CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT HOLDS PUBLIC PLENARY

The Conference on Disarmament today held a general discussion which included references to progress on its draft annual report and the agenda item on the prevention of an arms race in outer space.

Ambassador Mazlan Muhammad of Malaysia, President of the Conference on Disarmament, spoke about the status of the draft report of the Conference on Disarmament to the United Nations General Assembly, which would be completed this week.

In the general discussion States spoke about finalizing the annual report of the Conference on Disarmament to the General Assembly, as well as ways of ensuring the long-term sustainability and security of the space environment, including their views on the revised draft ‘Treaty on the Prevention of the Placement of Weapons in Outer Space, the Threat or Use of Force against Outer Space Objects’ which was presented by Russia and China earlier this year.

Speaking in today’s meeting were the United States, Egypt, Russia, China, Algeria and the United Kingdom

At the end of the public plenary, the Conference continued drafting its annual report to the General Assembly in a closed meeting. The next plenary of the Conference will be held on Wednesday, 10 September at 3 p.m.

The third and last part of the 2014 session of the Conference on Disarmament will conclude on Friday, 12 September.

Statement by the President

Ambassador MAZLAN MUHAMMAD of Malaysia, President of the Conference on Disarmament, drew delegations’ attention to two documents made available to them. The first was CD/WP.581 containing the draft report of the Conference on Disarmament to the United Nations General Assembly. The second was CD/WP.581/Amend.1 containing suggested amendments to the draft report which were provisionally adopted during informal meetings last week. The President understood that some delegations wanted to make adjustments to paragraph 5 of CD/WP.581/Amend.1, and said an informal meeting would be held after today’s public plenary in which delegations could finalize the draft.

Statements

United States addressed the Conference on the subject of ‘ensuring the long-term sustainability and security of the Space Environment’, in light of questions raised at recent plenary meetings on the Conference on Disarmament agenda item on the ‘Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space’. Space was becoming increasingly congested from orbital debris and contested from man-made threats that may endanger the space environment. The globe-spanning and interconnected nature of space capabilities and the world’s growing dependence on them meant that irresponsible acts in Space could have damaging consequences for all of us. Therefore it was essential that all nations worked together to adopt approaches for responsible activity in Space to preserve that domain for future generations.

The United States expressed particular concern about the continued development and testing by some States of destructive anti-satellite systems, which it said threatened the security, economic well-being and civil endeavours of all nations. On the security side, destructive anti-satellite system weapons directly threatened satellites and the strategic and tactical information that those satellites provided, and their use could be escalatory in a crisis or conflict. They also posed a direct threat to key infrastructure used in arms control, verification monitoring, military command, control and communications. The United States analysed the strengths and weaknesses of the revised draft ‘Treaty on the Prevention of the Placement of Weapons in Outer Space, the Threat or Use of Force against Outer Space Objects’ which was presented by Russia and China earlier this year, including the Russian initiative for States to make declarations of ‘no first use’ of weapons in Outer Space. The United States also considered constructive and pragmatic ways States could engage to address threats to Space security and sustainability.

Egypt spoke about the Conference’s need to overcome its stalemate of 18 years and commence substantive negotiations – there was no alternative but to seek consensus. Egypt welcomed the re-establishment in 2014 of the informal working group to produce a programme of work and hoped its re-establishment in 2015 would be based on its added value to endeavours to adopt a programme of work. Egypt set out its position on the elements of a programme of work. First, it considered nuclear disarmament to be its top priority, followed by the conclusion of a treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons and other explosive devices that deals openly with the issue of stocks. Third, the commencement of negotiations on a legally binding instrument to prevent an arms race in outer space, and fourth, finding a way to deal efficiently with the long-overdue issue of negative security assurances. Egypt also spoke of a growing movement to promote understanding of the consequences of the use of nuclear weapons, and the need to make such consequences the centre of any future nuclear disarmament effort. It looked forward to taking part in the third conference on the Humanitarian Consequences of the use of Nuclear Weapons in Vienna in December 2014.

Russia took the floor and commented on the United States’ use of the words ‘no first use’ in its statement. Russia thought that term did not accurately reflect the initiative which was actually termed ‘no first placement’ in Outer Space. The philosophy stemmed from the draft Treaty of Non-Deployment in Outer Space submitted by China and Russia in June 2008. The draft was prompted by the need for an insurance policy to keep outer space free of weapons, and Russia referred to the need for concrete action. Russia was grateful for the critical comments of the United States on the joint Russia-China draft treaty, and called upon colleagues in the Conference not to confine themselves to making general points on the treaty but rather specific proposals that would improve the text. Even if States did not agree conceptually, they could then put forward a written alternative, suggested Russia.

China said as the Conference on Disarmament was winding up its session it would like to note the many efforts made to progress work this year. Sharing its position on outer space, China said it had always stood for the peaceful use of outer space, a consensus it believed was shared by all countries in the world. The most important thing was for the international community to negotiate a new international treaty on outer space and fundamentally remove the security threat, which was why China joined with Russia to propose the draft treaty. China hoped that countries would carefully study the draft text, as a legally binding instrument was the eventual aim.

United States took the floor again to make a clarification, as noted by Russia, it should have said ‘no first placement’ rather than ‘no first use’ in the earlier statement.

Algeria said it welcomed the United States statement today, and took note of its analysis of the Russia-China initiative on the non-placement of weapons in outer space, which was a good basis to carry the matter forward. Algeria expressed the hope that the Conference would, in its next session begin substantive work, including negotiations on a legally-binding instrument on prevention of an arms race in outer space.

United Kingdom welcomed the new Permanent Representatives of Australia and Egypt. It thanked Egypt for its statement, saying it was reassured by Egypt’s reaffirmation of its commitment to CD/1299 and the mandate contained therein, although Egypt did not name that document. That was reassuring as there were some signs earlier in the year, prior to the arrival of the new Permanent Representative, that Egypt’s commitment to CD/1299 was in some doubt. The United Kingdom looked forward to working with Egypt on it.

For use of the information media; not an official record

DC14/033E