11 March 2008

Rotating President Ahmet Üzümcü read the International Women's Day Disarmament Seminar statement and report to the Conference on Disarmament (CD) this morning. Ambassador Juan Martabit of Chile delivered his farewell address to the CD and Ambassador Lwin of Mynamar called for the total elimination of nuclear weapons. A few other delegates, including those from Syria, Norway, Algeria, and Australia commented on the International Women's Day Seminar and statement. They and the representatives of China and Peru also bid farewell to Ambassador Martabit.

International Women's Day Disarmament Seminar statement and report
The International Women's Day (IWD) statement, which was drafted by the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom on behalf of the Geneva NGO Working Group on Women, Peace, and Security and NGO Committee for Disarmament, "highlighted the crises of human security and sustainable development caused by military spending, war and weapon profiteering, and the persistence of ideas and expectations of gender that shape how war, women, and peace are considered." It reported on the IWD Seminar held in the Council Chamber of the Palais des Nations last Thursday, which included over 100 NGO representatives from more than 40 countries. The women called "on governments to abandon narrow concepts of military security and instead focus human and economic resources on addressing the real daily threats to the security of their citizens, such as poverty, hunger, insecurity, HIV and AIDS, climate change, and environmental degradation." They called for a paradigm shift in resource allocation, rejected the idea that the military industry or the arms trade brings jobs, prosperity, or security, and called for the Security Council to act in compliance with Article 26 of the UN Charter by delivering a plan for reducing armaments.

The Seminar "focused on the roles and responsibilities of women, outlined in Security Council Resolution 1325, to participate in conflict prevention, disarmament, and all levels of security decision-making," and emphasized how important it is for women "to contribute their perspectives, help determine the direction of policy options, and have a greater say over budgetary allocations." It revealed the need "to examine the relationship between masculinity and war as much as the relationship between women and peace," arguing that wisdom about gender roles and expectations "will contribute to the peace that can be achieved."

The statement ended with a call to speak with our own voices—voices "which are often suppressed or ignored"—in the CD. President Üzümcü read,

We as women have addressed this body since 1984. We would like to be able to do this ourselves rather than through an intermediary. Indeed, not allowing us to read our own statement undermines the seriousness of [the] CD in the eyes of people around the world. In this year of the 30th anniversary of SSOD1, is it not time to allow civil society organizations the chance to address the CD on a regular basis?

The representatives of Syria, Norway, Algeria, and Australia supported this call. Abdulmaola Al Nuquari of Syria thanked the NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security for their contribution, and reiterated his country's position that NGOs should be given the opportunity to address the Conference personally. Norway's Ms. Hilde Skorpen argued that the involvement of civil society is vital to moving forward, pointing out that NGOs have helped in other areas such landmines, small arms and light weapons, and cluster munitions. She said she would like to see the women deliver our own statement in the future. Likewise, Algeria's Mr. Hamza Khelif expressed regret that consensus has allowed the President of the CD to continue delivering the International Women's Day statement on behalf of civil society, arguing that as the nuclear threat endangers the entire international community, the concerted efforts of the entire community is needed to address it. He said he hoped the CD would allow the women's NGOs to take the floor in the future, pending a decision by member states to widen participation in the CD to other NGOs. Mr. Craig Maclachlan of Australia agreed that NGO representatives should be allowed to address the CD themselves and argued that supporting civil society is part of Australia's commitment to disarmament.

Civil society involvement
The exclusion of civil society from the CD is contrary to its welcomed participation in other multilateral disarmament processes. Patrick McCarthy of the Geneva Forum gives the example of NGO involvement in the recent Wellington conference on cluster munitions, where NGO representatives "intervened at will in the discussions and openly criticized certain States for attempting to weaken the Wellington text." They "provided valuable inputs to the debates based on sound research, interpretation of evidence and testimony of victims. In short, civil society was an integral, dynamic and vital element of the Wellington conference that influenced the outcome of the meeting."

While McCarthy explored some possible explanations for this "schizophrenic" behaviour in a subsequent post on Disarmament Insight, overall the question of civil society involvement in the CD appears to be another anachronism in the "'community of practice' to which disarmament diplomats belong" that John Borrie, also writing on Disarmament Insight, referred to in a post about telephones. It is customary for the International Women's Day statement to be read by the (invariably male) rotating president of the CD and not by the women themselves; the custom is simply accepted and those who call for change are ignored. Perhaps this is reflective of the problems of the CD's work more broadly—the Conference might benefit from divesting from custom, trying something new, in order to fulfill the role it was created for.

Revitalizing the CD
In this vein, Ambassador Martabit of Chile argued in his farewell speech that it is necessary to prepare the Conference to respond effectively and efficiently to the challenges it faces and to the changing world in which it must function. He pointed out that the multilateral system is undergoing a process of renewal and innovation and argued that CD members should not just stand aside and and continue to work in a body that is a relic of the past. He said the time has come for reconsidering a variety of issues in order to help overcome the impasse in the CD, including the composition of the CD's agenda; the method for adopting decisions; the group systems; the informal mechanisms; requests for expansion of the membership; and appropriate participation of civil society.

In a 2003 statement to the CD, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan argued, "Revitalizing the Conference requires, first and foremost, renewed political will and determination among its Member States. It calls for imaginative concepts developed and endorsed at high political levels, with the participation of the main players in the international political arena." In his 2008 address to the CD, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon argued that the CD "must rekindle the ambition and sense of purpose that produced its past accomplishments." He encouraged high-level participation, saying this "leadership and cooperation can forge a fresh consensus on future projects."

The Secretary-Generals' calls for more and deeper involvement by high-level individuals and Ambassador Martabit's call for a revitalization of the processes and structures of the CD are supplementary and reinforcing. The "imaginative concepts" called for by Annan and the "fresh consensus" called for by Ban require a solid structure based on sound processes, and vice versa. Foremost, revitalization requires a willingness to change, adapt, and try new things.

Nuclear disarmament
Ambassador Lwin of Mynamar emphasized the importance of the complete elimination of nuclear weapons, arguing, "Nuclear weapons impinge on the security of all nations." As the Group of 21 did on 26 February and as India's delegate did on 28 February, Ambassador Lwin outlined some measures that states should fulfill in the interim. These steps included legally-binding negative security assurances; strict compliance with the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty; strengthening nuclear weapon free zones; recognizing and encouraging unilateral nuclear disarmament measures by the nuclear weapon states; de-alerting nuclear weapon systems; and diminishing the role of nuclear weapons in security policies and doctrines. He argued that the will to fulfill the "unequivocal undertaking" by the nuclear weapon states to eliminate their nuclear arsenals must be "demonstrated by the full implementation of the '13 practical steps'."

The next plenary of the Conference is scheduled for Thursday, 13 March at 10am.

- Ray Acheson, Reaching Critical Will