Adoption of the 2013 annual report
Gabriella Irsten | Reaching Critical Will of WILPF
12 September 2013
The Conference on Disarmament (CD) met for a final plenary meeting of the 2013 session on Thursday, 12 September to adopt the CD annual report to the UN General Assembly (UNGA). In addition, Mr. Wunna Maung Lwin, Foreign Minister of Myanmar, addressed the CD, followed by the CD President, Venezuela, and Finland.
The Foreign Minister of Myanmar, Mr. Wunna Maung Lwin, expressed his country’s support of the CD, but also conveyed disappointment that the closing of the 2013 session will mark the 17th consecutive year of stalemate in the Conference. Mr. Wunna Maung Lwin also highlighted his new government’s commitment to general disarmament and stated that “we [Myanmar] have undertaken many key reforms within a short period of time.”
The incoming Venezuelan ambassador, Mr. Jorge Valero Briceno, also expressed his delegation’s commitment to the CD, and highlighted that the negotiation of a fissile materials treaty that includes existing stocks is one of his delegation’s priorities.
The annual report
The annual report, adopted by consensus, does not vary much from the draft report from the 22 August 2013. It provides an overview of the 2013 session with factual references on what took place throughout the year. It refers to the statement delivered by Mr. Kassym Jomart Tokayev, Secretary General of the Conference, on behalf of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on 22 January, which he urged the CD “to revive substantive negotiations without delay”. The report also lists the three proposals for a programme of work, CD/1948, CD/1952, and CD/1955.
The biggest development this year was the proposal from the Iraqi ambassador Mohammad Sabir Ismal on the establishment of an informal working group (CD/1956/Rev.1), which is dually noted in the annual report. However, since only three meetings have been held so far, the annual report only records the dates these meetings took place. The working group was established with the goal of reaching consensus on a programme of work.
As noted in our CD Report from 27 August 2013, Reaching Critical Will, welcomes the new paragraph entitled “Communication from non-governmental organization” that notes that member states welcomed enhanced engagement of civil society and that delegations reaffirmed or further elaborated their positions on interaction with civil society.
Notes from the gallery
The 2013 session followed the same pattern as it has for the last 16 years. The three programmes of work proposed this year all included a mandate to discuss an FMCT without including stockpiles, something that the Pakistani delegation has repeatedly said it will not support. At the same time a majority of Western states have made it clear that they will not accept a negotiation mandate for the FMCT without a reference to the Shannon mandate, which doesn’t explicitly include stockpiles.
It is also questionable how much the new informal working group, which was set up to reach consensus on a programme of work, will achieve since it meets under the same membership as the CD. As we have noted before, the CD is now spending time on negotiating on an issue of procedure. It is also of importance to note that even here some delegations have expressed concerns about setting up this group, as they believe that the working group violates the CD rules of procedure. Rule 29 states that it is the President’s duty to present a programme of work. This reluctance to try new tactics to resume work is one additional sign indicating that some member states simply do not want the CD to get back to work.
The real highlight so far this year was the Oslo conference on the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons. The conference was the first time that governments and civil society came together to seriously address this subject. The conference helped to reframe the discourse around nuclear weapons and will hopefully lead to additional progress on achieving a nuclear weapons free world.
Next meeting
The CD will resume in January 2014.