to all," and called for a "moratorium on the testing of all kinds of weapons and on the deployment of weapons in outer space."

Ambassador Paranhos of Brazil also welcomed the draft PPWT. In the past, the Brazilian delegation has been a strong proponent in the CD of preventing the weaponization of outer space, and in his farewell statement, Ambassador Paranhos said, "It is of utmost importance that this negotiating forum takes the lead in ensuring that the outer space remains a peaceful domain."

Algeria's Ambassador Hamza Khelif took note of draft PPWT, and indicated his delegation has communicated it to their capital for consideration. He said he would like discussions on the issues of outer space to provide sufficient time to examine the proposal. However, the draft PPWT is based on elements proposed in 2002 and on substantive discussions that took place in the CD in 2006 and 2007—it should not be new information for capitals.

It is unclear what implications referring the draft treaty to capitols will have on the CD, as it is unclear exactly what is meant to happen with the draft PPWT. It was submitted with a research mandate, which we have not yet seen. In June 2002, China dropped its call for a negotiation mandate for an ad hoc committee on the prevention of an arms race in outer space, and instead said that work should be conducted "with a view to negotiating a relevant international legal instrument." Is this the same spirit in which the draft PPWT was offered on Tuesday?

Surprisingly few states dwelled on the merits or problems of the draft PPWT or Russia's proposal for the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. Instead, most of the session was spent bidding farewell to Tunisian Ambassador Labidi as President of the Conference, and to Ambassador Paranhos of Brazil and Ambassador Petritsch of Austria.

Most delegations expressed their gratitude to outgoing President Labidi for his "friendly," "transparent," and "inclusive" leadership. In his statement, Labidi noted the "virtues of multilateralism" that need to be considered in order to avoid politicization of the CD and to produce concrete results. He welcomed the "constructive spirit" of all parties, and said this needs to be strengthened further. Yet it is unclear what progress has been made so far this year—there have been interesting presentations by high-level officials, but little discussion on any of them by delegations in plenary sessions, and no apparent movement towards adopting a programme of work. Is the CD a body for presentations, or for negotiations?

In his farewell address, Ambassador Paranhos of Brazil thanked "the NGOs that follow our deliberations sometimes with impatience and disappointment but always persevering." He noted that over the last decade of the CD's stalemate, the Brazilian delegation has agreed on several proposals even if it did not always favour "the treatment of certain issues of the agenda to the detriment of others." He explained, "Not all the proposals fitted into our expectations but we were able to go along with them in good faith, in the spirit of strengthening multilateralism and finding concerted solutions for our common goals."

As observers to the process, and as victims of its failures, we would like to encourage all delegations to adopt this spirit of compromise and good faith and uphold the responsibility to negotiate that they've been charged with. This seems to be something worth persevering for.

- Ray Acheson, Reaching Critical Will
- Sandra Fong and Susi Snyder, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom