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June 13, 2005

The Conference on Disarmament (CD), the world’s lone body for negotiating disarmament treaties, opened its second session of 2005 in Geneva on June 2. All statements from this session are available on our website. 

At its first meeting after the abysmal failure of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference (RevCon), CD President Joseph Ayalogu of Nigeria noted that the failure of the Review Conference has “widened the gap” between the divergent positions at the CD, which hasn’t been able to agree on a way forward in eight years. 

So far, however, the obstructionist tactics of a few that mired the RevCon (see News in Review, No. 21) seem to continue at the CD. Ayalogu noted that 60 of the 66 delegations that are members of the Conference support the A5 agenda- the proposed work program from five ambassadors from Belgium, Algeria, Chile, Colombia, and Sweden. Without consensus support, however, the Conference cannot adopt it as a program of work. Some delegations, noted Ayalogu, recommended that the CD President "marry" the A5 agenda with that of the "Food for Thought" paper, "generally a watered down version of the A5", which was circulated by the previous CD President from the Netherlands. 

Of the three regional groups, only the Western Group does not support the A5 agenda, while the Eastern European Group and the Group of 21- the Non-Aligned members of the CD- have voiced support. 

The issues blocking consensus continue to be the mandates for discussions on a Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty (FMCT) and fornegative security assurances (NSAs). During his consultations, President Ayalogu heard support for starting negotiations on an FMCT without "pre-conditions"- that is, eliminating references to verification in the mandate for the negotiations, a position favored by the United States, which does not believe that an FMCT can be verified. 

Of the five delegations which took the floor on June 2, only Algeria discussed the outcome of the NPT Review Conference as evidence of the need for the CD to step up its efforts in addressing "nuclear disarmament and freeing... mankind from these lethal weapons." (While we appreciate the sentiment of the statement by Algeria's Hamza Khelif, we urge him nevertheless to read "NPT Gender Credentials" on page 4 of the News in Review Final Edition.)

Russia noted the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism, which was adopted by the General Assembly on April 13, and suggested that the Conference on Disarmament "could contribute to fighting international terrorism by adopting at the earliest possible moment a balanced programme of work." 

India discussed national measures it has taken in accordance with Security Council resolution 1540, which calls upon all Member States to enact national legislation criminalizing the development, acquisition, manufacturing, possession, transport or transfer of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and their means of delivery by a non-state actor.

Speaking on one of its favorite topics, Poland took the floor to praise the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), which was launched two years ago in Krakow. Turkey, too, used the opportunity of the PSI anniversary to announce that participants of the Initiative will "hold a joint land, air and sea exercise in 2006 in the East Mediterranean, under Turkey's auspices and lead."

In its second meeting of the second session, Russia and China took the floor to speak on the need to Prevent an Arms Race in Outer Space (PAROS), a "major issue of international security" made "even more urgent" in light of "the news (that has) arriv(ed in) recent weeks," a reference made by Russia's Ambassador Skotnikov to the May 18 report in the New York Times that the Bush administration was moving towards implementing a new space policy that would move the US closer to placing offensive and defensive weapons in space. 

Russia and China submitted a new non-paper on "Definition Issues", which draws on other joint Russian-Chinese documents on PAROS, including a June 2002 working paper (CD/1679) on "Possible Elements for a Future International Legal Agreement", an informal paper on "Comments and Suggestions" to the working paper, distributed July 31, 2003 and "Existing International Legal Instrument" and"Verification Aspects" circulated in August 2004. 

The new non-paper offers specific proposals on definitions of "outer space", "outer space objects", "weapon (in outer space)" and others, and is intended to be "mainly an invitation to common creative work, a food for thought and further discussions." Skotnikov also announced their "intention to organize a new meeting of an open-ended group to discuss all three thematic non-papers by the Russian and Chinese delegations." 

Canada welcomed the new non-paper from Russia and China, and reiterated their preference to continue work on the issue "via a re-established Ad Hoc Committee on PAROS that was an earlier feature of this Conference." Ambassador Meyer also noted Canada's support for the creation of "an experts group on PAROS (that would) look at topics like definitions" and suggested that Russia's proposal to organize an open-ended working group be "pursued...in consultation with the Presidency with a view to providing the Conference with an appropriate forum in which to consider and comment on these working papers in the manner that they deserve."

Also last week, the European Union submitted their Common Position relating to the 2005 Review Conference of the NPT as a CD document. "The European Union," said the Netherlands' Ambassador Chris Sanders on its behalf, "thinks the document might also be useful for the Conference on Disarmament."

In the coming weeks, the CD may hold informal sessions to discuss "In Larger Freedom", the report of the Secretary-General and theHigh-Level Panel report on which the Secretary-General's report is based.