FOREIGN MINISTER OF SRI LANKA ADDRESSES CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT

Spain Calls on Conference to Adopt Programme of Work as Tribute to Victims of Terrorism

The Conference on Disarmament heard statements this morning from the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka, who expressed concern over slow progress towards nuclear disarmament, and from Spain’s Ambassador to the Conference, who spoke of the recent terrorist bombings in Madrid and stressed the importance of preventing terrorists from obtaining weapons of mass destruction.

The Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka, Tyronne Fernando, said among other things that the country supported the establishment of an ad hoc committee in the Conference to negotiate a multilateral treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons. He also said all multilateral conventions, frameworks and agreements on disarmament should be put to full use to strengthen the global fight against terrorism, and that the establishment of new nuclear-weapon-free zones would contribute to that goal.

In his address, Ambassador Carlos Miranda of Spain said Governments should both reinforce their policies to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, especially given their potential use by terrorist groups, and should consider measures to eliminate them. While expressing his country’s appreciation for the condolences expressed following the 11 March terrorist attacks in Madrid, Mr. Miranda said it was the hope of the country that the Conference would end its years’-old stalemate and adopt a programme of work as a tribute to the victims of the Madrid bombings as well as to all victims of terrorist acts.

The next plenary session of the Conference will be at 10. a.m. on Thursday, 25 March.

Statements

TYRONNE FERNANDO, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka, while expressing his Government’s full support for the “Five Ambassadors” proposal to develop a programme of work for the Conference, said Sri Lanka was concerned that there had been slow progress towards nuclear disarmament.

Sri Lanka, along with Egypt, had introduced in the First Committee of the United Nations General Assembly a resolution on the prevention of an arms race in outer space which called for restarting the Conference’s stalled negotiations on the topic, Mr. Fernando said. Moreover, Sri Lanka supported the establishment of an ad hoc committee in the Conference to negotiate a multilateral treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons. And it supported the convening of a Fourth Special Session of the General Assembly devoted to disarmament and the proposal of Secretary-General Kofi Annan to convene an international conference to focus on eliminating nuclear dangers.

Mr. Fernando said the country was concerned over the lack of progress made in implementing the commitments contained in the final document of the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference of 2000, in particular the 13 steps agreed to by States parties. Furthermore, pending the entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, Sri Lanka hoped that nuclear weapon States and those capable of producing nuclear weapons would continue to maintain a moratorium on test explosions.

All multilateral conventions, frameworks and agreements, such as the Chemical Weapons Convention, the Biological Weapons Convention and the International Atomic Energy Agency’s safeguard agreements should be put to full use to strengthen the global fight against terrorism, Mr. Fernando said. The establishment of new nuclear-weapon-free zones would also contribute to that goal.

He outlined some of the measures taken by Sri Lanka, among them the establishment of a National Commission Against the Proliferation of Illicit Small Arms; legislative steps taken in compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention to which Sri Lanka was a party; and a comprehensive humanitarian mine action programme with the goal of making Sri Lanka a mine-free country by the end of 2006. The Government had recently created a National Steering Committee for Mine Action to coordinate its landmine programme with its partner in the peace process – the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE). And in his address to the fifty-seventh session of the General Assembly, Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister had stated that Sri Lanka was reviewing its position on the Ottawa Convention on Anti-Personnel Landmines with a view to becoming a party to it as confidence in the peace process increased.

In conclusion, Mr. Fernando said, “may the weapons of mass destruction ‘rust in peace’ and let us bid farewell to arms.”

CARLOS MIRANDA (Spain) said the tragic events of 11 March in Madrid had claimed more than 200 lives and had injured 1,400 just two and a half years after the 11 September attacks in the United States, proving once again that terrorism knew no boundaries. He reminded the members of the Conference of the need to prevent terrorists from getting their hands on weapons of mass destruction. Governments should reinforce their policies to prevent the proliferation of these weapons and should consider measures to eliminate them.

While expressing his country’s appreciation for the condolences expressed to the people of Spain, Mr. Miranda said it was the hope of his country that the Conference would adopt a programme of work which would serve as a fitting tribute to the victims of the Madrid bombings as well as to all victims of terrorist acts. The Conference should not be sidelined in the global fight against terrorism. The absence of credibility was always a weakness, he said. This weakness favoured terrorists as well as those States which did not respect international agreements.

Mr. Miranda said Spain was prepared to support the initiatives put forth by the Conference’s former President, Amina Mohamed of Kenya, to hold informal plenary sessions to exchange points of view on agenda items already approved by the Conference.

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