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CD closes another failed session

Beatrice Fihn and Gabriella Irsten | Reaching Critical Will of WILPF

The Conference on Disarmament (CD) met on Thursday, 15 September for a final plenary of the year to formally adopt the annual report to the UN General Assembly and for member states to address the CD one last time. During the second part of the plenary delegates from China, Germany, Pakistan, Iraq, the Informal Group of Observer States (IGOS), Japan, Switzerland, the Latin American states, Ecuador, Mexico, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Nigeria, Group of 21, and Australia delivered statements.

Highlights

  • The CD closed its thirteenth consecutive year without substantive work.
  • The annual report was finalized and adopted.
  • Member states showed gratitude and appreciation for the work conducted by the presidents during the 2011 session and for Mr. Michiel Combrink of South Africa for his work as the facilitator during the informal meetings regarding the draft annual report.
  • The CD heard farewell statements by the Ambassadors of Japan and Ecuador, and welcomed Switzerland’s new representative,Ambassador Alexandre Fasel.

Annual report
Mr. Michiel Combrink from South Africa reported from the informal consultation that outstanding paragraphs 5, 7, 15, 17, and 23 had now been agreed upon and incorporated in a final draft report, CD/WP.568/Rev.1. Mr. Combrink emphasized that while all participants had contributed, he gave a special thanks to the delegations of Australia, Brazil, Germany, and Iran for their contributions.The Deputy Secretary-General of the CD, Mr. Jarmo Sareva, briefed the CD on some additional editorial changes. His remarks were followed by the president of the CD, Ambassador Rodolfo Reyes Rodríguez of Cuba, and the Conference officially adopting the 2011 Report of the Conference on Disarmament to the General Assembly of the United Nations.

The delegations of China, Germany, Pakistan, Iraq, IGOS, Japan, the Latin American group, Ecuador, Mexico, DPRK, G21, Nigeria, and Australia took the floor to show gratitude and appreciation for the work done by Ambassador Reyes Rodríguez and Mr. Combrink for their work.

Final comments on the 2011 session
In his farewell statement, Ambassador Suda of Japan expressed gratitude for the sympathy and relief that his delegation hade received from CD members after the 11 March earthquake and tsunami. In terms of the situation in the CD, he stated that he does not believe that it is a lack of political will preventing it from moving forward, asking, “how can we deny the surge of collective political will of member states when it adopted CD/1864 by consensus” in 2009?

Ambassador Suda suggested that delegations should refrain from resorting to the consensus rule in procedural matters and argued that opposition to substantive matters should require delegations to present relevant reasons for such issue. While noting that many delegations prioritized nuclear disarmament, Ambassador Suda said he does not believe it is realistic to expect all CD members to agree to negotiate a comprehensive convention on this topic at this time. Instead, he argued that all countries that prioritized nuclear disarmament should go along with the immediate start of FMCT negotiations, since it’s “an indispensible part of any envisaged grand plan for the total elimination of nuclear weapons.”

The Ambassador of Mexico argued that it seems unjustifiable to continue to sacrifice the goal of nuclear disarmament for the protection of the status quo.Ambassador Gómez Camacho reminded the conference that “achieving a nuclear weapons free world largely depends upon the decisions we should be taken in the framework of this conference.” He warned that the continuation of the stalemate in the CD will lead to initiatives being taken outside of the conference.

As the new representative of Switzerland, Ambassador Alexandre Fasel gave an external reflection of the conference, in which he argued that the report to the UN General Assembly is just a general one and that the outside world will easily conclude that the CD is facing an existential crisis. Ambassador Fasel noted that the on-going deadlock is not only hindering any possibility of negotiations on new treaties on disarmament and non-proliferation, but is also undermining the credibility of the disarmament branch of the UN system. He further stated that more efforts should be made to use the remarkable concentration of disarmament expert available in Geneva, from states, international organizations, research institutes, and universities as well as from civil society.

Notes from the gallery
As the CD closes its thirteenth consecutive year without substantive work and sends off a thirteenth annual report to the UN General Assembly filled with empty references to plenary meetings and submitted documents, member states must admit that giving the CD more time will not solve the deadlock.The situation is clear. One member state will not agree to work on an FMCT based on the Shannon mandate. At the same time, while not expressed as explicitly, other member states will not agree to any substantive work that doesn’t include negotiations of an FMCT. Both sides seem to be equally unwilling to allow for work to commence and it is unlikely that the CD will be able to move forward if it must do so on the basis of absolute consensus.

For most of these 13 years of deadlock, delegations have expressed concern and voiced disappointment about the lack of progress. More and more speakers have indicated that unless something happens soon, work will have to be taken elsewhere. Exchanging such words for action is now long overdue. Any country that is serious about pursuing disarmament must prioritize commencing negotiations that have nuclear disarmament as their objective at any forum possible over the continued existence of a dysfunctional conference that hasn’t delivered anything of value in the last fifteen years. The solution is not to give the CD another year; it has had plenty of time. The General Assembly must instead take responsibility for the CD’s failures and initiate work on the agenda items through a resolution at the First Committee. It would not be a flawless solution, but no multilateral disarmament negotiations have ever been an uncomplicated endeavour, not from the beginning of the negotiations nor at the time of implementation and universalization.

Reaching Critical Will hopes that states dare to initiate substantive work at the First Committee this year, instead of preventing progress towards global peace and security by wasting more time at the CD in its current formulation.