CD fails again

Beatrice Fihn, Reaching Critical Will of WILPF
13 August 2013

On Tuesday, 13 August, the Conference on Disarmament (CD) met to discuss a new draft programme of work, submitted by CD President, Ambassador Sabir Ismail of Iraq.

The new draft programme of work (CD/1955) is very similar to the one that was proposed by the previous CD President, the Ambassador of Iran in June (CD/1952). However, it re-introduces a reference to the Shannon mandate (CD/1299) in the description of a working group that would develop proposals on fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.

Not surprisingly, the draft programme of work did not have consensus and was not even put up for adoption. While expressing disappointment, the CD President is still submitted the draft as an official document of the CD, as he hopes it will be useful for continuing discussions.

After this announcement, the CD President moved onto discussing the proposal to establish an informal working group with a mandate to produce a programme of work. The Secretary-General of the CD, Mr Tokayev, proposed this on 18 June 2013 as a way to break the deadlock. Ambassador Sabir Ismail noted that he would ask the secretariat to circulate a draft decision on this proposal during the day, and scheduled a plenary meeting on Friday, 16 August to discuss it.

During the discussion, delegates regretted that even the modest draft programme of work contained in CD/1955 submitted by the President had not met the agreement of all delegations.  The Netherlands expressed hope that CD members would stop saying ‘no’ to every proposal at some point, allowing it to do what it was supposed to do, negotiate treaties. The Russian delegation said that resuming substantive work was a matter of urgency while the United Kingdom warned that countries had already been flexible and stretched to an uncomfortable position to seek consensus on the draft programme of work, and it should not be expected that such flexibility could always be shown in the future. Switzerland supported the CD President’s efforts to set up an informal working group.

Notes from the gallery

It is not surprising that no programme of work can be adopted by consensus. It’s long been clear that Pakistan will oppose any mandate on a fissile materials treaty that doesn’t explicitly include stockpiles, while many Western states will oppose any mandate that doesn’t include a reference to the Shannon mandate, which doesn’t explicitly include stockpiles. While of course efforts to solve this dilemma are welcome, it is questionable what results can be achieved by the end of the 2013 session by an informal working group that is tasked to negotiate mandates for starting negotiations.

It is also not clear if the CD could even agree on such an informal working group by consensus, as many delegations continue to be skeptical of creating any procedural wiggle room for moving forward. This situation also means that the CD will spend time negotiating a mandate for a group that will negotiate a mandate for a group that will start to “develop proposals” for a treaty. It is very far away from actually negotiating any disarmament treaties, which is the purpose of the CD.

Next plenary meeting

The next plenary meeting will be held on Friday, 16 August at 15:00 in the Council Chamber.