"Economic death spirals" and "national security interests."

During the fourth plenary meeting of the Conference on Disarmament (CD), the foreign minister of Bangladesh delivered a statement outlining her country's views on the CD's core issues and on military spending. The current president of the Conference announced the presidential appointments for coordinators on each substantive item on the agenda. Representatives of India, Iran, and Pakistandelivered interventions on the work of the CD while those of Georgia and Russia criticized each other's statements.

Brief highlights

-The president of the CD announced the appointment of seven coordinators to facilitate informal discussions on each substantive agenda item (see below for details).

-Bangladesh expressed support for the negotiation of an effectively verifiable fissile materials cut-off treaty (FMCT) that includes existing stocks, an international instrument preventing the weaponization of outer space, and a legally-binding framework for providing negative security assurances to non-nuclear weapon states.

-India reiterated its call for a nuclear weapons convention and fulfillment of the Rajiv Gandhi Action Plan of 1988, pointing to its 2007 CD working paper on nuclear disarmament, CD/1816.

-India suggested the CD consider the appointment of a special coordinator toward establishing an ad hoc committee on nuclear disarmament and called for an ad hoc committee to negotiate a verifiable FMCT banning the future production of fissile materials and another to negotiate "an appropriate arrangement" on negative security assurances.

-India called for further consideration of the Russian-Chinese draft treaty to prevent the weaponization of outer space and of a universal and non-discriminatory regime to govern the possession and use of missiles.

-Bangladesh called for a reduction of military spending and a diversion of such expenditure to development efforts.

Work of the CD

The current president of the CD, Ambassador Le Hoai Trang of Viet Nam, announced that member states and regional coordinators did not express any "principal opposition" to the appointment of coordinators to facilitate informal discussions on each substantive agenda item. He explained that the coordinators will organize and chair deliberations "in a comprehensive manner, without preconditions" and "without prejudice to any future decisions of the Conference on its programme of work." The presidents appointed representatives of Chile, Italy, Senegal, Canada, Bulgaria, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia to the following items:

-Ambassador Portales of Chile for agenda items 1 (cessation of the nuclear arms race and nuclear disarmament) and 2 (prevention of nuclear war, including all related matters), with a general focus on nuclear disarmament;

-Ambassador Manfredi of Italy for agenda items 1 and 2, with a general focus on the prohibition of the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons and other nuclear explosive devices;

-Ambassador Grinius of Canada for agenda item 3 (prevention of an arms race in outer space);

-Ambassador Mbaye of Senegal for agenda item 4 (effective international arrangements to assure non-nuclear-weapon states against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons);

-Ambassador Draganov of Bulgaria for agenda item 5 (new types of weapons of mass destruction and new systems of such weapons; radiological weapons);

-Ambassador Jayatilleka of Sri Lanka for agenda item 6 (comprehensive programme of disarmament); and

-Ambassador Puja of Indonesia for agenda item 7 (transparency in armaments).

Pakistan's Ambassador Zamir Akram indicated that his delegation will not oppose the appointment of these coordinators, though he reiterated the need to differentiate between the role of coordinators, who facilitate informal discussions, and the role of subsidiary bodies, which conduct formal negotiations in the context of a programme of work. He emphasized his delegation's understanding that the coordinators will work informally under the authority of the CD president and that their reports will have no status except as CD documents.

The representative of Iran pointed to document CD/WP.553 (will be posted on Reaching Critical Will's website once obtained) on the organizational framework for the CD's 2009 session, which references the Six Presidents arrangement (P6) alongside other regional groupings. Iran's representative argued that while it appreciates the P6's efforts, the P6 does not constitute a formal "group" in the CD and WP.553 should not be construed as giving any formal status to the P6.

Two delegations actually addressed issues on the CD's agenda. Dr. Dipu Moni, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh, explained her delegation's interest in negotiating an effectively verifiable fissile materials cut-off treaty (FMCT) that includes existing stockpiles, "without which any such treaty would be incomplete." She also urged the CD to work toward "adopting an international instrument for averting the weaponization of space," developing a legally-binding agreement on negative security assurances, and to "see what can be done to bring global voices for disarmament into this august chamber."

Ambassador Hamid Ali Rao of India echoed some of these calls, urging for the negotiation of a nuclear weapons convention, an "appropriate" negative security assurances agreement, space security measures, and a verifiable FMCT—though for the latter, he added, "It is obvious that the treaty would have to meet India's national security interests" and emphasized that the treaty would need to ban the future production of fissile material. He also argued that the CD's rules of procedure are not to blame for the ongoing stalemate, perhaps suggesting the Conference should focus exclusively on reconciling national security interests rather than altering its methods of work. However, this task has to date proved insurmountable, especially regarding the negotiation of an FMCT. For example, India's "national security interest" of negotiating an FMCT that only address future production of fissile materials is in direct contrast with Pakistan's "national security interest" of negotiating an FMCT that includes existing stocks.

More comments on military spending and security

Responding to Russian Ambassador Loshchinin's statement of 27 January, Ambassador Giorgio Gorgiladze of Georgia refuted the accusation that Georgia has increased its military spending and arms acquisitions "in the context of an unresolved conflict." He also noted that in 2008, the CD Secretary General asked the Russian and Georgian delegations to stop using the Conference as a soapbox for "political propaganda". Protesting Ambassador Gorgiladze's statement, the Russian representative argued that the Russian statement of 27 January only urged the CD to deal with questions within its purview.

Turning to questions within the CD's purview, Bangladesh's foreign minister noted that military spending currently "corresponds to $202 for each person in the world," arguing, "At a time when the global financial crisis threatens to roll back the development gains, pushing millions below the poverty line and making MDG attainment extremely difficult, such mindless expenditure must be reversed. Resources need to be freed to address pressing development challenges." She went on to urge "all countries, especially the major armament producing and procuring countries, to recognize that we can ill afford to continue such spending when our people are hungry, without basic needs and vulnerable to disease, climate change and natural disasters."

Notes from the gallery

As Bangladesh's foreign minister articulated, "We know that armaments are not part of a solution that we seek towards attaining a secure and peaceful world." WILPF does imagine the "number of schools we could have constructed, or the early warning systems we could have set up, or the the quantum of renewable energy we could have generated, if some of the money could be diverted to worthy causes." And WILPF protests what Tom Engelhardt called the "economic death spiral at the Pentagon"—the attempts of the "deadly organization of boys with toys" to argue that cutting military spending during the financial crisis will mean unemployment for hundreds of thousands of people. While the related article by Chalmers Johnson, printed by Engelhardt's TomDispatch.com, focuses on the "ideology, delusion, and propaganda" of the US military, the idea that increased military spending translates directly into increased security is a flawed perception upheld by many governments. WILPF encourages all CD member state representatives and their civil societies to read about the intersections of military spending and the current financial crisis:

Chalmers Johnson, "The Looming Crisis at the Pentagon," TomDispatch, 2 February 2009.

Robert Pollin and Heidi Garrett-Peltier, "The U.S. Employment Effects of Military and Domestic Spending Priorities," University of Massachusetts, Amherst, October 2007. (pdf)

William Hartung and Christopher Preble, "Defense Doesn't Need Stimulus," The Washington Times, 28 January 2009.

Winslow T. Wheeler, "Save the Economy by Cutting the Defense Budget," CounterPunch, 27 January 2009.

The next plenary meeting of the CD is scheduled for Thursday, 5 February 2009.

- Ray Acheson, Reaching Critical Will of WILPF