Press Release
GA/DIS/3153
FIRST COMMITTEE DRAFT TEXT, INTRODUCED BY NEW ZEALAND, CALLS FOR 'NEW AGENDA' IN NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT
19991026Texts Also Introduced on CTBT, Outer Space, Middle East, Military Information, Latin America, Information Security
The representative of New Zealand told the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) this morning, as he introduced a draft resolution on a new agenda for a nuclear-weapon-free world, that complacency has crept into the nuclear agenda, the retention of nuclear weapons was being "re-rationalized" for potential use against biological and chemical weapons attack, and both missile proliferation and defence were being pursued.
One of seven draft resolutions introduced today, the text, entitled "Towards a nuclear-weapon-free world: the need for a new agenda", would have the General Assembly call upon the nuclear-weapon States to make an unequivocal undertaking to accomplish the speedy and total elimination of their nuclear arsenals and to engage in an accelerated process of negotiations. It would also call for the three nuclear-weapon-capable States that had not yet acceded to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) to reverse, clearly and urgently, the pursuit of all nuclear weapons development and deployment.
The other texts introduced dealt with: the Comprehensive Nuclear- Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT); prevention of an arms race in outer space; the risk of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East; objective information on military matters; the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (Treaty of Tlatelolco); and information and telecommunications in the context of international security.
The General Assembly would urge States to maintain their nuclear testing moratoriums and remain seized of the issue of the entry into force of the CTBT at the highest political level, according to the draft resolution introduced by the representative of Mexico. The Assembly would call upon all States that had not yet signed or ratified the Treaty, particularly those countries whose ratification was needed for its entry into force, to do so as soon as possible.
By the terms of a draft text on the prevention of an outer space arms, introduced by the representative of Sri Lanka, the Assembly would call upon all States, in particular those with major space capabilities, to contribute
First Committee - 1a - Press Release GA/DIS/3153 16th Meeting (AM) 26 October 1999
actively to the objective of the peaceful use of outer space and of the prevention of an arms race in outer space and to refrain from actions contrary to that objective and to the relevant existing treaties.
A draft resolution introduced by the representative of Egypt, on the risk of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East, would have the Assembly call upon the only State in the region that was not Party to the NPT to accede to the Treaty without further delay. Further, it would call on that State to: not develop, produce, test or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons; renounce possession of nuclear weapons; and place all its unsafeguarded nuclear materials and nuclear facilities under full-scope International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards.
The Assembly would call on Member States to further promote, at multilateral levels, the consideration of existing and potential threats in the field of information security, under a text introduced by the Russian Federation on information and telecommunications in the context of international security. Member States would be invited to inform the Secretary-General of their views on such questions as the advisability of developing international principles that would enhance the security of global information and telecommunications systems and help combat information terrorism and criminality.
By the terms of a draft resolution, also introduced by the representative of Mexico, on the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (Treaty of Tlatelolco), the Assembly would urge the countries of the region that had not yet done so to ratify the amendments to the Treaty approved by the General Conference of the Agency for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean in its resolutions of 3 July 1990, 10 May 1991, and 26 August 1992.
Under a draft text on objective information on military matters, introduced by the representative of Germany, the Assembly would call upon all Member States to report annually, by 30 April, to the Secretary-General their military expenditures for the fiscal year. It would recommend the guidelines and recommendations for objective information to all Member States for implementation, fully taking into account specific political military and other conditions prevailing in a region, on the basis of initiatives with the agreement of the States of the region concerned.
Taking "strong exception" to the introduction last week of a draft resolution sponsored by the Russian Federation, Belarus and China on preserving the Treaty on the Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems -- the Anti- Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty -- the representative of the United States said his country had not made a decision to deploy a limited national missile defence, nor would such a decision change the basic strategic calculus underlying the ABM Treaty. Consequently, his Government would strongly urge refraining from proceeding with the draft.
Regrettably, he said his country had decided not to pursue its two traditional resolutions, namely, one on "Compliance with Arms Limitation and
First Committee - 1b - Press Release GA/DIS/3153 16th Meeting (AM) 26 October 1999
Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Agreements", and on "Bilateral Nuclear Arms Negotiations and Nuclear Disarmament". Both texts had addressed important and relevant issues and would have been particularly timely, but it had appeared that they risked being subjected to a campaign of amendments designed to introduce contention over the ABM Treaty in every possible context.
Statements were also made by the representatives of Uruguay, Chile, Romania, Japan and Nigeria.
The Committee will meet again at 3 p.m. Wednesday, 27 October, to continue its thematic discuss on all disarmament and security-related items, as well as its introduction and consideration of all draft resolutions.
Committee Work Programme
The First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) met this morning to continue its thematic discussion and consideration of all disarmament- and security-related draft resolutions. It is expected to hear the introduction of draft resolutions concerning: the need for an agenda towards a nuclear-weapon-free world; the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT); prevention of an arms race in outer space; risk of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East; objective information on military matters; the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (Treaty of Tlatelolco); and information and telecommunications in the context of international security.
The current phase will extend through Friday, 29 October. It combines the thematic discussion with consideration of drafts, as part of a reform to streamline the Committee's work. The third and final stage of its work, which is scheduled to begin on Monday, 1 November, will be action on all disarmament draft resolutions.
According to a draft resolution on information and telecommunications in the context of international security (document A/C.1/54/L.4), sponsored by the Russian Federation, the General Assembly would call Member States to further promote, at multilateral levels, the consideration of existing and potential threats in the field of information security.
