The Critical Will Report
The
report below objectively documents serious organizational
dysfunction within the U.N. Conference on Disarmament. The
UNCD is simply in no shape to conclude the complex task
of approving a multi-lateral agreement banning space-based
weapons in time to be effective or in time to produce a
more updated and relevant replacement for the terminated
ABM Treaty and, thus, the UNCD cannot prevent the weaponization
of space.
May 15, 2002
Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors,
Tomorrow the second session of the Conference on Disarmament
(CD) begins in Geneva. This body with 66 member states is
known as the "sole multilateral disarmament negotiating
body" of the United Nations. The CD has three sessions
each year, the first begins in the penultimate week of January
and lasts for 10 weeks; the second begins in May and lasts
7 weeks and the third in July and lasts 7 weeks. Generally
there is one plenary session per week. The first session took
place 21 January to 29 March 2002. Groupings among the members
include the Western Group, the Non-Aligned Movement (also
known as the G21), the Group of Eastern European States And
Others, the P5 (the 5 permanent members of the Security Council,
the 5 declared nuclear weapons states) the P4 (the five minus
China) and China often refers to itself as the Group of One.
The first session of the CD reflected concern for the lack
of movement forward on negotiations for the past three years.
The CD has been frozen due to an inability to agree on a Program
of Work. The last major activity of the CD was the negotiation
of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) in 1996, which
still has not entered into force. For good background on the
history and issues of the Conference on Disarmament, refer
to the Reaching Critical Will Guide to the Conference on
Disarmament, at the following webpage:
http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/cd/cdbook.pdf
There are three main items which are causing the deadlock.
These issues are: adopting a subsidiary body on nuclear disarmament,
negotiating a fissile material cut-off treaty (FMCT) and negotiating
a treaty to prevent the weaponization of space (PAROS- prevention
of an arms race in outer space).
The CD has agreed to a fissile cut-off negotiating mandate
but has been unable to establish an ad hoc committee needed
to carry forward talks. There has been a linkage of issues
made by the Russian Federation and China between beginning
negotiations on FMCT and establishing an Ad Hoc Committee
on PAROS. An attempt to break this impasse was made with the
"Amorim proposal", put forward by the then CD President,
Ambassador Celso Amorim (Brazil).
The Amorim proposal (CD/1624, August 24, 2000) recommends
the establishment of four ad hoc committees: one each to "deal
with" nuclear disarmament and PAROS, one to negotiate
a ban on the production of fissile materials, based on a specific
mandate agreed to in 1995, and one, with a broader mandate,
to negotiate on negative security assurances (NSA). In addition,
it proposes the establishment of special coordinators on anti-personnel
mines, transparency in armaments, and the review of the CD's
agenda, the expansion of its membership and its effective
and improved functioning. Furthermore, a draft presidential
declaration has been attached to this proposal which stresses
that the CD is a disarmament negotiating forum and that the
(above) mandates should be viewed in that light and notes
that the CD continues "to be influenced by and responsive
to developments in the international strategic scene which
affect the security interests of its individual members."
So far in 2002, the only decision taken was to re-appointment
three Special Coordinators on procedural issues, in an effort
to find ways to break the CD deadlock. These coordinators
are: Ambassador Petko Draganov of Bulgaria on expansion of
the Membership of the Conference, Ambassador Gunther Seibert
of Germany on review of the agenda of the Conference and Ambassador
Prasad Kariyawasam of Sri Lanka on Improved and Effective
Functioning of the Conference. While this is an encouraging
effort by the Conference, it does not replace substantive
work on items of the Program of Work, which is the main task
of this body. One event worth noting in the first session
of 2002 was the Statement by the International Women's Day
Seminar on "Terrorism, The Global Order, Arms and Missile
Defence" to the Conference on Disarmament on the Occasion
of International Women's Day, Geneva, 7 March 2002. This statement
can be found at:
http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/cd/speeches02/womensday02.pdf
The statements and press releases from the second session
of the CD,
beginning tomorrow, May 16, can be found at:
http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/cd/2ndspeeches.html
and
http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/cd/2ndpress02.html
Emily Schroeder
Project Associate, Reaching Critical Will
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
United Nations Office
777 UN Plaza, New York, NY 10017, USA
Ph: 1 212 682 1265
Fax: 1 212 286 8211
email: emily@reachingcriticalwill.org,
wilpfun@igc.org
web: www.reachingcriticalwill.org
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