CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT HEARS FROM TURKEY AS INCOMING PRESIDENT AND GERMANY

The Conference on Disarmament this morning heard statements from Turkey as the incoming President of the Conference on overcoming the decade-long stalemate in its work and Germany on the prevention of an arms race in outer space.

Ambassador Ahmet Uzumcu of Turkey, the incoming President of the Conference, said Turkey considered the Conference to have a leading role in addressing the security challenges confronting nations. Global problems could not be solved unilaterally, bilaterally or in small circles of likeminded nations. Effective multilateralism was necessary and achievable. And for this, the legitimate security concerns of all States must be acknowledged. In spite of many attempts, Member States had not been able to overcome the decade-long stalemate in which the Conference continued to languish. They all needed to strive for a new impetus which would allow them to move towards a consensus on future work. He would pursue intensive consultations and seek the possibility of a consensus building on the Presidential Proposal crafted by last year’s Presidents. He earnestly appealed to all delegations to display the necessary spirit of compromise and flexibility.

Ambassador Bernhard Brasack of Germany, speaking on the prevention of an arms race in outer space, said the cornerstone of international space law was the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which placed important constraints on military activity in space and banned the deployment of weapons of mass destruction in space as well as military activity on the moon and other celestial bodies. Germany had a keen interest in strengthening the arms control regime in outer space. Within the European Union, the deliberations on introducing a Code of Conduct on space activities as a confidence building measure had advanced. Germany would like to see substantive discussions on space security taking place in the Conference, and had been supporting efforts in this forum to improve security in outer space through arms control measures. However, meaningful discussions on issues related to space security in the Conference would only be possible if the Conference agreed to a programme of work.

The next plenary of the Conference will be held at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 26 February.

Statements

AHMET UZUMCU (Turkey), the incoming President of the Conference, said Turkey favoured global, overall disarmament and supported all efforts in the field of sustaining international security through arms control, non-proliferation and disarmament. Turkey considered the Conference to have a leading role in addressing the security challenges confronting nations. Global problems could not be solved unilaterally, bilaterally or in small circles of likeminded nations. Effective multilateralism was necessary and achievable. And for this, the legitimate security concerns of all States must be acknowledged. In spite of many attempts, Member States had not been able to overcome the decade-long stalemate in which the Conference continued to languish. They all needed to strive for a new impetus which would allow them to move towards a consensus on future work.

Ambassador Uzumcu said that in close coordination with the Presidents of the Conference for this session, he would pursue intensive consultations and seek the possibility of a consensus building on the Presidential Proposal crafted by last year’s Presidents. He earnestly appealed to all delegations to display the necessary spirit of compromise and flexibility. The cooperation and support of all would be crucial in attaining the shared objective to break the longstanding deadlock in the Conference. Those delaying efforts to cross the bridge needed to realize that allowing Member States to make full use of the Conference would have a positive impact for all, and this would enable the Conference to achieve beneficial results of everyone’s common security. The commencement of negotiations in the Conference would provide a much-needed opportunity to demonstrate collective leadership and achieve meaningful gains on disarmament. The Conference was a negotiating forum and a series of endless talks did not allow it to fulfil its mandate. There was an ever urgent need to take action.

The President of the Conference said informal meetings devoted to agenda items one and two would continue this week, to be followed by informal meetings devoted to agenda items three and four. Next week, there would be public plenary meetings on Tuesday and Thursday, as well as informal meetings on agenda items five, six and seven. The final week of Turkey’s term would be devoted to an evaluation of the progress achieved so far by the agenda item coordinators. The next plenary of the Conference would be held at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 26 February.

BERNHARD BRASACK (Germany), speaking on the prevention of an arms race in outer space, said the right of all States to explore and use the outer space, this unique shared environment, for the benefit and in the interest of all human kind, was a universally accepted legal principle. It was the concern and responsibility of all States to ensure that these rights could be exercised in the interest of maintaining international peace and security. The cornerstone of international space law was the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which placed important constraints on military activity in space and banned the deployment of weapons of mass destruction in space as well as military activity on the moon and other celestial bodies. Outer space was now part of everyday life for most of the planet’s population, and today’s space environment was already threatened by widespread pollution through debris, which by its nature was “indiscriminate”, a growing saturation of the radio-frequency spectrum and a crowding in the most useful orbital positions. Therefore an arms race was not even needed to threaten the secure and sustainable access to and use of outer space. Besides, activities in space were increasingly of a “dual-use” character.

Germany had a keen interest in strengthening the arms control regime in outer space. Within the European Union, the deliberations on introducing a Code of Conduct on space activities as a confidence building measure had advanced. Germany would like to see substantive discussions on space security taking place in the Conference, and had been supporting efforts in this forum to improve security in outer space through arms control measures. Germany welcomed the presentation of the draft Treaty on the Prevention of the Placement of Weapons in Outer Space, the Threat or Use of Force against Outer Space Objects, to the Conference by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov last week. Germany looked forward to constructively participating in discussions on the draft. In such discussions, Germany would like to elaborate on issues which in its view were not yet sufficiently covered by the draft, including the relationship between a potential new instrument and the existing ones, particularly the Outer Space Treaty as the cornerstone of outer space security; the dangers posed by the development and testing of Anti-Satellite-Weapons; and compliance and verification mechanisms as a central element of such a treaty. However, meaningful discussions on issues related to space security in the Conference would only be possible if the Conference agreed to a programme of work.

In conclusion, Ambassador Brasack said there was no doubt that any negotiations on banning destructive space weapons would encounter numerous difficulties, particularly relating to definitions and verification measures. Consequently, Germany considered the ongoing deliberations on a Code of Conduct on Space Activities, as a transparency and confidence building measure, a more immediate contribution to space security. As a longer-term goal, Germany was in favour of a new legally binding instrument on arms control in outer space, for which a non-legally binding Code of Conduct to prevent dangerous practices in space could provide a stepping stone and eventually facilitate negotiations of a multilateral treaty which was more ambitious in scope.


For use of the information media; not an official record

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