Conference on Disarmament Holds Plenary Meeting, hearing from Germany, France, Netherlands and the United States

The Conference on Disarmament this afternoon held a plenary meeting, which its President, Alicia Victoria Arango Olmos, Permanent Representative of Colombia, opened by paying tribute to all women fighting inequality throughout the world on International Women's Day 2022.

The representative of Germany read a statement on behalf of the Group of Seven Foreign Ministers and of the High Representative of the European Union, reiterating their condemnation of Russia’s assault on Ukraine, aided by Belarus. They called on the Russian government to immediately withdraw their forces from Ukrainian territory, and expressed heartfelt sympathy with the people of Ukraine.

There had been an extreme change in the security context over the past two weeks, said the representative of France, noting that over two million civilians were fleeing Russian forces in Ukraine. That had to be taken into consideration when adopting the new subsidiary bodies of the Conference. France regretted the numerous civilian victims in Ukraine, and called for a recognition of the gender-specific needs of women and girls in Ukraine. France would be supporting the relevant disarmament work in the subsidiary bodies of the Conference.

The representative of Netherlands remarked that the current war on European territory called for a re-appraisal of the framework of the Conference. Netherlands condemned unequivocally the aggressive actions of Russian forces, as well as attacks on civilian targets and the use of cluster munitions by all sides, which had a disproportionate impact on women. In general, diversity led to better development outcomes, and gender equality led to gains for both men and women. Studies showed that the equal participation of women in government led to more peaceful and equitable outcomes. Netherlands supported the French proposal to update the Conference on Disarmament’s rules of procedure to make them more gender neutral.

The representative of the United States, while supporting the statement read by the German representative, noted that a full statement was being provided in another forum as it related to evolving security issues in Ukraine.

At the meeting’s opening, the request by Barbados to take part in the 2022 session was agreed by the members.

The Conference on Disarmament will next meet at a date and time to be announced.

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DC22.018E