Enough excuses – it’s time to move on

Gabriella Irsten and Beatrice Fihn | Reaching Critical Will
22 January 2013

The Conference on Disarmament (CD) opened its 2013 session on Tuesday, 22 January. The CD heard a statement by the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, read out by Mr. Tokayev, Director-General of the United Nations in Geneva. Statements were delivered by the European Union, Poland, Ireland, Russian Federation, Morocco, Chile, United States, Iraq, Cuba, Japan, Turkey, Australia, the Republic of Korea, Egypt, and Bangladesh.

The meeting went through the CD’s usual formalities at the start of a new year, it adopted the standing agenda, approved participation of 30 observer states, and failed to adopt a programme of work. 

Continuing the deadlock 

Incoming President of the CD, Ambassador András Dékány of Hungary outlined his thoughts on his presidency, where he assured that he would do his utmost to find consensus on a programme of work and said that he would continue to conduct consultations with regional groups and member states throughout his presidency.

As many have done before, Ambassador Dékány stated that this year is the “make-or-break year for the CD”, explaining that this became clear during the 2012 General Assembly’s (GA) First Committee, where three resolutions, A/RES/67/53, A/RES/67/56 and A/RES/67/39 were adopted and requested outside fora to take on items on the CD agenda.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon expressed his disappointment with the lack of progress in the CD and argued, “We cannot afford to lose yet another year”. While continuing to support the CD, he believed that it is jeopardizing its own credibility if the stalemate continues.

Initiatives outside the CD

All statements addressed the deadlock and most called it “unacceptable”. Several speakers mentioned three UNGA resolutions that were put forward and adopted in October 2012 as clear indications that the international community’s patience with the CD has run out, A/RES/67/53 “Treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices”, A/RES/67/56”Taking forward multilateral disarmament negotiations” and A/RES/67/39 “High-level meeting of the General Assembly on nuclear disarmament”. (for more information on these resolutions, see our reporting from the 2012 First Committee)

The majority of states taking the floor were in support of the UNGA resolutions, including Ireland, Poland, Morocco, Chile, Japan, Turkey and Australia, and were expressing hope that such parallel processes will move the international community closer to substantive work. Irish Ambassador Gerard Corr stated that these resolutions have shown that “time will not stand still forever in the CD and that patience is running out”. Poland believed with the passing of resolution A/RES/67/53, the 2013 session will be the last opportunity for the CD itself to bring forward negotiations on an FMCT.  

However some states expressed concerns regarding the setup of these new initiatives. Ambassador Borodavkin from the Russian Federation argued that these resolutions only will result in moving the agenda of the CD to other fora and that this “fragmentation of the multilateral disarmament” could ultimately contribute to the “collapse of the UN disarmament mechanism as a whole.”

US Ambassador Laura Kennedy noted that “[w]hile not enthusiastic about growing UNGA involvement”, her delegation had supported the Canadian-sponsored FMCT resolution, since it included sufficient safeguards that “would not undermine prospects for the CD to engage on this vital objective.” However, she “did not find this to be the case with the Open-Ended Working Group on nuclear disarmament, which is not consensus based, circumvents the Conference, and re-directs its resources.”

In addition, Cuban representative, Ms. Nancy Madrigal Muñoz, stressed that moving some items outside of the CD constitutes a dangerous step backwards and Ambassador Abdul Hannan from Bangladesh joined the sceptics and explained that taking the FMCT negotiations outside the CD will not be useful since it will lack the special setup of the CD, with all nuclear weapons possessors.

Perhaps out of lack of progress, several delegations took the opportunity to discuss other issues that does not have any official connection to the CD. Aside from the discussion on the UN General Assembly resolutions, Ireland also welcomed the upcoming Conference on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons taking place in Oslo in March. Ambassador Corr highlighted that this conference “will help to highlight the devastating consequences of any use of these weapons” and “remind us why working toward a world free of this threat remains an imperative.”

Many delegations also noted that the next NPT Preparatory Committee will take place in Geneva this year and several elaborated on the postponing of the conference on establishing a Nuclear Weapons Free Zone in the Middle East. Delegations reiterated their support and wished for the conference to as soon as possible be convened. Ambassador Wafaa Bassim of Egypt expressed great disappointment towards the “failure to convene a conference“. She continued in stating that “We reject any excuses given attempting to justify not holding the Conference in 2012, and we call upon the co-conveners to set, without any further delay, a date for convening this conference, which should take place before the Second Preparatory Committee of the 2015 NPT Review Conference.”

Russia and the US also elaborated on upcoming activities by the P5. Ambassador Borodavkin confirmed that Russia will host the next P5 Conference on the implementation of the 2010 NPT outcome document in April in Geneva. Ambassador Kennedy discussed the ongoing P5 process and hoped that this “broader multilateral approach” could be reflected in the work of the CD.

Notes from the gallery

The opening of the 2013 session marked the 16th year of consecutive deadlock in the world's only existing multilateral disarmament negations forum. Except for moving each country’s seat one step to the right, not much has changed since last session. None of the statements delivered during todays plenary showed any change in position or any flexibility in order to get negotiations on any topic of the CD agenda started.

Since the 2013 session seems to be predestined to follow the same pattern as the last 16 years, it is time to look at the new outside initiatives to take disarmament forward. Nuclear weapons continue to be a threat to populations around the world, and almost all countries, including nuclear possessing states, have said they want a world free of nuclear weapons. It is clear that the CD is NOT the most appropriate forum for nuclear disarmament, if it were, it would have started negotiations on disarmament issue a long time ago.

After 16 years of deadlock, civil society has heard enough of excuses. This is not multilateralism. This is not diplomacy. It is time we break status quo, it’s time to change the rules on nuclear weapons and move forwards without the few states that keep holding the international community back.

Next plenary meeting

The next plenary meeting will be held on Tuesday, 29 January at 10:00 in the Council Chamber.