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The NPT to ... ?

The Conference on Disarmament (CD) began the second part of its 2010 session on Thursday afternoon, 3 June. The US Assistant Secretary of State for Verification, Compliance, and Implementation, Rose Gottemoeller, and Director of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of Security and Disarmament, Ambassador Anatoly Antonov, briefed the CD on New START. The two chief negotiators also answered questions and heard comments from the delegations of Germany, Indonesia, Sweden, Syria, and Ireland.

During the plenary meeting that convened after the US-Russian briefing, the CD heard statements and interventions on the work of the CD from the delegations of Brazil, the Group of 21, Pakistan, Philippines, Belarus, the United States, Cuba, Syria, Algeria, and France. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Republic of Korea, and the United States also had an exchange over the situation on the Korean peninsula.

Brief highlight

- Pakistan’s ambassador argued that the FMCT is meant only to target Pakistan.
-The CD President announced that four informal meetings on agenda items 1 (cessation of the nuclear arms race and nuclear disarmament) and 2 (prevention of nuclear war) will be held on 7–10 June, specifically focusing on the issue of prohibiting the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons.
- The Pakistani delegation argued that the CD did not agree by consensus to these informal meetings and proposed that informal meetings should be held on all agenda items not just on fissile materials.
- The Group of 21, Algeria, Belarus, and Cuba supported this proposal.
- The US delegation said it would be happy to have informal discussions on any relevant issue.
- The meeting ended without resolving these questions, however. The first informal meeting on fissile materials will be held on Monday, 7 June but the next plenary where procedural issues would be discussed is not until Friday, 11 June.

New START
Russian Ambassador Antonov and US Assistant Secretary of State Gottemoeller gave two briefings on the details of the New START. As the CD members had the possibility to ask questions, many delegations welcomed the conclusion of this Treaty, but also expressed their interest in seeing further reductions. The two chief negotiators argued that New START establishes a baseline for further reductions and that predictability and confidence-building measures are important steps for further moves. Ambassador Antonov pointed out the imbalance of conventional weapons between the two countries as a problematic area for moving forward, but hoped that also this issue could be further discussed.

From the NPT to the CD
The delegates from Brazil and the Philippines reminded CD members of the final outcome of the 2010 NPT Review Conference, especially Action 6, Action 7, and Action 15. In these three actions, the NPT states parties agreed that the CD should start working in the context of an “agreed, comprehensive and balanced” programme of work, adding the word “agreed” to the usual phrase used to describe the desired programme of work. Brazil’s Ambassador Soares argued that all members of the CD that are parties to the NPT joined consensus on this text, and therefore those states are politically bound to seek adoption of a programme of work together with the entire membership of the CD. The Philippines representative argued that the success of the Review Conference lies in its transparent and inclusive process and suggested that perhaps the expansion of CD membership should be revisited.

Fissile materials
However, despite the calls on the CD to start negotiations on a fissile materials (cut-off) treaty (FM[C]T) by the NPT Review Conference,Ambassador Akram of Pakistan described the push for an FMCT as “artificial hype”. He argued that if one looks at obligations for non-nuclear weapon states under the NPT and the declared or informally pursued moratoria on fissile material production of the P5, it becomes clear that the FMCT is relevant only for countries outside the NPT. Ambassador Akram pointed out, “Out of those, two have special dispensations and arrangements and thus will have no impact on their nuclear weapons programmes. So the FMCT is only meant to target one country—Pakistan.”

Ambassador Danon of France responded, arguing that the FMCT would be a legal instrument with universal value. He pointed out that an FMCT would formally establish legal rules for the countries with a moratorium on production, provide an additional instrument for non-nuclear weapons in order to clarify the ambiguity of article II of the NPT, and curb production for non-NPT states. He also argued that a state that does not want to be a part of negotiations or become a party to a negotiated treaty can always chose not to.

Informal meetings in the CD
During the intersessional period, the current CD President, Ambassador Van Meeuwen of Belgium, proposed four informal meetings devoted to discussing the issue of fissile materials, in the absence of consensus on a programme of work. These meetings are scheduled to take place from 7 to 10 June. However, the Pakistani delegation raised objections, arguing that such meetings should be agreed upon the CD in accordance with the rules of procedure. Ambassador Akram said informal meetings should be convened after consultations with the CD members and with a complete schedule of proposed meetings. He explained that his delegation sent a letter to the CD President on 20 April, where it proposed informal meetings on all agenda items with a complete schedule.

The Group of 21, represented by the Egyptian delegation, suggested a similar solution. The delegations of Cuba and Belarus agreed that any informal debate should preserve a balance of the core issues and the Cuban delegation argued that such discussions must be held in a transparent way and in strict compliance with the rules of procedure. US Ambassador Kennedy said she believed that the President was acting within the rules of procedure in terms of suggesting the agenda item for informal meetings, but stated that the US delegation would be equally happy to engage in discussions on all agenda items, such as FMCT, space, security assurances, or a nuclear weapons convention. Ambassador Jazaïry from Algeria suggested that all seven agenda items should be discussed in parallel, through a timetable which future presidents of the CD would have to go along with.

As the clock turned 6:00 PM, with around 6 or 7 delegations left on the speakers list and the issue of informal meetings far from solved, the President announced that the remaining speaker would be able to continue in the next plenary meeting on Friday, 11 June, while the informal meetings on agenda items 1 and 2, chaired by representatives of member states in their personal capacity, would take place as planned on 7–10 June. Ambassador Van Meeuwen said he believed that organizing informal discussions among members of the Conference is one of the functions of the presidency. Despite a considerable attempt to get a chance to respond to this by the Ambassador of Pakistan, the President quickly closed the meeting and confusion arose among all CD members.

Notes from the gallery
From the gallery, it seemed that the conclusion of the meeting meant that the debate on rules of procedure and the strong opposition of informal meetings on FMCT will continue after the informal meetings on FMCT have already taken place. This appears to be an odd strategy in a body where procedural disagreement has been used to impede the ability to commence work for over a decade and the rules of procedure are frequently used to stall progress. While Reaching Critical Will had hoped that the CD could continue the meeting tomorrow and attempt to agree on a schedule of informal meetings covering all agenda items, it is unclear what will happen on Monday morning at the first scheduled meeting on FMCT.

A first draft of the disarmament action plan at the NPT Review Conference gave the CD until 2011 to start working. According to this draft, if work had not started in the CD by then, states parties would let the UN General Assembly determine how its work should be pursued. This language did not enjoy consensus and was removed in subsequent drafts, but it shows that patience with the CD is running out.

Next plenary meeting
The next plenary meeting was announced for Friday, 11 June at 10:00 AM. The Conference will then hear a statement by the Foreign Minister of Ukraine.