And the wheel keeps on spinning…

Mia Gandenberger
13 February 2015 

The Conference on Disarmament (CD) met on Friday, 13 February 2015, where action was taken on a third revised draft proposal on civil society participation at the Conference and one revised draft decision on the establishment of a working group to review the methods of work of the CD. The third pending matter, of appointing a Special Coordinator on the expansion of the membership of the Conference, was not proposed for action. An exchange of views accompanied these decisions. Additionally, a message from Ambassador Luiz Felipe de Macedo Soares of the Agency for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (OPANAL) was delivered by Ambassador Alberto D'Alotto of Agrentina. 

Civil society participation

The CD President, Ambassador Jorge Lomónaco of Mexico, presented a third revised draft proposal on civil society participation in the CD.

• The draft was not accepted, with at least one member state, United Kingdom, objecting.
• Indonesia, South Africa, Chile, Colombia, Brazil, Netherlands, Italy, New Zealand, Morocco, Ireland, Austria, Switzerland, Argentina, and Tunisia had expressed their support for the draft.
• During the discussion, the United States, France, Netherlands, Russian Federation, Italy, Republic of Korea, and Australia suggested the matter could be covered in the discussions of the working group to review the methods of work.
• India and China expressed the need for more clarity on the modalities of the proposal.
• Germany and Algeria expressed the need for more time to review the proposal.

Working group to review methods of work

Ambassador Lomónaco also presented a revised draft decision on the establishment of a working group to review the methods of work of the CD.

• India, United States, and Algeria proposed modifications to the text of the draft.
• A second revision of the draft was suggested by the CD President: Operative paragraph 1 now would read (changes in italic): To establish an informal working group to review the methods of work of the Conference to provide an opportunity to improve the functioning of the Conference.
• The draft was not accepted with at least one member state, United Kingdom, objecting.

Notes from the gallery

The Mexican presidency has concluded today after an unusually active four weeks, by CD standards. The failure to adopt 1) a programme of work, 2) a decision to improve the participation of civil society, and 3) an informal working group to review the methods of work demonstrated quite clearly the blatant incapacity to move forward, as Brazilian Ambassador Pedro Motta Pinto Coelho rightly put it.

This week’s discussions on civil society participation and the expansion of membership have starkly separated those willing and able to “walk the talk” from those who want the wheel to continue spinning around and around in such a way that would even humble Kafka.

After 17 years of inaction, the CD remains unwilling or unable to address the structural issues that prevent progress, or even to consider increased transparency and engagement by the outside world. Its self-enforced irrelevance is only increasing and we at Reaching Critical Will will be seriously reconsidering our engagement with the CD moving forward.

Next plenary

The next plenary meeting will be taking place on Tuesday, 17 February 2015 at 10:00 in the Council Chamber.