CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT HOLDS ITS LAST PLENARY UNDER SYRIAN PRESIDENCY

The Conference on Disarmament this morning held its last plenary meeting under the presidency of Syria.

In his opening statement, Hussam Edin Aala, Permanent Representative of Syria and President of the Conference on Disarmament, said that the informal and bilateral consultations on a draft programme of work of 12 June had been carried out with professionalism, transparency, universality and inclusiveness. It was clear that the insistence of some States to try to undermine the Conference on Disarmament and hamper its work did not allow him to conclude that there could be a consensus to adopt the draft programme of work that he had proposed. That was why he would refrain from submitting the draft programme of work for adoption because of the announced absence of political will that had been asserted by a number of States in their official statements during the plenary.

The Group of 21, in a statement delivered by Venezuela, reiterated the urgency to adopt and implement a balanced and comprehensive programme of work, encouraged all States members of the Conference on Disarmament to contribute to the work of subsidiary bodies, and highlighted the importance of a strict adherence to the Rules of Procedure and the decisions adopted by the Conference itself.

In a statement delivered by Cuba, the Group of 21 expressed deep concern at the persistent reluctance of nuclear weapons States to commit to the total elimination of nuclear weapons by providing pretexts which, due to the urgency of taking concrete actions on the matter, were unacceptable. The time had come to turn words into action, stressed the Group of 21 and called for the urgent commencement of negotiations on nuclear disarmament in the Conference on Disarmament, particularly on a comprehensive convention on nuclear weapons to prohibit their possession, development, production, acquisition, testing, stockpiling, transfer, use or threat of use, and to provide for their destruction.

China thanked the President for his efforts on promoting an agreement on a programme of work and noted that the revised draft was a good basis on which to continue discussions towards a comprehensive and balanced programme of work of the Conference on Disarmament. Russia welcomed the very responsible approach of the Syrian Presidency as it carried out its functions in accordance with the Rules of Procedure and reiterated that the agreement on a programme of work was a common task and a common responsibility. South Africa expressed regret that the withdrawal of the President’s proposal on a draft programme of work left the Conference with no time to consider any proposals this year.

Venezuela recognized the excellent work that the President had carried out and was sad that a number of delegations had hampered efforts to bring forward a very balanced draft programme of work. Chile reiterated the commitment to achieving a programme of work that would lead the Conference towards substantive work and the urgent commencement of negotiations, especially as the lack of progress in nuclear disarmament was very worrying. Brazil stressed that the work of the subsidiary bodies would most likely not end with the current session, thus finding a different form under which they could continue the work, i.e. as Working Groups proposed by the draft programme of work, would represent an important progress.

Mr. Aala, in his concluding remarks, said that Syria was delighted and proud to be presiding over the Conference on Disarmament in a manner that was compatible with the principles of transparency and inclusion.


The next plenary session of the Conference on Disarmament will take place on Tuesday, 26 June at 10 a.m. under the presidency of Tunisia.


Statements

HUSSAM EDIN AALA, Permanent Representative of Syria and President of the Conference, in his opening statement, summed up informal consultations – including bilateral - on the draft programme of work he had proposed on 12 June and reiterated that those had been carried out with professionalism, transparency, universality and inclusiveness. While fully understanding the complexity of achieving a consensus on a programme of work, the President remained convinced of the importance of pressing ahead to break the current deadlock and achieve a programme of work that would contain a negotiating mandate for the Conference on Disarmament, and that would include the views of all Member States, including those that refused to engage in the consultations. The revised draft programme of work contained in document CD/WP.608/Rev.1 had been shared with the delegations on 21 June, said Mr. Aala, noting that it included the proposals and comments that delegations had raised during the informal and bilateral consultations, and said that, although not perfect, this draft programme of work contained a good basis for future work on achieving consensus.

Mr. Aala also reiterated that building of the consensus was not a sole responsibility of the Presidency but of all Member States. He deeply regretted the unprecedented negative positions adopted by some States and some coordinators of subsidiary bodies to undermine the presidency of the Conference on Disarmament in a manner that violated and breached the Rules of Procedure and in their continued attempts to hamper the work of the Conference, taking it hostage to their political positions. It was clear that the insistence of some States to try to undermine the Conference on Disarmament and hamper its work did not allow him to conclude that there could be a consensus to adopt the draft programme of work that he had proposed. That was why he would refrain from submitting the draft programme of work for adoption because of the announced absence of political will that had been asserted by a number of States in their official statements during the plenary. Until such a political will was achieved to have a consensus on a substantive programme of work, Mr. Aala hoped that the work of subsidiary bodies would help contribute to the achievement of this goal.

