3 March 2008

Opening a week of high-level involvement in the Conference on Disarmament (CD), Argentina's Foreign Minister, Mr. Jorge Taiana, addressed the Conference today, speaking on nuclear disarmament, outer space, and fissile materials.

While pointing to the importance of bilateral agreements (such as the nuclear cooperation agreement signed recently between the presidents of Argentina and Brazil) and regional agreements (such as the Treaty of Tlatelolco), Mr. Taiana emphasized they could not replace multilateral agreements for nuclear disarmament, such as the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). He argued that states' obligations under the NPT cannot be reinterpreted based on "current situations," as they are always, by definition, in flux. He also argued that select states cannot demand non-proliferation while they continue developing more sophisticated weapons. He called for political support at the highest levels for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons.

Welcoming the draft treaty on the prevention of the placement of weapons in outer space submitted to the CD by Russia and China, Mr. Taiana suggested it could be fruitful to establish an ad hoc committee on the issue to explore it further. However, he emphasized that he does not wish to see the work of the Conference held up any longer. He urged the CD to commence negotiations on a fissile materials cut-off treaty, regardless of whether the other items were ready to move forward simultaneously. While acknowledging that some states have concerns, he argued that now is the time to negotiate, not to negotiate about negotiating, as the CD has already taken ten years to do that. He lamented that the CD has been unable to negotiate legally-binding agreements on disarmament, the specific task that gives its reason for existence, in all that time.

Mr. Taiana noted the impending tenth anniversary of the Ottawa Convention, an instrument negotiated outside the framework of the United Nations. This reminds us of the possibility of moving negotiations outside of the CD in light of continued difficulties in adopting a programme of work. In 2005, six delegations in the UNGA First Committee—Brazil, Canada, Kenya, Mexico, New Zealand, and Sweden—introduced a non-paper, with an explanatory note, "Draft Elements of an UNGA60 First Committee Resolution: Initiating work on priority disarmament and non-proliferation issues." The non-paper outlined elements of a draft resolution that would establish four open-ended ad hoc committees on the CD's four priority issues. The draft elements of the resolution stipulated that as soon as the CD adopted a programme of work, the committees would stop meeting and report their results to the CD. The six delegations ultimately decided not to table their resolution, largely due to pressure from the US delegation, which circulated a memo to member states' capitals calling the draft resolution a "divisive proposal" that would "likely spell the end of the CD."

Ambassador Paul Meyer, Canada's former ambassador to the CD, often argued, "the international community should not allow issues of form or fora get in the way of coming to grips with the substance of the fissban." In an article in Arms Control Today, he suggested negotiations could be initiated under the auspices of other multilateral fora outside of the CD, such as the NPT or the International Atomic Energy Agency, or an open-ended working group of the UN General Assembly. Each of these options poses its own challenges—some exclude those who oppose the currently proposed negotiating mandate for the FMCT, others limit the process to a select number of states with advanced nuclear programmes. None of these options provide for creating the conditions necessary for successful, non-discriminatory, inclusive negotiation of an FMCT. Their undertaking could, however, demonstrate the political initiative that appears to be lacking in recent years and encourage additional proposals and ideas. As Ambassador Meyer said in his farewell address to the Conference last August, "If States are serious about accomplishing something in the field of multilateral arms control, they will find the appropriate diplomatic vehicle for doing so."

The next plenary of the Conference is scheduled for Tuesday, 4 March at 10am, when the Foreign Ministers of the Netherlands, Kazakhstan, Romania, Iran, Slovakia, and Norway, and the Vice President of Colombia, are scheduled to speak.

- Ray Acheson, Reaching Critical Will