10 June 2008

Two speakers delivered statements to the Conference on Disarmament (CD) today. The representative of Ecuador related his country's disarmament record, spoke about CD/1840, and reflected on the challenges to international security. The representative of France spoke about small arms and light weapons.

Brief highlights

-Ecuador's representative lamented the "coma" and "lack of imagination" of the CD, called for member states to take responsibility, demonstrate flexibility, focus on the real challenges of poverty and global inequality, and create "a rather more creditable business card" for the CD.

-France's representative outlined his country's initiative to combat unlawful air trafficking of SALW and argued the CD should discuss small arms issues "more amply".

CD/1840
Emilio Izquierdo Miño, Under-Secretary for Multilateral Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Trade, and Integration of Ecuador, described the proposed programme of work as "a valuable procedural endeavour to address substantive items" and argued, "the approach described in the draft decision is realistic as a means of emerging from the coma in which we find ourselves." Acknowledging that CD/1840 has its weaknesses, Mr. Miño argued this is "inevitable in any consensus process" and explained that flexibility "will be decisive in developing and constructing a programme of work that will enable us to overcome such an unacceptable lack of action that might be regarded as evidence of a deplorable lack of imagination."

How the work of the CD relates to the world
Mr. Miño expressed grave concern with the lack of consensus in the CD, arguing that the "inability to act on disarmament agendas and items and to fulfill them violates the efforts of the international community, which should be a priority with the view to strengthening the machinery that will make possible the human development of less wealthy countries." He argued, "Lack of political will and craven avoidance of international commitment to peace, security, and international development have a fundamental impact on countries like Ecuador, [which are] striving with such sacrifice to overcome social inequality, poverty, and the abusive imbalances imposed by the unjust trade which only favours interests of the most powerful."

Calling on the CD "to display greater responsibility with respect to commitments undertaken since 1979," Mr. Miño explained that the CD "has in the past produced instruments which have proved key to strengthening of international peace and security and peaceful co-existence." Today, Mr. Miño—and citizens around the world, in developed and developing countries—call on CD member states to take responsibility and "speed up the processes to give effect to the ideals of [human]kind, to devote less resources on armaments, and to work to seriously fulfill the Millennium Development Goals."

In 2006, the Millennium Project estimated that meeting all of the targets of the Millennium Development Goals would cost approximately $135 billion. In 2007, global military expenditures reached approximately $1,339 billion. Developing countries suffer the most from the rise in military spending. Nitin Desai, former UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, and Jayantha Dhanapala, former UN Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs, have argued, "Even when there is no active conflict, military spending absorbs resources that could be used to attack poverty." They point out that military spending in the developing world has increased in the past decades and that the percentage of government budgets spent on arms and military forces in the developing world is often higher than the global average. In 2006, the value of arms transfer agreements with developing states amounted to nearly $28.8 billion, comprising 71.5 per cent of all such agreements worldwide. Desai and Dhanapala argue this spending has been both a cause and result of the large number of conflicts in the developing world; that the relationship between poverty and military spending is cyclical and reinforcing. The shortage of funds for economic and social development is a catalyst for conflict and violence within and among states; countries fall into perpetual cycles of conflict, military spending, and poverty that exclude the possibility of political, social, or economic development.

Small arms and light weapons (SALW)
The proliferation of SALW throughout the world is one of the major problems affecting sustainable social, economic, environmental, and political development. The Secretary-General's recent report reviewing progress made on the 12 recommendations contained in his 2002 report on SALW describes the thousands of victims that have resulted from the uncontrolled spread of SALW throughout the world, a well as the destabilization of their communities and the degradation of their resources, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Acknowledging that the CD is not the usual body for discussion of SALW, France's Ambassador Jean-François Dobelle cited this report, arguing that the CD should consider the issue. He then outlined France's participation in various export and arms trade control efforts and explained France's own initiative, which it has presented to a number of fora, to combat unlawful air trafficking of SALW. This initiative aims to: strengthen the exchange of information among states regarding their control mechanisms and to encourage increased cooperation between states; promote partnership with air transport firms "so as to identify the best measures to be adopted bearing in mind the economy of this sector"; and establish a guide for best practices, which will "improve the implementation of the controls required by [states'] national regulations or by international regulations in a more systematic and responsible fashion."

Amb. Dobelle closed his statement by explaining he was not "trying to ask the Conference to deal with a subject already dealt with elsewhere from a different perspective but rather to contribute to this work in awakening our consciousness." The ambassador is correct that SALW are linked to the overarching issues of international security, peace, and development and that the uncontrolled spread of SALW is one of the major challenges facing these issues today. However, he is also correct that SALW are dealt with elsewhere, much more successfully and thoroughly than any issue the CD has dealt with in over a decade. It is notable that the representatives to the CD have so little left to say about the work of the CD itself, as Ambassador Landman of the Netherlands remarked last week, that small arms and cluster munitions, which are being dealt with outside of the CD, create the most interest inside this chamber.

There does seem to be a need for the "awakening of consciousness" of CD member states: to help them find the links between small arms, cluster munitions, poverty, "excessive and obscene" military spending, and the issues the CD has on its agenda and its proposed programme of work, including nuclear disarmament and the prevention of an arms race in outer space; and to help them realize that their perpetual inaction inside this Conference is one more impediment to peace, security, welfare, and justice around the world.

The next plenary meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, 17 June at 10am.

- Ray Acheson, Reaching Critical Will