Conference on Disarmament Discusses Plan of Work for August and Concludes Second Part of its 2022 Session
The Conference on Disarmament today held a public plenary in which is discussed its plan of work for August and the work of its subsidiary bodies, and then concluded the second part of its 2022 session.
Ambassador Paul Empole Efambe of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, President of the Conference on Disarmament, noted that there would be a break in work in July and announced the dates for the next scheduled plenary meetings in August.
The following countries spoke in the meeting: Nigeria, Russian Federation, United States, Brazil, Netherlands, Iran, China, Algeria and Türkiye.
The next public plenary of the Conference is scheduled to take place on Thursday, 4 August. The third and last part of the 2022 session of the Conference on Disarmament will take place from 1 August to 16 September.
Statements
Ambassador PAUL EMPOLE EFAMBE of the Democratic Republic of the Congo,
President of the Conference on Disarmament, welcomed delegations, noting that the second part of its 2022 session was ending with today’s meeting. Looking ahead to the beginning of its third part, he urged States to use the break to prepare for the return, scheduled for August 2022.
All the five subsidiary bodies had exhausted the four meetings allocated to them, and Mr. Empole Efambe congratulated the coordinators for their leadership and for the work carried out, in particular by putting forward two draft reports. While they had not arrived at consensus on the drafts, progress had been achieved. The coordinators of the subsidiary bodies must therefore be provided with the time and resources necessary to complete the mandate entrusted to them, which was to present reports adopted by consensus within the subsidiary bodies, so as to adopt them in plenary, also by consensus.
Mr. Empole Efambe noted that Indonesia had set 1 July 2022 as the deadline to receive comments from Member States, allowing them to finalise a new version to share. Belarus had sent 7 July as the deadline to receive input from Member States, and would also be able to circulate a new version around 13 or 14 July. The three other coordinators – Algeria, Spain and Chile – were also considering circulating new versions of their drafts soon. Member States should consult their capitals and submit proposed amendments to the coordinators of the subsidiary bodies before and after they received the new versions, to allow them to work on the drafts.
The President said he planned to resume activities as of 2 August 2022, with a consultation meeting in the morning, as well as a meeting in the afternoon to assess progress and outstanding obstacles. The next plenary meeting would be held on 4 August at 10 a.m., on the topic of reports of the subsidiary bodies. Another plenary meeting was scheduled for 9 August at 10 a.m. on the same topic. On 11 August at 10 a.m., a plenary meeting was scheduled on cyber security. On 16 August at 10 a.m., a plenary meeting was scheduled on subsidiary bodies’ reports. The last plenary meeting under the presidency of the Democratic Republic of the Congo was scheduled for 18 August at 10 a.m., and would have as its topic reports of the subsidiary bodies.
Nigeria noted that the 2022 session had seen many attempts at reaching consensus, however, Member States were yet to demonstrate the necessary political will, including on the final reports of the subsidiary bodies. The current state of affairs around the world should underscore the need for concrete and genuine cooperation to address nuclear disarmament.
Russian Federation said during the break, coordinators should be able to judge for themselves how they wished to conduct the work of the subsidiary bodies. Once work resumed in August, the coordinators should be allowed to hold consultations to evaluate how far they had come. Plenaries could be held at a lesser frequency in the first 10 days to allow the coordinators to reach consensus on their reports.
Ambassador PAUL EMPOLE EFAMBE of the Democratic Republic of the Congo,
President of the Conference on Disarmament, said it would be useful for the coordinators to take advantage of the recess period to continue with the bilateral consultations, to see what obstacles might still be outstanding.
United States said the remarks by Nigeria were helpful and productive, adding that the United States would be flexible and do what could be done to achieve a successful outcome of the process.
Brazil noted that although none of the draft reports of the subsidiary bodies was finalised yet, they reflected the hard work of the coordinators and the engagement of delegations. Brazil believed that the mandate of the coordinators expired when this year’s session of the Conference ended. Brazil expected the Conference’s constituency to stand up to the challenge of furthering decision CD/2229.
Netherlands said the coordinators had the authority to continue their work in an informal way, asking them to note that not all delegations would be present in July, which was an official recess. In August, the Conference could take stock and discuss how to proceed.
Ambassador PAUL EMPOLE EFAMBE of the Democratic Republic of the Congo,
President of the Conference on Disarmament, announced that due to the change of the name of a State member of the Conference, the Secretariat would publish document CD/8/Rev.9 to change the name from “Turkey” to “Türkiye”.
Iran noted that on 28 June, Iran had commemorated the anniversary of a chemical weapons attack and the national day of the fight against chemical and biological weapons. To uphold the global norm against chemical and biological weapons, the universalisation of the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Biological Weapons Convention was essential.
Netherlands said that with respect to the adaptation of the rules of procedure for the language of the country of Türkiye, the Conference was reminded that it could be done also with other subjects. A discussion had been held on making the language more gender-neutral; it showed how easily it could be adopted in the Conference wanted.
Russian Federation expressed support for the change in the rules of procedure in light of the request made by Türkiye. As for other issues related to rules of procedure and gender neutrality, many delegations were unaware of how difficult that procedure actually was.
Iran announced that a webinar to remember the victims of a 1987 chemical attack would be held on 6 July from 1 p.m., and all colleagues were invited to participate in the webinar.
Netherlands thanked the secretariat for its work, on behalf of all colleagues.
China thanked the secretariat for its contribution to the work of the Conference.
Russian Federation, speaking as coordinator of the East European group of countries, also thanked the secretariat for support extended.
Algeria thanked the secretariat for contributions to the work of the Conference.
Türkiye thanked the Presidency and secretariat for their swift action reflecting the name change in the list of Member States.
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DC22.029E