Reaching Critical Will

Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)

Conference on Disarmament

General Assembly First Committee

UN Disarmament Commission

Special Session on Disarmament

Statement by Dr. Annika Thunborg, Permanent Mission of Sweden to the International Organizations in Geneva, to the Conference on Disarmament,
Thursday 2 March 2006

Mr. President,

My delegation wishes to take this opportunity to further the interactive debate on nuclear disarmament.

Let me first thank those nuclear-weapon states that have provided specific and detailed information on their nuclear arsenals this week. We very much look forward to these statements in written form so that we can look at the information provided more carefully. And we look forward to similar detailed information from all other states possessing nuclear weapons, as well as answers to the questions put forward on Tuesday.

I would now like to touch upon some measures that could be taken in the near future to make the world safer through nuclear disarmament. Some of these measures are very much in line with what has been suggested by other delegations. In this context, I would especially mention the very interesting proposal on transparency put forward by Ireland as a specific disarmament measure that we can pursue here in the CD.

Now to the specific measures.

1. All states possessing NW need to declare moratoria on the development of new weapons and new types of NW.

2. All nuclear forces need to be taken off alert. As my Ambassador said on Tuesday, the maintenance of thousands of nuclear warheads on hair-trigger alert, ready to launch within 15 minutes, greatly increases the risk of unauthorized or accidental launch or a launch set off prematurely based on flawed intelligence.

3. A strengthened Moscow treaty with irreversibility and verification measures. And the commencement of negotiations of a succeeding treaty so that the number of nuclear weapons in the United States and the Russian Federation - as an intermediary step - be counted in the 100s and not in the 1000s. In this context we welcome the Russian statement that Russia would be willing to go below 1,500 deployed nuclear weapons. Of course we welcome the Moscow Treaty as a confidence building and security measure since it aims towards taking a big portion of the weapons off alert. But it is a serious problem that the Treaty does not require the destruction of a single nuclear warhead. In theory, the warheads can be refitted on new missiles/delivery vehicles. We would very much like to hear information from the United States and Russia on their concrete plans for the destruction of these warheads similarly to what was proposed by Norway.

4. We would like to see the commencement of a process that would lead to the establishment of a zone free from nuclear, biological and chemical weapons in the Middle East. We believe that such a process needs to be started in parallel to the Middle East peace process. As we know from other regions of conflict and tension in the world, weapons issues and political issues have to be addressed simultaneously so as the two processes can feed into one another. Let me also be clear that it is illegal according to the UN Charter and to international law when a member state of the UN threatens another member state with extinction. Such rhetoric has to stop.

5. We would very much like to see CBM:s on nuclear disarmament being pursued between the United States, China and India (and perhaps also the Russian Federation). One example would be that all bilateral agreements should include mutual commitments, for example the signing and the ratification of the CTBT, declared unilateral moratoria on fissile material production, agreement to start FMCT negotiations, and no-first-use measures.

6. Of course, negotiations in the CD should commence immediately on an FMCT that would take into account both non-proliferation and disarmament aspects. We would like to continue the dialogue with all states possessing nuclear weapons on what concrete measures you plan to take nationally, regionally, or internationally to make the world safer through nuclear disarmament measures. We look forward to your answers in this or the next CD-session.

Thank you, Mr. President.