[EXCERPTS ]DO LESS WRANGLING AND MORE NEGOTIATING, NEW ZEALAND FOREIGN MINISTER TELLS
CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT
24 February 1997 Press Release DCF/288
Polish Deputy Minister Urges against 'Linkages'; Indonesia Charges "Recalcitrant Attitude" of Some against Nuclear Disarmament
GENEVA, 20 February (UN Information Service) -- The Conference on Disarmament must put less effort into wrangling about process and more into negotiating measures, not only on nuclear weapons, but also to verify the ban on biological weapons and to support implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, which New Zealand hoped would come into force in late April with the United States and the Russian Federation among its members, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of New Zealand said this morning.
Don McKinnon, the country's Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and also its Minister for Disarmament and Arms Control, told the weekly plenary meeting of the Conference that a ban on production of fissile material for use in nuclear weapons was "a step ripe for negotiation", but said it should be part of a broader approach aimed at overall nuclear disarmament. An ad hoc committee with an overarching mandate to contribute to complete disarmament could begin immediately alongside fissile-material "cut-off" negotiations, he added.
Also addressing the Conference was the Secretary of State and First Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Poland, who cautioned that the promise of early, tangible results from the Conference would be jeopardized or lost if efforts to agree on a work programme "were to be complicated by linkage of issues and belittling or total disregard of their intrinsic merit". The Deputy Minister, Eugeniusz Wyzner, called for immediate re-establishment of an ad hoc committee to pursue "cut-off" negotiations and said the Conference also should take on responsibility for negotiating a global ban on anti-personnel land-mines.
Also this morning, the representative of Indonesia charged that the Conference's "highest-priority issue" -- nuclear disarmament -- was not receiving sufficient attention. He called for an ad hoc committee to focus on that goal and added that his delegation "deeply regretted the recalcitrant attitude adopted by some nuclear-weapon States towards the need to immediately negotiate a treaty banning nuclear weapons". Such countries had consistently denied their legal commitments to nuclear disarmament assumed under article VI of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), he said.
Also addressing the plenary were the representatives of Hungary, Ireland, and Switzerland. The representative of Romania, Pavel Grecu, beginning his term at the rotating presidency of the Conference, made a statement on the group's upcoming work. ... ... ... The next plenary meeting of the Conference is scheduled for Thursday, 27 February, at 10 a.m..
Statements
DON McKINNON, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and Minister for Disarmament and Arms Control of New Zealand, said the Conference, during the cold war, had come to accept progress in slow, small steps, punctuated by periods of worrying hiatus as the normal process of international consensus-building on arms control issues. But what was normal in those days need not be true today -- there were opportunities now which had not existed a decade ago, and the Conference must take advantage of them. There was an overwhelming desire now for a world free of nuclear weapons, and the report of the Canberra Commission, introduced to the Conference last month by Australia, identified a range of practical and progressively achievable actions and steps to take. It was important that momentum be maintained and enhanced, in the Conference and elsewhere; where progress was achieved was less important to ordinary citizens than the fact that progress was made.
The Conference must put less effort into wrangling about process and more into negotiating measures not only on nuclear weapons, but also to verify the ban on biological weapons and to support implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, which New Zealand hoped would come into force in late April with the United States and the Russian Federation among its members, the Foreign Minister said. He termed a ban on production of fissile material for use in nuclear weapons a step ripe for negotiation in the Conference, but said it should be part of a broader approach aimed at overall nuclear disarmament.
An ad hoc committee with an overarching mandate to contribute to that ultimate goal could begin immediately alongside the "cut-off" negotiations, while also considering longer-term issues, he said.
... ... ...
EUGENIUSZ WYZNER, Secretary of State and First Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Poland, said the agenda approved last week by the Conference must provide a framework for a realistic work programme, carrying a promise of early and tangible results. The promise of such results would be jeopardized or lost if efforts to agree on a work programme were to be complicated by linkage of issues and belittling or total disregard of their intrinsic merit.
