July 15, 2005

The final plenary of the Conference on Disarmament's (CD) second session was quite low-key, especially in comparison to the vivacious and numerous interventions that had been given in recent sessions. Led by the new Conference President, Ambassador Masood Khan of Pakistan, the CD observed a minute of silence in honor of the victims of last week's terrorist attack in London. They also heard statements by Bulgaria, Peru, the Russian Federation, China and the United Kingdom, which are available at:http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/cd/speeches05/index.html#second. In addition, Brazil gave a very brief statement and Hungarian Ambassador Tibor Tóth offered a brief farewell statement as well.

Ambassador Khan suggested three methods to break the deadlock: 1) initiatives undertaken by CD Presidents; 2) suggestions from regional groups; 3) flexible proposals from individal countries. He concluded, however, that "the impasse in the CD is political, not procedural", not to be remedied by "ingenious procedural movements". He maintained that, "(c)oncerns about security interests cannot be addressed by means of imaginative work programs." Nevertheless, his procedural strategy for Pakistan's presidency was four-fold: 1) to encourage States to give input on the program of work; 2) to consult with representatives of regional groups; 3) to hold bilateral consultations with as many delegations as possible; 4) to consult with past and future CD Presidents on how to proceed. He was also encouraged to continue holding thematic debates, such as those initiated under Ambassador Strømmen (see CD Report June 27, June 29, June 30 and July 8, above), though there is no consensus on even this minor procdedural strucutre.

Ambassador Khan also noted that "the rule of consensus in the CD is meant to promote universality. It is not a tool to veto a program of work," reflecting the assertion of the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who wrote in his report, In Larger Freedom, that "unfortunately, consensus (often interpreted as requiring unanimity) has become an end in itself...prompt(ing a) retreat into generalities, abandoning any serious effort to take action."

Ambassador Khan rejected any suggestions that the CD disband, noting that other international fora has faced periods of paralysis before, and that "it is difficult to revive a forum after it has been suspended." After all, he contended, "One does not demolish an institution in order to re-energize it."

China spoke on the issue of Preventing an Arms Race in Outer Space (PAROS), bringing attention to the outcome document of a conference they held on "Safeguarding Space Security" in Geneva this March. Ambassador Hu hoped that this report "will help deepen our understanding on the issue of (PAROS), enhance our awareness of preserving outer space security and preventing an arms race in outer sapce through political and legal means (and)... also be conducive to facilitating our consideration on how to furhter advance our work to prevent an arms race in outer space."

Russian Ambassador Anton Vasiliev thanked the delegations which appreciated the Russian-Chinese proposals put forward on PAROS, and announced a meeting on the subject to be held on Tuesday, August 16, to which all delegations and UNIDIR (but not NGOs, unfortunately enough) are invited. The purpose of this meeting will be to: 1) review existing international space law and its loopholes; 2) discuss issues relating to verification; 3) discuss key terms and definitions, as they were put forth by the Russian-Chinese paper on the subject.

In his farewell statement to the CD, Bulgarian Ambassador Dimiter Tzantchev reiterated Bulgaria's position on the program of work, stressing that Bulgaria would support any initiative that might become a basis for consensus.

In her farewell statement, Peruvian Ambassador Elizabeth Astete Rodriguez noted that while her time at the Conference had been brief and at times frustrating, she had been able to perceive the major importance of the role that the Conference had played in the past and the enormous potential that it still had. Still, she couldn't help but note "with concern" some recent developments concerning the multilateral disarmament process, which she identified as "a combination of inertia, resentment and obstacle-placing strategies" which was blocking multilateral disarmament agreements and jeopardizing all the inhabitants of the planet.

The UK's Fiona Paterson briefly discussed the terrorism attack on London on July 7, which had coincided with the opening of the G8 Summit in Gleneagles, where leaders had been meeting to address some of the most urgent and difficult international problems, including the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. She noted the G8 leaders' joint statement on non-proliferation and thanked her colleagues who had expressed their condolences personally or in writing concerning the tragic events which took place in London last week.

The third and last part of the 2005 session of the Conference will be held from August 8- September 23. The next plenary of the Conference will be held on Thursday, 11 August.