No time to lose

Mia Gandenberger | Reaching Critical Will
21 January 2014

The Conference on Disarmament (CD) opened its 2014 session on Tuesday, 21 January. During a brief visit to the CD plenary, the United Nations (UN) Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, addressed the member states of the conference. The CD also heard statements by Israel, the European Union, Russian Federation, Italy, United States, Mexico, Belarus, Germany, Canada, Ireland, Netherlands, and France.

“Be the first mover”

In his statement to the CD plenary the UN Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, stressed the need for the CD to move beyond Cold War-mentality otherwise it would risk being overtaken by events outside the CD. He reminded member states of the need to confront all weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons.

As a possible way forward, the Secretary General suggested that member states could develop treaty frameworks and proposals through structured discussions and, thus, laying a foundation for future negotiations. He pointed towards developments of the past year as a possible stepping-stone towards resuming substantive work, such as the Open-Ended Working Group, the High-Level Meeting on Nuclear Disarmament, the growing understanding of the humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and the CD’s own Informal Working Group (IWG) on a programme of work.

Looking back, looking ahead

In their statements member states reviewed past work on disarmament issues and in particular the developments of the past year:

• Germany, Mexico, and France welcomed the adoption of the Arms Trade Treaty as milestone of disarmament efforts of the past years.
• The accession of Syria to the Chemical Weapons Convention in September 2013 was highlighted by Germany, Mexico and Russia.
• The E3+3 agreement with Iran was noted as another achievement of 2013 by the European Union (EU), Germany, the Netherlands, the United States, and Russia.
• The EU announced that it has suspended certain restrictive measures against Iran for a period of six months.
• Russia and the United States highlighted previous achievements under the New START agreement.
• France highlighted the mandate agreed upon during the Meeting of States Parties of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons to have informal expert discussions on lethal autonomous weapons from 13-16 May 2014.

For the future work of the CD member states have set different substantive priorities and used the opportunity to outline them during todays CD plenary:

• The incoming CD President, Ambassador Eviatar Manorw of Israel, will, in coordination with the other P6 Presidents of this years session, consider with all member states the reinvigoration of the IWG’s mandate, as well as explore the possibility of establishing a structured Schedule of Activities.
• Germany and the Netherlands believed the mandate for the IWG should be renewed. The US and Canada thought it would be appropriate to revive the IWG only if needed.
• The EU, Germany, the Netherlands, France, the US and Canada noted that their priority was the immediate commencement of negotiations on a treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear devices (FMCT). The EU, the US and France looked forward to the work of the Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on this issue later in April.
• Russia stated that the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space (PAROS) its main priority.
• The Netherlands suggested to hold expert panels to discuss the CD’s core items led by appointed coordinators.
• The US and Germany continue to voice support for the creation of the conditions for a conference on a Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear Weapons and other Weapons of Mass Destruction.
• Russia and Germany underscored the importance of the 2010 NPT Action Plan as a road map for member states work on disarmament issues.
• Mexico reminded states that the global consequences of nuclear detonations have been known to the world since the explosions in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but drew attention to the meeting of 127 states in Oslo in March 2013, which has revived the debate on this matter. Mexico also noted that it will host the second conference on the Humanitarian Consequences of Nuclear Weapons from 13-14 February in Nayarit.
• Russia once again underlined it sees no need in discussing the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons.
• France argued that disarmament work needs to be concrete and progressive without being distracted by unrealistic objectives.

Notes from the gallery

The majority of those involved see little prospects for progress in the CD this year, to say the least. During its first session member states did not even attempt to agree on a programme of work. The lack of consensus was a given and instead member states exchanged opinions on what it was they should be working on, if the CD were to ever agree on a programme of work. Additionally, numerous successes achieved outside the CD were highlighted.

As the UN Secretary General rightly put in his statement: “We cannot wait for new catastrophes to act.” This has become obvious during the discussions on the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons over the past year and blatantly clear after the use of chemical weapons in Syria.

While a few member states once again underlined the role of the CD as the single multilateral disarmament negotiating body of the UN, the UN Secretary General warned the CD might be overtaken by events, should it no overcome its deadlock. Looking at where progress has taken place during 2013, it is becoming painfully clear that this has already happened.

Next plenary meeting

The next plenary meeting will be held on Tuesday, 28 January at 10:00 in the Council Chamber.