Moving forward: Interests and positions

During the Conference on Disarmament (CD) morning plenary, the delegations of the United States, Argentina, Ecuador, Pakistan, Peru, Brazil, Turkey, Japan, and Algeria gave suggestions to facilitate the quick and smooth realisation of the newly-adopted programme of work, CD/1863. After the plenary, the Conference broke for ten minutes and then began an informal meeting.

Brief highlights
- The US delegation urged the CD “pledge” to adopt a programme of work each year until negotiations on a fissile materials cut-off treaty are completed.
- Japan, Pakistan, and Peru made specific suggestions on how to the CD’s work could unfold now that a programme of work has been adopted.
- Pakistan elaborated its position on fissile material treaty negotiations.

Work of the CD
Ambassador Moritan of Argentina, the new president of the CD, reminded the Conference that adoption of the programme of work is only the first step, and that member states need to focus on reaching agreement on additional decisions “in order to make CD/1683 a reality.”Ecuador’s Ambassador Montalvo expressed his delegation’s commitment to providing “full support to ensure that the work resumed in the future will be carried forward in decisive, balanced, and transparent fashion.”

Rose Gottemoeller, Acting Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security for the United States, urged all CD delegations to ensure that “until the FMCT is completed ... the CD not return to deadlock, to pledge themselves to passing in the beginning of each year a Program of Work authorizing the resumption of focused negotiations on an FMCT and discussion of related disarmament issues.”

Ambassador Akram of Pakistan suggested that at the end of the 2009 session, the CD should assess the progress made and the “willingness to work on four core issues,” to help “chart out an appropriate future programme of work.” Ambassador Akram also argued that each of the four working groups and three coordinated discussions should be allotted equal time. He suggested that parallel meetings should not be planned, so that delegation’s can present their views on all issues, and that “sufficient space should be available to the delegations to substantively participate in the deliberations.” He also emphasized the importance of equitable geographic representation and the Rules of Procedure.

Peru’s representative said his delegation is in favour of keeping traditional regional and country balance and of giving the bureaus for each working group an annual term, to ensure the greatest possible continuity in the CD’s work. Japan’s representative urged the Conference to sort out organizational matters for next year before the end of the current session, and suggested that such decisions could be reflected in this year’s report, perhaps in the form of recommendations. He noted that this is consistent with past practice and the Rules of Procedure and argued that having a “fair projection” of the timetable for work next year will help delegation’s make their plans.

Fissile materials treaty
Ms. Gottemoeller read out US President Obama’s message to the CD regarding its adoption of a programme of work. In his message, President Obama reiterated that a “verified [fissile materials] cut off treaty is an essential element of my vision for a world free of nuclear weapons.”

Ambassador Akram reiterated that the issue of including existing stocks of fissile materials in fissile material treaty negotiations “has assumed greater significance for Pakistan in the light of the nuclear cooperation arrangements in our neighbourhood.” He argued that a treaty that “would merely legalize national moratoria of nuclear-weapon-states and freeze the asymmetries will undermine the international community’s vision of a nuclear weapons free world as well as Pakistan’s national security.”

Just as last week India’s delegation said it would “not accept obligations not in keeping with or prejudicial to our national security interests or which hinder our strategic programme,” this week Pakistan’s delegation said it will also “not accept any framework which is prejudicial to its national security interest or undermines strategic stability in South Asia.”

Notes from the gallery
The statements of position on fissile material negotiations by both India and Pakistan demonstrate the possibility of sharing interests despite maintaining opposing positions. As we noted in the civil society presentations last week, the guide to negotiations Getting to Yesexplains the importance of not bargaining over positions, as positions are not negotiable, but rather focusing on interests, which define the problem. The authors argue that shared and compatible interests often lie behind opposed positions, and that successful negotiation requires creative open-mindedness in order to explore or propose new options that might satisfy all parties’ needs, based on these shared interests. We hope such creative open-mindedness can be employed to ensure the commencement and the conclusion of substantive work in the Conference on Disarmament.

Other business
The CD granted observer status to Honduras. The next plenary meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, 9 June 2009.

- Ray Acheson, Reaching Critical Will of WILPF