CD holds final public meeting before the break

Mia Gandenberger | Reaching Critical Will

The Conference on Disarmament (CD) met on Tuesday, 24 June 2014 for the first time under the Presidency of Kenya. Ukraine, South Africa and Turkey took shared views on the Acting Secretary General’s proposals for the future work of the CD. In addition, the delegations of Ukraine, Russian Federation and United States (US) discussed the implementation of the Budapest Memorandum and the current situation in Ukraine.
 
CD President Ambassador Anthony Andanje welcomed the discussions held under the schedule of activities so far and announced that he will continue consultations over the break.  Then, speaking in his national capacity, Ambassador Anthony Andanje highlighted some issues that he believed contribute to the ongoing deadlock, such as the lack of change in defense policies, continued spending andmodernization of arsenals, as well as the belief in nuclear deterrence and continued reliance on nuclear weapons for security. As a way forward, he stressed that concerns over the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons should be a central theme in all disarmament efforts.
 
With regard to the Acting Secretary General’s proposals for the future work of the CD, the delegations of Ukraine, South Africa, and Turkey welcomed his suggestions.  In that context, both Ukraine and South Africa highlighted the value of increased interaction with civil society. However, Turkey stressed that there was no consensus for expanding the membership of the CD. South Africa also welcomed the new draft of the treaty for the Prevention of the Placement of Weapons in Outer Space (PPWT) introduced to the CD two weeks agoby the Russian Federation and China.
 
Both Ukraine and the Russian Federation underlined the complexity of the current situation in Ukraine as well as the importance of maintaining the ceasefire agreed to last week. The US stressed the importance of the different parties involved to engage in dialogue.
 
More informal meetings before the break
CD member states will continue to meet this week under the Schedule of Activities to discuss agenda items 5, 6, and 7. As previous meetings, these discussions will be closed for civil society.
 
While member states welcome the “work” in informal meetings, no tangible progress has resulted. As the second session of the 2014 CD now is over, it is worth to emphasize that despite informal working groups, schedule of activities, discussions on the future work of the CD, and a coordinator on expansion of CD membership, the CD has not moved any closer to starting negotiations of a disarmament treaty.
 
The third part of the CD begins on 28 July, with only seven weeks left to achieve any concrete results in 2014. However, if the past can serve as an indicator, that seems unlikely.