UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL URGES CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT TO LIVE UP TO ITS POTENTIAL

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon this afternoon reaffirmed to the Conference on Disarmament his confidence in the great potential of this body to play a catalytic role in advancing the disarmament agenda, but urged the Conference to live up to that potential and meet the expectations of the international community.

Mr. Ban said the Conference’s record of achievement had been overshadowed by inertia that had now lasted for more than a decade. The very credibility of this body was at risk. Continued inaction would only endanger its future as a multilateral negotiating forum. The continued deadlock had ominous implications for international security, the Secretary-General warned. The longer it persisted, the graver the nuclear threat - from existing arsenals, from the proliferation of such weapons, and from their possible acquisition by terrorists. The Conference must find a way to continue its invaluable work. It must focus on promoting global goals that were fully universal in scope. It must do its part to advance the rule of law in the field of disarmament. It must not let one lost decade for the Conference turn into a second.

The Secretary-General called on the Conference Members to put aside their differences to enable them to serve the global interest and build a safer world. With respect to the Fissile Material Treaty, it was clear that within the Conference, there was almost universal support for negotiations on such a treaty. While many Members continued to hope that formal negotiations would take place in the Conference, a number of Members had recently suggested that alternative arrangements should be explored. As a first step, he was wondering whether they could commence an informal process before they agree on formal negotiations on the Fissile Material Treaty within the Conference. It could simply be a basic process to educate each other and build trust which would inform and facilitate the formal process once the Conference adopted its work programme.

Also speaking this afternoon was Serbia on behalf of the Informal Group of Observer States to the Conference on Disarmament.

The next public plenary of the Conference will be held on Thursday, 27 January at 10 a.m.

Statements

BAN KI-MOON, United Nations Secretary-General, said that he was addressing the Conference to express his confidence in the great potential of this body to play a catalytic role in advancing the disarmament agenda. But he was also there to make a fresh appeal to the Conference to live up to that potential – and to meet the expectations of the international community. In the past several years, they had built important momentum -- hard-won momentum on which they could and must build. The next few years would be critical. They could push forward on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, or risk sliding back. This was why disarmament and non-proliferation were among his top priorities for the year ahead. As he told the General Assembly two weeks ago, if they were to build on the current momentum, they needed even more concrete action than they had achieved to date. It was his sincere hope that such action would again emanate from the Conference. The world’s multilateral disarmament machinery should deliver more and more quickly. The Conference should become the first harbinger of hope for 2011 in the field of disarmament.

Mr. Ban said the Conference on Disarmament was the undisputed home of international arms control efforts. From its inception, the Conference had had a unique function. As the world’s single multilateral disarmament negotiating forum, it had produced landmark treaties that had promoted international security while demonstrating that multilateral collaboration could serve the global and national interest alike. However, the Conference’s record of achievement had been overshadowed by inertia that had now lasted for more than a decade. The very credibility of this body was at risk. Continued inaction would only endanger its future as a multilateral negotiating forum. There had been a brief glimmer of hope almost two years ago, when the sense of crisis had led the Conference to adopt a programme of work by consensus under the Algerian presidency. This apparent break in the deadlock had been very encouraging. It had seemed like a real breakthrough, and there had been great expectation that the Conference, at long last, would fulfil its mandate and begin negotiations. Unfortunately, the programme of work for the 2009 session had not been implemented, and the Conference had ended its 2010 session without starting substantive work. This had been deeply disappointing.

There appeared to be a disconnect between the Conference on Disarmament and the recent positive developments in the field of disarmament and non-proliferation, the Secretary-General said. On the one hand, States had made welcome progress on a variety of matters that had a direct impact on the global security environment. They had taken steps to strengthen nuclear security, with more expected. The States parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons had a successful review conference in 2010 – the first in ten years. Important bilateral efforts were coming to fruition, as they had seen with the new START treaty. But on the other hand, the Conference on Disarmament had played little or no role in these advances. Where States and civil society initiatives were on the move, the Conference had remained stagnant.
Because of the impasse, the Secretary-General said he decided to convene, this past September, a high-level meeting on revitalizing the work of the Conference and taking forward multilateral disarmament negotiations. The NPT Review Conference also invited him to convene such a meeting. As they were all aware, at the meeting many foreign ministers and other high-level political leaders expressed their deep concern about the inability of the Conference on Disarmament to overcome its differences, and joined him in urging it to start substantive work in 2011. The participants in the meeting were also unanimous in stressing that limited membership of the Conference on Disarmament was a privilege. So was the consensus rule. Members of the Conference must accept that this privilege came with responsibility.

