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Engaging civil society for progress

At the Conference on Disarmament (CD)'s second plenary meeting, representatives from Japan, Austria, China, New Zealand, Norway, and Pakistan suggested ways to move toward consensus on a programme of work and recommended reforms to the CD's working methods—particularly regarding the Conference's relationship with civil society.

Brief highlights

  • Japan expressed support for moving forward on the basis of the 2008 proposed programme of work, CD/1840.
  • Pakistan described CD/1840 as a "non-starter" and suggested the CD seek consensus on the Five Ambassadors Proposal, or A5 Proposal, of 2003.
  • Pakistan expressed preference for the president and not coordinators to conduct informal thematic debates on the seven agenda items.
  • Austria, New Zealand, and Norway encouraged the CD to consider actively engaging with civil society and NGO representatives in its work. New Zealand suggested the CD hold an open debate on the subject.
  • All three delegations also encouraged the CD to consider reforming its other working methods in order to "modernize" the Conference and to ensure it remains relevant.

Adopting a programme of work
Austria's Ambassador Christian Strohal said his delegation believes "the main reason for the continued deadlock stems from a lack of political focus," though he expressed confidence that this would change during 2009. Ambassador Strohal advocated for "focus and flexibility" in the CD—concentrating the debate on issues "most susceptible to an intensification of deliberations leading eventually to the start of substantive negotiations" and "mustering all our spirit of co-operation and compromise." Likewise, China's Ambassador Wang Qun urged CD member states "to re-examine their arms control and disarmament policies" in order to bring fresh views to the table.

Japan's Ambassador Sumio Tarui expressed support for moving forward on the basis of the 2008 proposed programme of work,CD/1840. However, in the absence of reaching consensus on a formal programme of work, he suggested holding thematic debates on the four core issues (as in previous years, these are identified as nuclear disarmament, negative security assurances, prevention of an arms race in outer space, and a fissile materials cut-off treaty) in informal meetings and "focused discussion among experts on the specific details of the four core issues, such as verification of a fissile materials cut-off treaty."

However, Pakistan's new ambassador, Zamir Akram, argued that the CD "is not a debating forum" and thus its participants must "work collectively to end the CD impasse, to reach consensus on a balanced and comprehensive programme of work." He emphasized that while some delegations describe the 2008 proposed programme of work, CD/1840, as a "balanced compromise," it did not enjoy consensus nor did it "reflect the view of all CD members." Describing CD/1840 as a "non-starter", Ambassador Akram advocated for seeking consensus on the Five Ambassadors Proposal, or A5 Proposal, of 2003, which sought to establish ad hoc committees on all four core issues, special coordinators on the remaining agenda items, and included a negotiating mandate for "a non-discriminatory, multilateral and internationally and effectively verifiable" fissile materials treaty.

Modernizing and democratizing the CD
Taking a broader view of the complicating factors preventing CD member states from reaching consensus on a programme of work, several delegations—Austria, New Zealand, and Norway—looked to the working methods of the Conference itself. All three urged greater and regular exchange with non-governmental actors. Austria's Ambassador Strohal noted that time and again "cooperation between governments, parliaments and civil society" has been beneficial to "other security related initiatives" and that "success in the field of disarmament in general will depend not only on a full commitment on the political level but on a strong involvement by our civil societies as well."

Ambassador Don Mackay of New Zealand noted the strong commitment expressed by CD delegates in getting the Conference back to work and making it more relevant, pointing out that "as long as it is unable to commence negotiations" it is regrettably not as relevant as it should be. He cited the CD's "archaic and antique" working methods as one source of its growing irrelevance, especially the way in which the Conference does not engage with civil society. Ambassador Mackay noted that civil society is actively engaged with the work of the other UN bodies, such as the Human Rights Council, and even other disarmament bodies, such as the conferences related to theConvention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and the General Assembly First Committee. He also pointed out that civil society has been active in negotiations stemming from the CCW process. Meanwhile, in the CD, when a delegate made an informal proposal to allow a women's NGO to make a statement to the Conference on International Women's Day, discussion on the proposal was conducted behind closed doors and "the conclusion was reached that this would be a horrifying development and it was not proceeded with." He also pointed out that during the first plenary of 2009, civil society representatives were asked to leave the room for an informal discussion and only because of the intervention of Ambassador Landman from the Netherlands were they allowed to return.

In order to bring the CD "up to date," Ambassador Mackay suggested the CD hold an open debate on whether or not it should engage more actively with representatives of civil society, arguing, "The reality is that international security issues of the sort that we deal with and we should be dealing with belong to the international community as a whole and not to a group of us who are specialists in this particular area."

Norwegian Deputy Representative Hilde Skorpen took the floor to reiterate her delegation's call for the CD to hold a serious discussion about reforming the working methods of the Conference. During the vote on the annual resolution on the CD at the General Assembly First Committee in October 2008, the Norwegian representative questioned "the notion that the CD is 'the sole multilateral disarmament negotiating forum of the international community'," pointing out, "[i]mportant progress has been achieved in other fora, where all states have been invited to take part in negotiations." Agreeing with Ambassador Mackay's call for active engagement with civil society, she also advocated for a review of the CD's rules of procedure and the "work culture" of the Conference. She noted that at the Human Rights Council, people engage more actively with each other at the meetings, they talk to each other, they ask questions—while at the CD, participants do not take "advantage of the opportunity to explore what is actually meant" by a given statement.

Pakistan's Ambassador Akram also indicated his delegation's support for discussions on engaging civil society, noting, "The CD can benefit from their expertise and experience in the field of arms control and non-proliferation."

Notes from the gallery
The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom welcomes Ambassador Mackay's proposal for an open debate on the CD's engagement with civil society and for his comments on the archaic tradition of excluding NGO representatives from participating in CD discussions, from attending informal discussions, and from delivering our annual statement marking International Women's Day. In 2008, this exclusion was noted by other NGO activists, including Patrick McCarthy, then of the Geneva Forum, who wrote on the Disarmament Insight blog:

One NGO—the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom—has one opportunity each year to address the Conference; on March 8, International Women's Day. But they may not do so themselves. They must pass their statement, drafted by a separate conference of women's NGOs from around the world, to an official of the Conference, invariably a man, to read out while they observe in frustration from the public gallery. This dismal situation has at least created some comic relief in the past, such as the occasion a few years ago when the (male) Deputy Secretary-General of the Conference began reading the statement with the ringing words, "We, the women of the world..."

As Ambassador Mackay noted, governmental and non-governmental representatives may not agree on everything—or anything—but we do "reflect the views of the community at large, the broader international community," and "bring perspectives and expertise ... that sometimes governments are not able to bring to the table."

For the record
There are a variety of numbers floating around regarding the length of the deadlock in the CD, begging the question, just how long is it since the Conference did any real work? The last treaty the CD negotiated was the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which concluded in 1996. According to our research, the CD has not undertaken any substantive work since then, and, since the 1999 session, it has not even managed to adopt a programme of work: meaning that it has been twelve years since the CD engaged in substantive work (1997–2009) and ten years since it has adopted a programme of work (1999–2009). Unless, of course, 2009 is the year of political will and mass movement for peace and disarmament!

The next plenary meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, 27 January 2009.

- Ray Acheson, Reaching Critical Will of WILPF