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26 August 2008

The ambassador of Venezuela, rotating president of the Conference on Disarmament (CD), opened the plenary meeting with information on the draft report on the third part of the CD’s 2008 session. The ambassador of Pakistan commented on this report and the ambassador of the Republic of Korea delivered a statement on CD/1840, the proposed programme of work and his confidence in the CD. Representatives from Georgia and the Russian Federation gave interventions on the conflict in South Ossetia.

Brief highlights

  • Venezuela introduced the draft presidential report on part III of the CD’s 2008 session.
  • Pakistan emphasized the need for negotiations over the report and encouraged the Conference to “resolve differences over key issues” early next year.
  • The Republic of Korea reiterated its position on the four core agenda items and urged for flexibility in discussions.
  • Georgia and the Russian Federation gave opposing interpretations of the conflict in South Ossetia.

Draft presidential report
Ambassador German Mundarain Hernandez of Venezuela explained the draft “Presidential Report to the Conference on Disarmament on Part III of its 2008 Session” covers the intersessional period between parts II and III of the CD’s 2008 session as well as the first five weeks of part III (up to 20 August). The intersessional period was filled with consultations between then-rotating president Christina Rocca of the United States and Conference members and the first five weeks of part III consisted of informal meetings on all agenda items. On 13 August, the seven coordinators reported to the six rotating presidents on the results from these informal meetings.

Ambassador Hernandez said the draft report notes that CD/1840 continued to generate support among a substantial number of delegations but has not yet achieved consensus. He also confirmed that the draft report “was factual and reflected the work of the Conference during its 2008 session.” Copies of the report were to be distributed to delegations following the meeting. Copies of the report were to be distributed to delegations following the plenary meeting. Reaching Critical Will will post the draft report on our website as soon as we acquire a copy: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/cd/papers08/index.html

(Note: The reports on Part I and Part II of the 2008 session are contained in documents CD/1841 and CD/1845, respectively.)

Pakistan’s Ambassador Masood Khan gave a statement “in anticipation of the consultations on the draft report,” in which he emphasized that the report “should reflect diverse viewpoints, including substantive reservations, expressed during plenary meetings; and capture convergences and divergences.” He argued the report should not be interpretative or be used as a tool for discussion on the programme of work or “seek legitimacy for interim, ad hoc measures.” Rather, he argued, for these issues the Conference needs “independent space for conscious, collective decisions.” He also stressed that the report “will be a negotiated document.”

CD/1840 and the work of CD
In his farewell speech, Ambassador Chang Dong-hee of the Republic of Korea reiterated his delegation’s confidence in CD/1840 as a vehicle to fulfill the CD’s mandate and in the CD itself. Outlining the Republic of Korea’s position on the four core issues included in CD/1840, Ambassador Chang noted:

  • A fissile materials cut-off treaty “can be a building block for nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation”;
  • Transparency, irreversibility, and verifiability should be the guiding principles of nuclear disarmament and discussions of nuclear doctrine and policy, operational status, reduction, and verification need to be included in a “pragmatic, realistic and step-by-step approach”;
  • Nuclear weapon states should provide credible negative security assurances to those that “faithfully meet their NPT and safeguards obligations”;
  • The draft treaty on preventing the placement of weapons in outer space submitted by Russia and China this year was meaningful to the substantive discussions on preventing an arms race in outer space and can complement transparency and confidence-building measures, which are important for building multilateral cooperation for the peaceful uses of outer space; and
  • All four issues are important but “it is neither realistic nor possible to begin the negotiations on the four core issues simultaneously.”

Finally, citing a book by a British civil servant, Ambassador Chang argued the CD has all the characteristics necessary for “diplomacy by conference” except for “elasticity of procedures.” He urged for increased flexibility in discussions, arguing that it could “bring about more significant impact on the viability of future instruments as well as build deeper trust among the Member States than the elastic procedures.”

Conflict in South Ossetia
Declining to “engage in debate regarding the justifications employed by the Russian Federation as grounds for its act of aggression,” Ambassador Giorgi Gordiladze of Georgia gave the CD an “update” on the current situation in Georgia, complaining about Russia’s alleged violations of international humanitarian law and use of cluster munitions and other means of indiscriminate warfare.

In response, Ambassador Valery Loshchinin of the Russian Federation argued that western media and some governments, particularly NATO member states, have confused the truth about the conflict in South Ossetia and are rearming Georgia under the guise of humanitarian aid. He also alleged that the Georgian military has been using indiscriminate weapons and indicated that Russia would release facts and figures within the framework of the Convention on Inhumane Weapons (also known as the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons).

WILPF calls on both Russia and Georgia to cease any use of cluster munitions and on all states to sign and ratify the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Oslo in December. That both sides of this conflict accuse each other of using cluster munitions, implying they are illegitimate weapons of warfare, demonstrates that these weapons have been stigmatized before the Convention even enters into force.

Next plenary meeting
The next plenary meeting of the CD is scheduled for Tuesday, 2 September at 10am.

- Ray Acheson, Reaching Critical Will