The Assembly would invite all Member States to inform the Secretary- General of their views on the following questions: general appreciation of the issues of information security; definition of basic notions related to information security, including unauthorized interference with or misuse of information and telecommunications systems and information resources; and the advisability of developing international principles that would enhance the security of global information and telecommunications systems and help to combat information terrorism and criminality.
A draft resolution sponsored by Egypt on the risk of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East (document A/C.1/54/L.8) would have the Assembly call upon the only State in the region that was not party to the Treaty on the Non- Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) to accede to the Treaty without further delay. It would further call on that State to: not develop, produce, test or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons; renounce possession of nuclear weapons; and place all its unsafeguarded nuclear materials and nuclear facilities under full- scope International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards as an important confidence-building measure among all States of the region and as a step towards enhancing peace and security.
By the terms of a draft resolution entitled Towards a nuclear-weapon-free world: the need for a new agenda (document A/C.1/54/L.18), the Assembly would call for the examination of ways and means to diminish the role of nuclear weapons in security policies so as to enhance strategic stability, facilitate the process of the elimination of those weapons and contribute to international confidence and security.
It would call upon the nuclear-weapon States to make an unequivocal undertaking to accomplish the speedy and total elimination of their nuclear arsenals and to engage without delay in an accelerated process of negotiations, thus achieving nuclear disarmament, to which they were committed under article VI of the NPT.
The Assembly would also call upon the nuclear-weapon States to take early steps to: reduce tactical nuclear weapons with a view to the elimination as an integral part of nuclear arms reductions; examine the possibilities for and proceed to the de-alerting and the removal of nuclear warheads from delivery vehicles; demonstrate transparency on their nuclear arsenals and fissile material inventories; and place all fissile materials for nuclear weapons declared to be in excess of military requirements under IAEA safeguards, in the framework of the voluntary safeguards agreements in place.
In a related provision, the Assembly would call upon those three States that were nuclear-weapon capable and that had not yet acceded to the NPT to reverse, clearly and urgently, the pursuit of all nuclear weapons development or deployment, and to refrain from any action which could undermine regional and international peace and security and the efforts of the international community towards nuclear disarmament and the prevention of nuclear weapons proliferation.
It would also call upon the United States and the Russian Federation to bring the Treaty on the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (START II) into force without further delay and to commence negotiations on START III with a view to its early conclusion. It would further call upon those States to undertake the necessary steps towards the seamless integration of all five nuclear-weapon States into the process leading to the total elimination of nuclear weapons.
The Assembly would further call upon those States that had not yet done so to sign and ratify, unconditionally and without delay, the CTBT and, pending its entry into force, to observe a moratorium on nuclear tests. It would call upon those States that had not yet done so to: adhere unconditionally and without delay to the NPT and to take all the necessary measures which flowed from adherence to that instrument as non-nuclear-weapon States; and to conclude full- scope safeguards agreements with the IAEA and to conclude additional protocols to their safeguards agreements, on the basis of the Model Protocol approved by the board of Governors of the Agency on 15 May 1997.
The draft resolution is sponsored by Benin, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Fiji, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Ireland, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mali, Mexico, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Samoa, San Marino, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Swaziland, Sweden, Thailand, Togo, Uganda, Uruguay, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Under the terms of a draft resolution on the prevention of an outer space arms race (document A/C.1/54/L.22), the Assembly would call upon all States, in particular, those with major space capabilities, to contribute actively to the objective of the peaceful use of outer space and of the prevention of an arms race in outer space and to refrain from actions contrary to that objective and to the relevant existing treaties. Reiterating that the Conference on Disarmament, as the single multilateral disarmament negotiating forum, had the primary role in negotiating a multilateral agreement on the prevention of an outer space arms race in all its aspects, would urge States conducting activities in outer space, as well as States interested in conducting such activities, to keep the Conference on Disarmament informed of the progress of bilateral and multilateral negotiations on the matter. It would invite the Conference to complete examination and updating of the mandate contained in its decision of 13 February 1992 and establish an ad hoc committee during its 2000 session.
The draft resolution is sponsored by Algeria, Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, China, Cuba, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Egypt, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russian Federation, Sri Lanka and the Sudan.
According to a draft resolution on the CTBT (document A/C.1/54/L.23), the Assembly would endorse the Final Declaration of the Conference on facilitating the entry into force of the CTBT, held in Vienna from 6 to 8 October. In particular, the Assembly would call upon all States that had not yet signed the Treaty to sign and ratify it as soon as possible and refrain from acts which could defeat its object and purpose, in the meanwhile. It would call upon all States that had signed but not yet ratified the Treaty, in particular those whose ratification was needed for its entry into force, to accelerate ratification with a view to their early successful conclusion.
The Assembly would urge States to maintain their moratoriums on nuclear- weapon-test explosions or any other nuclear explosions. It would urge all States to sustain the momentum generated by the Conference on facilitating the entry into force of the CTBT by remaining seized of the issue at the highest political level. It would welcome the contributions of States signatories to the work of the Preparatory Commission of the CTBT Organization (CTBTO), in particular to its efforts to ensure that the Treaty's verification regime would be capable of meeting the verification requirements of the Treaty upon its entry into force, in accordance with article IV of the Treaty.
The draft resolution is sponsored by Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Cote d'Ivoire, Croatia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Finland, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Liberia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Monaco, Mongolia Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania, San Marino, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Spain, Togo, United Kingdom, Uruguay and Zambia.
By the terms of a draft resolution on the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (Treaty of Tlatelolco) (document A/C.1/54/L.24), the Assembly would urge the countries of the region that had not yet done so to ratify the amendments to the Treaty approved by the General Conference of the Agency for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean in its resolutions of 3 July 1990, 10 May 1991, and 26 Augus... *** Conversion terminated at this point (TRIAL version of software).
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