Approaching the end of the 2013 session, IWG looking for a way forward

Mia Gandenberger | Reaching Critical Will of WILPF
3 September 2013

The Conference on Disarmament (CD) met on Tuesday, 3 September 2013. The CD heard statements by the Group of 21, and the incoming Ambassador of Chile, Ambassador José Luis Balmaceda Serigos. Afterwards, in an informal meeting—closed to civil society—the CD dealt with the draft report to the UN General Assembly.

Ambassador Abdul Hannan of Bangladesh delivered two statements on behalf of the Group of 21 (G21). The first one addressed negative security assurances and reiterated the G21’s concerns about the lack of a universal, unconditional, and legally-binding instrument to assure non-nuclear weapon states against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons. The G21 also underlined its support for the establishment of a zone free of nuclear weapons in the Middle East and the need to convene the conference on the establishment of this zone without further delay. In its second statement, the same speaker discussed prevention of an arms race in outer space and stressed that the “the growing use of outer space increases the need for greater transparency, confidence building measures and better information on the part of the international community.”

The new Chilean Ambassador, José Luis Balmaceda Serigos, made an introductory statement honouring the work of his predecessor and recognising the difficulties of coming up with creative solutions for the problems the CD is facing in its continuing deadlock. He highlighted the demands from civil society for functioning multilateralism. Ambassador Balmaceda Sergios also drew attention to the importance of the up-coming high-level meeting of the General Assembly on nuclear disarmament, which will take place on 26 September 2013 in New York.

After these statements, the CD moved to an informal session to do a paragraph-by-paragraph review of the draft report. Unfortunately, civil society is not allowed to stay for informal sessions, and we can therefore not report on this discussion.

Informal Working Group

The Informal Working Group (IWG) met on Monday, 2 September 2013 for its second meeting. In advance of the meeting, Co-Chair Ambassador Gallegos of Ecuador circulated a food for thought paper with five specific questions on states’ positions on the programme of work of the CD. The first questions were aimed at which elements would allow the programme of work to be “robust in substance” and “progressive over time in its implementation,” as well as what such implementation would look like in practice. The fourth question addressed the possibility of a simplified porgramme of work, while the last one inquired after additional items to be included in the CD agenda. During the meeting, the United States (US), France, China, Canada, Belarus, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Russia, Egypt, Spain, Brazil, Algeria, and Iran participated in the discussion of those questions.

All states welcomed the paper and the US, China, Canada, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Russia, Egypt, Brazil, Iran, and Algeria in particular discussed the benefits and disadvantages of a simplified programme of work, which would only allocate time slots for discussions and not negotiations. The establishment of subsidiary bodies, subcommittees, and expert or ad hoc groups as a means to support the CD to return to substantive work was considered as well.

The IWG will continue its discussions on Monday, 9 September 2013 at 3pm in the Council Chamber.

Next plenary meeting

The next plenary meeting will be on Tuesday, 10 September 2013 at 10 am in the Council Chamber.