The Conference on Disarmament continues its consideration of the annual report

The Conference on Disarmament, under the presidency of Ambassador Frank Tressler Zamorano of Chile, held two public plenary meetings today to discuss the draft annual report for 2021, to be submitted to the First Committee of the General Assembly. The Conference also concluded the discussion initiated on 26 August on the participation and role of women in international security.

Presenting his draft annual report (CD/WP.636/Rev.1, as amended), revised on the basis of the opinions expressed in plenary and the consultations he held with delegations, the President indicated that it had not been possible to respond to all the concerns expressed. He asked delegations to show flexibility.

At the invitation of the Chairman, delegations then commented, paragraph by paragraph, on the content of the draft. In particular, they insisted on the importance of transparency in the Report as to the reasons that prevented several States from attending the Conference in 2021 as observers. It was recommended that this issue not be politicized, a tendency that could only harm the work of the Conference.

Other delegations insisted that the draft should mention the fact that the proposal to technically update the Rules of Procedure to take into account gender equality had not received consensus at the Conference. It was objected that no formal proposal to update the Rules of Procedure had been made to the Conference.

The following delegations commented on the draft report: Morocco (on behalf of the Arab Group), the United States, the Russian Federation, Tunisia, the Netherlands, France, Iran, Pakistan, Egypt, Algeria, China, Venezuela, Mexico, Cuba, South Africa, Brazil, Japan, Bulgaria, Australia, the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, India, the Republic of Korea, Syria, and Argentina.

During the debate on the participation and role of women in international security, delegations stressed the importance of ensuring greater participation of women in international peace and security processes. Recalling that 2020 marked the twentieth anniversary of Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) on "Women, Peace and Security," delegations provided examples of actions taken by their countries to implement the resolution's underlying agenda.

Five delegations took part in the debate: Ukraine, the Netherlands, Germany, France, and Algeria. The Russian Federation and Ukraine exercised their right of reply.

At the beginning of the working day, the President welcomed the new Permanent Representative of Germany to the Conference.

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