With the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) off the agenda, negotiation of an early "cut-off" treaty on fissile material production appeared to Poland to be the next logical step for the Conference to take, he went on. The relevant ad hoc committee should be re-established and negotiations launched as soon as possible. ... ... ... On the matter of the Chemical Weapons Convention, he stressed that for the Convention to be fully effective, it had to obtain universal support and as many ratifications as possible by the time of its entry into force.
PAVEL GRECU (Romania), incoming President of the Conference, said progress and concrete objectives and results were expected by the world from the Conference, and he would spare no effort to serve the interests of the Conference to the best of his ability, in a balanced, open, and pragmatic way.
It was now high time for all friends of the CTBT to make every effort to speed up the ratification process and the entry into force of the treaty, he said. Meanwhile, the Conference must address the legitimate question of what should be next on the disarmament agenda. The real problem now facing the
Conference was how it could best promote nuclear disarmament so as to complement and build on existing achievements, and he considered that seeking the views of member States on how to deal with the issue was one of his most urgent tasks.
He further hoped that consensus on the important initiative on banning production of fissile materials for nuclear weapons purposes could be invigorated and brought to fruition.
...
PETER NARAY (Hungary) said Hungary was confident there was common ground and shared interest that could lead to elaboration of a concrete programme of work for the Conference, but the aim of satisfying divergent expectations and priorities did not justify the creation of artificial linkages. As shown by recent experience, such linkages only damaged the efficiency and credibility of the group. Hungary strongly advocated commencement of work on a fissile material "cut-off" treaty; that issue was ripe for serious negotiations and was the sort of concrete measure the Conference needed to focus on. The country urged delegations to overcome procedural difficulties and get down to substantive work on the issue. ... ... ... The country also looked forward to imminent entry into force of the Chemical Weapons Convention and actively promoted strengthening the Biological Weapons Convention through and effective and workable verification mechanism.
AGUS TARMIDZI (Indonesia) said that at this juncture, when nuclear war was hardly conceivable, the issue of complete nuclear disarmament could no longer be brushed aside and treated as a trivial issue. An ad hoc committee on the subject should be established. The Indonesian delegation deeply regretted the recalcitrant attitude adopted by some nuclear-weapon States towards the need to immediately negotiate a treaty banning nuclear weapons. They had, instead, consistently denied their multilateral legal commitments to nuclear disarmament assumed under article VI of the NPT. If such a one-sided perception continued, Indonesia felt that it would ultimately imperil the legal nature of the treaty.
On possible negotiation of a fissile material "cut-off" treaty, Indonesia felt that would be a significant contribution, but that such a treaty should also be seen as a disarmament commitment, and should encompass not only future but past production, he said. Brushing aside the issue of existing stockpiles of fissile material would render such a treaty a mere non-proliferation issue. A treaty with such a characteristic had no added value and was unappealing to Indonesia.
... ... ...
ANNE ANDERSON (Ireland) said some delegations were reluctant to embark on an immediate negotiation of a "cut-off" unless and until it was placed in the context of an overall programme to achieve nuclear disarmament. Ireland believed linkages such as that were usually counter-productive, but also felt that the concerns of countries supporting such a linkage should be considered and addressed -- nuclear-weapon States might, jointly, set out their perspective on disarmament to imbue the words "systematic and progressive" disarmament with meaning and so reassure those nations that worried that the matter was not receiving the attention it deserved.
The objective of a fissile-material "cut-off" treaty and other Conference efforts should be clear, she said. The objective was nuclear disarmament and the process used to achieve it was not an end in itself. The Conference should establish a forum or mechanism to enable it to consider what nuclear disarmament measures it might negotiate in addition to or after conclusion of a "cut-off" convention. Ireland now headed the list of 17 delegations seeking admission as full members of the Conference, she said, adding that it had been waiting for 15 years. What did the Conference propose to do about all of the applications and when would it take action?
ERWIN H. HOFER (Switzerland) said an ad hoc committee should be set up without delay to negotiate a fissile material "cut-off" treaty; that would be a logical continuation of the Conference's work.
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