Venezuela, speaking on behalf of the Group of 21, recalled the decision CD/2119 of 16 February which had established the subsidiary bodies to advance the substantive work of the Conference in fulfilment of its mandate, and reiterated the urgency that the Conference on Disarmament should adopt and implement a balanced and comprehensive programme of work on the basis of its agenda, and to deal with, inter alia, core issues, in accordance with the Rules of Procedure. In this regard, the Group of 21 encouraged all Member States to contribute to the work of subsidiary bodies and highlighted the importance of their strict adherence to the Rules of Procedure and the decisions adopted by the Conference.

Cuba, also speaking on behalf of the Group of 21, referred to the High-Level Meeting of the General Assembly on Nuclear Disarmament held in New York on 26 September 2013 and its decisions which, inter alia, called for the urgent commencement of negotiations in the Conference on Disarmament, and stressed the importance of the commemoration of the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons on 26 September. The persistent existence of nuclear weapons posed a grave threat to humanity, said the Group of 21. Nuclear disarmament was the highest priority of the Conference on Disarmament, and the total elimination of nuclear weapons was the only absolute guarantee against their use or threat of use. The Group of 21 was deeply concerned by the persistent reluctance of nuclear weapons States to commit to the total elimination of nuclear weapons by providing pretexts which, due to the urgency of taking concrete actions, were unacceptable. The time had come to turn words into action, stressed the Group of 21 and called for the urgent commencement of negotiations on nuclear disarmament in the Conference on Disarmament, particularly on a comprehensive convention on nuclear weapons to prohibit their possession, development, production, acquisition, testing, stockpiling, transfer, use or threat of use, and to provide for their destruction.

China thanked the President for his great efforts on promoting agreement on a programme of work and noted that the revised draft had taken on board a number of opinions raised during the informal consultations, including those raised by China, and that it was a good basis for the continuation of the work towards a comprehensive and balanced programme of work of the Conference on Disarmament.

Russia welcomed the very responsible approach of the Syrian presidency as it carried out its functions in accordance with the Rules of Procedure and said that the revised draft programme of work was a good foundation for the continued discussion. Russia reiterated that the agreement on a programme of work was a common task and a common responsibility.

South Africa stressed the responsibility of all Member States to contribute to the work of the Conference, and expressed regret that the withdrawal of the President’s proposal on a draft programme of work left the Conference with no time to consider any proposals this year. It was also regrettable that some States could not bring themselves to concede in consultations, which in multilateralism served to enhance trust.

Venezuela recognized the excellent work that the President had carried out and was sad that a number of delegations had not contributed to the constructive negotiations and hampered the consensus on the draft programme of work, which was a very balanced one.

Chile thanked the President for his efforts in putting together a draft programme of work and reiterated the commitment of Chile to achieving a programme of work that would lead the Conference towards substantive work and urgent commencement of negotiations. Chile was particularly concerned about the lack of progress in nuclear disarmament and appealed to all countries to give up their nuclear weapons and accede to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Chile would continue to support the ideas that would revitalize the work of the Conference, the only multilateral forum for nuclear disarmament.

Brazil stressed the critical importance of achieving the mission of the Conference on Disarmament as per the Rules of Procedure, an essential part of which was the adoption of a programme of work. Brazil thanked the presidency for the draft programme of work, which was fairly compatible with the decisions of the Conference on Disarmament in February and March 2018 on creating subsidiary bodies, in its proposal for the creation of five Working Groups. This superposition was very positive, because whether they were called “subsidiary bodies” or “working groups”, the fact that they worked on the same issues facilitated transition from one state to the next in an evolutionary manner. Brazil stressed that the work of the subsidiary bodies would most likely not end with the current session; they needed continuation and if they could evolve into something that could perhaps be more acceptable as a type of programme of work, this would represent important progress. Brazil reiterated that a programme of work should be compatible with the structure the Conference had set in motion with its decisions CD/2119 and CD/2126.

HUSSAM EDIN AALA, Permanent Representative of Syria and President of the Conference, echoed the words of Brazil and expressed hope that the subsidiary bodies would be able to agree on common denominators which would enable the Conference to reach a balanced programme of work.

Russia respected the positions of Member States on the matter of the non-proliferation of weapons of mass-destruction and reiterated that Russia was trying to reach an agreement in all multilateral fora in order to move forward on this issue. A decisive and agreed action by the entire international community was needed to address this threat. The 1540 resolution which called for the creation of national legal norms to supress attempts to proliferate weapons of mass destruction was a document reflecting cooperation of all countries without exception, and Russia condemned attempts by any States to create divisions in the implementation of this resolution. It was unfortunate that the United States was now using the Conference on Disarmament as a platform to carry out their political games around Syria and to carry out their self-appointed function of the world’s gendarme and achieve their geopolitical aims, including by the use of force. Russia condemned such irresponsible behaviour by the United States.

HUSSAM EDIN AALA, Permanent Representative of Syria and President of the Conference, in his concluding remarks, said that Syria was delighted and proud to be presiding over the Conference on Disarmament in a manner that was compatible with the principles of transparency and inclusion.


For use of the information media; not an official record

DC18.32E