Draft programme of work introduced to the CD

Mia Gandenberger
27 January 2015

On Tuesday, 27 January, the President of the Conference on Disarmament (CD), Ambassador Jorge Lomónaco of Mexico, introduced a draft programme of work for the 2015 session. Algeria, India, Belarus, the Informal Group of Observer States, Switzerland, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Chile, Sweden, Russia Federation, Republic of Korea, Pakistan, Colombia, Australia, and Turkey offered initial remarks, but stressed the need to consult with their respective capitals.

After the preliminary discussion of the draft programme of work, Hungary, Slovakia, New Zealand, Ecuador, Australia, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea delivered general statements.

On the draft programme of work

The draft proposed by the CD President is based on the agenda adopted at the last meeting of the CD. The draft outlines how negotiations on the agenda items 1-7 could manifest and which documents should be taken into consideration. For agenda item 2 on nuclear disarmament and ending the nuclear arms race, the draft suggests states “negotiate with a view to reaching agreement on effective measures related to nuclear disarmament” and outlines different forms these measures could take.

In a concrete timeline, each of the seven CD agenda items is allocated two weeks for negotiations. Additionally, five weeks are allocated to consider outstanding matters and three weeks for final statements, consideration, and adoption of the CD’s report.

All negotiations would be carried out under the responsibility of the corresponding CD President and the draft leaves room for the establishment of subsidiary bodies.

The CD President requested member states to consult with capitals during the 48 hours following the introduction of the draft, bearing in mind that “taking up substantive work” in the CD means to negotiate. He also stressed that reaching an agreement at the end of negotiations should not be a precondition for beginning these negotiations, and no draft programme of work will ever meet all member states’ expectations.

A decision on this draft is scheduled for Thursday, 29 January.

Next plenary meeting

The next plenary will be held tomorrow, 28 January at 10.00 in the Council Chamber. During this meeting Austria will inform the CD about the Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons of 8-9 December 2014 and its outcome; Costa Rica will speak on a Nuclear Weapons Convention, proposed to the UN General Assembly by Costa Rica and Malaysia; and France and the United States will speak on a fissile material cut-off treaty.