Conference on Disarmament Continues High-level Segment, Hearing from Netherlands, European Union, Ghana, Slovakia and Malaysia

The Conference on Disarmament this afternoon continued its high-level segment, hearing statements by dignitaries from t he Netherlands, the European Union, Ghana, Slovakia, and Malaysia.

Speaking were Wopke Hoekstra, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands; Marjolijn Van Deelen, Special Envoy for Non-Proliferation and Disarmament of the European Union; Kwaku Ampratwum Sarpong, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration of Ghana; Dušan Matulay, Permanent Representative of Slovakia to the United Nations Office at Geneva and Ahmad Faisal Muhamad, Permanent Representative of Malaysia to the United Nations Office at Geneva.

The Conference will next meet in public on Wednesday, 2 March at 10 a.m. to continue with the high-level segment.

High Level Segment

WOPKE HOEKSTRA, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, said the present was an age where diplomacy was needed and the Conference on Disarmament was crucial to that process, as it was where vital agreements were negotiated. Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine was a violation of international law and Ukrainian sovereignty, and the Netherlands condemned it strongly. The Netherlands expressed serious concerns about North Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes, and recent missile tests. Rapid developments in domains like outer space and cyberspace were also cause for concern. Escalation in these areas needed to be prevented, with norms set for responsible behavior. To achieve that, the Conference needed to agree on a working programme, and restart its activities.

MARJOLIJN VAN DEELEN, Special Envoy for Non-Proliferation and Disarmament of the European Union, said the facts were that Russia, a major nuclear power, had attacked and invaded a peaceful and democratic neighboring country, which posed no threat. The European Union condemned the Russian Federation’s unjustified military aggression against Ukraine. The European Union demanded that Russia immediately cease its military actions in Ukraine and condemned threats made by President Putin of using nuclear force in the ongoing war. The European Union’s priorities for the Conference on Disarmament were the commencement of negotiations on a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty; prompt entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and promotion of a successful outcome of the Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

KWAKU AMPRATWUM-SARPONG, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration of Ghana said that Ghana was grateful for the participation as an observer in the work of the Conference, yet noted that 2022 marked the twenty-third year since Ghana had submitted an application for membership to the Conference. It was reassuring to know that that the Conference had adopted a decision on work for 2022 and established subsidiary bodies. The past 25 years had witnessed the increase of new technologies and weapons. Ghana was keen on the revitalization on the work of the Conference and urged members to carry out the fundamental mandate of the conference, which was the total eradication of nuclear weapons.

AHMAD FAISAL MUHAMAD, Permanent Representative of Malaysia to the United Nations Office at Geneva, said Malaysia was pleased with the approval of the participation of all observer States in the work of the Conference. Malaysia would continue to work closely with State parties to the Non-Proliferation Treaty to ensure a successful review conference. Malaysia continued to call for the prompt entry into force for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and for an end to nuclear tests. Malaysia was seriously concerned over the escalation of conflict in Ukraine and urged all sides to de-escalate to avoid a loss of life. It was now more important than ever for the Conference to live up to its mandate as the single multilateralism negotiating forum.

DUŠAN MATULAY, Permanent Representative of Slovakia to the United Nations Office at Geneva, said the world was witnessing an evolving full-scale military conflict on the European continent, the scale of which had not been seen since the Second World War. Slovakia strongly condemned the ongoing aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine and fully supported the sovereignty of Ukraine, calling on the Russian Federation to immediately cease its military actions and return to dialogue and diplomacy. Slovakia supported the advancing of substantive work of the Conference on Disarmament through the discussions within subsidiary bodies. Slovakia reiterated its firm stance that any use of chemical weapons was unacceptable and strongly supported the Chemical Weapons Convention mandate.

Produced by the United Nations Information Service in Geneva for use of the information media;
not an official record. English and French versions of our releases are different as they are the product of two separate coverage teams that work independently.

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