Reaching Critical Will

Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)

Conference on Disarmament

General Assembly First Committee

UN Disarmament Commission

Special Session on Disarmament

President of Conference on Disarmament Presents Non-Paper Compiling Proposals Made on Nuclear Disarmament
China and Russian Federation Welcome Publication of a Book by UNIDIR on Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space

14 March 2006

The President of the Conference on Disarmament this morning presented to Member States a non-paper compiling proposals and observations made during the thematic debate on nuclear disarmament over the past few weeks.

Ambassador Park In-Kook of the Republic of Korea, the outgoing President of the Conference, said the non-paper was an attempt to capture the main subject of the plenary meetings during the Korean Presidency. The Republic of Korea was inspired to make a compilation of the key points and main themes related to those agenda items. He hoped that the non-paper would be useful for the continuation of the debate on items 1 and 2, as well as for future reference.

China and the Russian Federation welcomed the publication of a book, “Safeguarding Space Security: Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space”, by the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR). They recalled the conference that China, Russia, UNIDIR and the Simons Foundation of Canada had co-organized a year ago. The publication of the book was timely, and together with the paper recently submitted by the two countries, it would serve as an important basis for the discussion of prevention of an arms race in outer space in the Conference this year.

Also taking the floor were Algeria, which commented on the non-paper submitted by the Korean Presidency, and Chile, which addressed the subject of the Mine Ban Treaty, particularly with regard to its application in Latin America.

The next plenary of the Conference will be held at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 16 March 2006.

Statements

PARK IN-KOOK (Republic of Korea), President of the Conference, said he wished to distribute an excerpt from a statement he had made at the last meeting, regarding the enhancement of the engagement of civil society in the work of the Conference. He also said that, as this was the last week in the Korean Presidency of the Conference, today he would like to introduce a non-paper, compiling the proposals and observations of Conference Member States on agenda items 1 and 2, in an attempt to capture the main subject of the plenary meetings during the Korean Presidency. The delegation was inspired to make a compilation of the key points and main themes related to those agenda items. He hoped that the non-paper would be useful for the continuation of the debate on items 1 and 2, as well as for future reference.

JUAN MARTABIT (Chile) highlighted the importance of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines. The Ottawa Convention was a success and should serve as a lesson to the Conference on Disarmament. The Conference could not continue to repeat situations such as that which had occurred last week on the commemoration on International Women’s Day; it should not prevent civil society from expressing itself directly within the Conference.

The response of Latin America to the Convention had been resounding. For example, in 1998 the MERCOSUR countries, plus Chile and Bolivia, had declared the region a zone free of anti-personnel mines; and the Organization of American States had since been working to further extend this zone. What’s more, Chile and Argentina had established a Working Group to educate those living in the border regions on the dangers of anti-personnel mines, and on 20 February of this year, further mine clearance operations had taken place in the Chilean highlands.

Despite the progress made, however, a great deal remained to be done. The Convention must continue its path towards universality, and there should be continued mine clearance activities in affected areas, as well as victim assistance. The readiness of affected States to deal with the problem, the contributions of donor countries and the work of international organizations would facilitate the completion of this task.

CHENG JINGYE (China) said that yesterday he had been pleased to receive a copy of the book, “Safeguarding Space Security: Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space”, which had been distributed by the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research to delegations. In March last year, UNIDIR, China, Russia, and the Simons Foundation of Canada had co-organized a conference on the same theme, during which various parties held extensive debates and many participants expressed innovative views and ideas. The publication of the book was timely; together with the paper recently submitted by the Russian Federation and China (CD/1679/Rev.2), it would serve as an important basis for the discussion on the prevention of an arms race in outer space in the Conference this year.

VALERY LOSCHININ (Russian Federation) gratefully acknowledging the President’s submission of the non-paper compilation, said he felt it was a bold step that would serve as a kind of manual for members in considering the issues addressed, and that it would prove particularly useful in the upcoming work of the Conference on Disarmament. He felt that other subjects on the Conference’s agenda would benefit from a similar treatment and that would be quite useful.

Mr. Loschinin thanked the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), which, together with the Simons Foundation and Russia, had organized the conference on the prevention of an arms race in outer space on 21 and 22 March 2005, on the theme "Safeguarding space security: prevention of an arms race in outer space". The summary of that conference had been published as an official document of the Conference on Disarmament. UNIDIR had done a lot of work in bringing together the views of experts, scholars and others in the book, whose main theme was how to use space technology to serve all of mankind and, notably, the role that the Conference on Disarmament could play in guaranteeing space security. In that vein, he stressed the urgent need for setting up an Ad Hoc Committee on paros within the Conference. The documents and reports in the book, he said, would be used in the thematic discussions on paros questions during the Conference this year. He agreed with the Chinese delegation that the book was timely, given that the debate on the issue would start soon in the Conference.

HAMZA KHELIF (Algeria) thanked Ambassador Park for his compilation document of various proposals that had been put forward under agenda items one and two. However, in the meetings that had taken place so far, discussions had also focused on two sub-items - the efforts deployed by nuclear weapon States to reduce their arsenals; and future work towards disarmament. Algeria would have liked these two sub-items to be reflected in the document. Continuing, he said he would have also liked to see Iraq’s proposal for the establishment of an Ad Hoc Committee on disarmament included in the document. Many points had been raised regarding the future of nuclear disarmament, he said, and all these points should have been reflected.