CD adopts a programme of work

On Friday, 29 May, the Conference on Disarmament (CD) adopted a programme of work for the first time in ten years. Before the decision was called, a few delegations spoke about the proposed programme of work, CD/1863, including Ukraine, Iran, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and Morocco. The current president of the CD, Ambassador Jazaïry of Algeria, took the floor to see if there were any objections to its adoption—there were none, so the gavel came down and the room burst into applause. After the adoption, a great number of delegations delivered interventions, voicing their support for the programme of work. Two, India and Pakistan, elaborated their positions on negotiating a fissile materials treaty.

Brief highlights
- The CD adopted CD/1863 as its programme of work.
- Delegates from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Morocco said they would not block consensus on the proposed programme of work and Ukraine’s delegation voiced its support for CD/1863.
- Iran’s delegation announced it had just now received instructions from capital.
- After the programme was adopted, the delegations of India and Pakistan gave details on their positions on FMCT negotiations.
- The delegations of Argentina, Australia, Austria, Chile, China, Egypt, France, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Mexico, Portugal, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, the Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia, the United Kingdom, and the United States welcomed the adoption of the programme.

The road to adoption
Ambassador Jazaïry of Algeria, current president of the CD, explained that the six presidents (P6) of the 2009 session were inspired by the “new momentum” for disarmament, expressed in US President Obama’s Prague speech, the announcements of further US-Russian bilateral nuclear reductions, etc. After consultations with member states, they reached the conclusion that: they had the “historic responsibility” to not pass up the opportunity to relaunch the work of the CD and that they had to go beyond pre-established positions “and allow ourselves to be guided only by the manifest community of our shared interest in this matter;” that the programme of work should be tackled in a comprehensive and balanced manner; and that consensus should be sought “part and parcel of a process refining previous efforts to overcome” the stumbling blocks of recent years.

Intercessional consultations on a draft programme by all members of the P6 were met with expressions at support in a variety of fora outside the UN system, so the presidents decided to introduce their proposal to the CD on 19 May. Ambassador Jazaïry argued, the programme is not perfect but “is a compromise which provides a delicate balance” and “in no way establishes a hierarchy in terms of priority,” but rather establishes a basis of compromise to launch negotiations.

He then asked if there was any objection to the adoption of CD/1863 by consensus. There was none.

“Spirit of cooperation”
Speaking for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) before the programme of work was adopted, Mr. An Myong Hun explained that while his country will continue to strengthen its “national deterrence” as long as pressure and sanctions are placed upon it, it is the DPRK’s “constant policy to achieve total nuclear disarmament.” In that spirit, he announced, his government decided to support CD/1863.

Moroccan Ambassador Hilal, also speaking before the adoption of CD/1863, argued that the document is “out of phase” with the new momentum for disarmament measures and with the G21’s principle position in favour of a balanced programme of work that sets up working groups with negotiating mandates for all four core issues on the CD’s agenda. Ambassador Hilal argued that the recent DPRK nuclear test is a challenge to nuclear non-proliferation and “should incite the international community without delay to engage in good faith negotiations for nuclear disarmament.” He also complained that the current president of the CD did not respond to a request for a meeting with the Moroccan delegation, which did not want to negotiate with the informal P6 structure. However, since the president had just met with his delegation for bilateral consultations, they decided not to oppose consensus on CD/1863.

Moving forward
After the CD adopted the programme of work, a number of delegations took the floor to welcome the document or elaborate their positions. Most expressed gratitude to Ambassador Jazaïry and the six presidents and looked forward to commencing work in the near future. All delegations expressed their interest in beginning the modality discussions necessary to start substantive work, including establishing working group chairs and special coordinators.

In his closing statement, Ambassador Jazaïry expressed his hope that the spirit of partnership demonstrated in the CD would transcend borders, regions, continents and would permeate the other institutions meeting in Geneva, so that multilateralism can not only survive, but thrive. He paid tribute to all of the previous initiatives and efforts to break the deadlock in the CD, describing them as the foundation for CD/1863, and thanked the Algerian president for his efforts to mobilize the Algerian foreign ministry to work on this issue.

FMCT negotiations
Ambassador Rao of India expressed its support for a working group to negotiate a fissile materials cut-off treaty (FMCT), specifying that the scope of negotiations “would” focus only on future production of fissile materials. However, he explained, India will “not accept obligations not in keeping with or prejudicial to our national security interests or which hinder our strategic programme, our R&D as well as the three-stage nuclear programme.” He also argued, “[t]he treaty should not place an undue burden on military non-proscribed activities.” Further, India considers nuclear weapons to be “an integral part of our national security and will remain so pending the global elimination of all nuclear weapons on a universal, non-discriminatory basis.” Ambassador Rao also expressed his delegation’s disappointment that the CD “could not decide on launching negotiations on nuclear disarmament.”

Welcoming the adoption of CD/1863, Ambassador Zamir Khan of Pakistan explained that verification provisions and stocks must be included in an FMCT if Pakistan is to implement the treaty. He noted that these elements have become “vital” for this delegation because of nuclear cooperation agreements made in its “neighbourhood” that do not include adequate safeguards, which have the potential to increase stocks of fissile materials for weapon purposes.

Notes from the gallery
CD/1863 is the first programme of work to be adopted by the CD since 1999. WILPF heartily welcomes its adoption and the commitment of the CD to resume working on substantive issues, including negotiations on a fissile materials treaty. This balanced programme offered a realistic compromise to this forum and we are very relieved that the CD has seized this opportunity. Moving forward, we look forward to engaging with the CD on the basis of the decision taken at the 956th meeting of the CD in 2004, which specifies, “After the CD adopts a programme of work, it will allocate one informal plenary meeting per annual session to NGOs to address the Conference.”

Next meeting
The next plenary meeting of the CD is scheduled for Thursday, 4 June. It will be the first meeting of this year’s session under the presidency of Argentina.

- Ray Acheson, Reaching Critical Will of WILPF