The Secretary-General said the message was clear. This should not be another year of business-as-usual. Just one or two countries must not be able to block the process indefinitely. Moreover, they must not risk pushing States to resort to alternative arrangements outside the Conference on Disarmament. The future of the Conference on Disarmament was in their hands. It was for the Members to decide whether the Conference would live up to the expectations of the international community or face the consequences. At the September meeting he also noted that the programme of work adopted by consensus in 2009 remained the most common denominator. Therefore, he suggested, once again, that early in their 2011 session, the Conference should adopt this programme of work or any other similar subsequent proposal that the Conference could agree by consensus. In this regard, he welcomed the joint statement last week in Washington, D.C. by the Presidents of China and the United States reaffirming their support for the early commencement of negotiations on a fissile material cut-off treaty in the Conference on Disarmament.

The continued deadlock had ominous implications for international security. The longer it persisted, the graver the nuclear threat - from existing arsenals, from the proliferation of such weapons, and from their possible acquisition by terrorists. The Conference must find a way to continue its invaluable work. It must focus on promoting global goals that were fully universal in scope. It must do its part to advance the rule of law in the field of disarmament. It must not let one lost decade for the Conference turn into a second. For his part, he had asked his Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters to undertake a thorough review of the issues raised at the high-level meeting, including the possible establishment of a High-level Panel of Eminent Persons with a special focus on the functioning of the Conference on Disarmament. He would keep the Conference updated on this matter. The world was waiting for one bold step by the Conference. But it required collective action from the members of the Conference.

Multilateral efforts continued to show their immense value in addressing a wide variety of global challenges and threats. The Conference and the world's multilateral disarmament machinery should keep pace. Secretary-General Ban called on the Conference Members to put aside their differences to enable them to serve the global interest and build a safer world. With respect to the Fissile Material Treaty, it was clear that within the Conference, there was almost universal support for negotiations on such a treaty. While many Members continued to hope that formal negotiations would take place in the Conference, a number of Members had recently suggested that alternative arrangements should be explored. As a first step, he was wondering whether they could commence an informal process before they agreed on formal negotiations on the Fissile Material Treaty within the Conference. It could simply be a basic process to educate each other and build trust which would inform and facilitate the formal process once the Conference adopted its work programme.

Before concluding, the Secretary-General said he would like to express his profound gratitude to Mr. Sergei Ordzhonikidze, his personal representative to the Conference on Disarmament, who would soon be leaving the Organization. He held the highest respect for the professionalism and dedication that Mr. Ordzhonikidze had brought to the critical period in which he had served.

UGLJESA ZVEKIC (Serbia), speaking on behalf of the Informal Group of Observer States to the Conference on Disarmament, said that this year was a crucial time for the Conference to prove its credibility, effectiveness and relevance to the international community. In particular there were efforts last year to support the work of the Conference, such as the successful Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference, the START treaty and the high-level meeting in New York. Last year was also an active year among Observers to the Conference and this intensified work demonstrated the potential of the Conference. The Group urged the Conference on Disarmament to appoint a Special Rapporteur on expansion of the membership as was the case in 2001. Such an appointment would be seen as a way to begin a serious discussion on this important issue. The universal impact of any new disarmament legal instrument could only be meaningful when its negotiating process upheld the principles of transparency and inclusiveness. Given the current international security arrangement, any legal instrument to be negotiated by one-third of the United Nations membership might call its relevance into question.


For use of the information media; not an official record

CD11/003E