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CD ends the second part of its 2011 session

Beatrice Fihn | Reaching Critical Will of WILPF

The Conference on Disarmament (CD) met on Tuesday morning for the first plenary meeting under the presidency of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). It was also the final plenary meeting of the second part of the CD’s 2011 session. Delegates from the DPRK, Canada, the United Kingdom, India, China, Nigeria, Portugal, Iran, Myanmar, and Algeria delivered interventions.

Highlights

  • The new president, Ambassador Pyong of DPRK, stated that he would devote his presidency to discussions on the revitalization and strengthening of the CD, as well as to consulting all interested delegations on ideas on a programme of work.
  • Ambassador Pyong announced that the CD will hold an informal meeting on Thursday, 30 June, with the Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters.
  • The Iranian delegate wondered if there was a precedent for convening such a meeting between the Advisory Board and the CD.
  • Ambassador Duncan of the United Kingdom and Ambassador Grinius of Canada delivered farewell statements, since they both will be leaving Geneva in a near future.
  • The Indian ambassador read out a statement by Indian Prime Minister Singh, which was delivered to the Global Zero Summit held in London last week.

Departing ambassadors
Ambassador Grinius of Canada and Ambassador Duncan of the United Kingdom delivered their farewell statements to the Conference on this final plenary of the second session. Ambassador Grinius said the CD is no longer an exclusive forum for disarmament negotiations, as other bodies have carried out such negotiations while the CD continued to fail. He suggested that the current paralysis is perhaps not only due to a lack of political will, arguing that states “demonstrated considerable political will at the Security Council Summit, the Nuclear Security Summit and at the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference in May 2010.” Ambassador Grinius said the CD is approaching an historic tipping point and that the outcome of other initiatives would have an impact on the CD, such as the Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters and the deliberations at the plenary meeting of the General Assembly in July. The Canadian ambassador also believed that the coming P5 summit in Paris will set the direction for nuclear disarmament for the years to come.

Ambassador Duncan of the UK said it is “a disappointment that in the area that should have been the core of my work over the past 5 years, we have not seen the kind of progress that so many expected and hoped for.” He argued that while the institution itself is in need of some modernization, the problem facing the CD is more profound. Ambassador Duncan argued that there is an unwillingness to show the necessary leadership and that since presidential draft decision L.1 was put on the table in 2007, it has always been possible to get the CD back to work, but “we simply have not been willing to pay the price for so doing.”

Upoming work of the CD
The incoming CD President, Ambassador Pyong of the DPRK announced that he planned to devote four focused plenary meetings under his presidency to the revitalization of the CD, and that he would consult with interested delegations on constructive proposals for a programme of work.  The Nigerian delegation found it upsetting and disappointing that the CD could not capitalize on the adopted programme of work from 2009. Mr. Laro argued that if delegations continued with business as usual, the very relevance of the CD would be called into question. On the other hand, Ambassador Qun of China believed that discussions have become more practical in the CD, and that it had laid down a foundation for revitalization efforts. He argued that maintaining the current momentum is the way to break the deadlock. 

The Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters
CD President Ambassador Pyong announced that the CD would hold an informal meeting on Thursday 30 June, with the Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters. The delegations of Iran, Myanmar, and Algeria posed some questions about this meeting. Mr. Daryaei of Iran highlighted a difference between member-driven or secretariat-driven processes and wondered if this meeting would blur the boarder between these two approaches. Mr. Daryaei also wondered if there was a precedent for convening such a meeting between the Advisory Board and the CD. The delegation of Myanmar asked what the mandate of this event was, what the status of the outcome would be, and how it would be reported to the General Assembly. The Deputy Secretary-General of the CD, Mr. Sareva, reassured delegations that the CD is “ultimately the master of its own procedure and the master of its own fate”, and that the Advisory Board had only been asked by the Secretary-General to provide “advice” on the way forward.

Next plenary
The third part of the CD’s 2011 session will resume after the summer break, in the first week of August.