CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT HEARS FROM SLOVENIA, SOUTH AFRICA, VENEZUELA AND SUDAN, CLOSES ITS HIGH-LEVEL SEGMENT

The Conference on Disarmament this morning concluded its high-level segment during which it heard statements by dignitaries from Slovenia, South Africa, Venezuela and Sudan.

The need for the Conference to resume substantive work, as well as upholding the Non-Proliferation Treaty, notably its Article VI, were amongst topics broached. Speakers outlined their expectations and visions for the upcoming 2020 Review Conference, underscored the value of nuclear-free zones, and urged further action on anti-personnel landmines.

Addressing the Conference this morning were Matej Marn, State Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia; Alvin Botes, Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of South Africa; Alexander Yanez, Vice-Minister for Multilateral Affairs, People’s Power Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Venezuela; and Osman Abufatima Adam Mohammed, Deputy Permanent Representative of Sudan, who also spoke in his capacity as the president of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction.

Speaking in right of reply were Iran, United States, Turkey, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Ukraine, China, Japan and Russia.


The Conference will hold a public plenary meeting at 10 a.m. tomorrow, 27 February.


Statements

MATEJ MARN, State Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia, said that the nuclear deal was a vital part of the global nuclear non-proliferation architecture and needed to be preserved. Slovenia was convinced that the negative trend in nuclear arms control and disarmament could be reversed. To that end, extending the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty would be a great start. Slovenia attached the highest importance to this Treaty’s extension and encouraged the United States and Russia to seek further reductions to their arsenals.

Stressing the vital importance of starting the substantive work in the Conference on Disarmament, Mr. Marn said countries that were waiting to become members, like Slovenia, would bring a new momentum. He called for the appointment of a coordinator for exploring issues related to expanding Conference membership. It was deeply concerning that one European Union Member State had been prevented from participating in the work of the Conference, even as an observer. Turning to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, he said its three pillars could not mutually reinforce each other if its provisions were not implemented in their entirety. This included achieving concrete progress towards the full implementation of Article VI.

ALVIN BOTES, Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of South Africa, expressed concern about the attempts to negate or reinterpret the nuclear disarmament undertakings made since the 1995 Review and Extension Conference. On-going modernization programmes made it clear that some States still wished to indefinitely retain nuclear arms, contrary to their legal obligations and political commitments, he said, noting that this undermined the Non-Proliferation Treaty and the non-proliferation norms it had established.

In the view of South Africa, a starting point of the 2020 Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference needed to be a reaffirmation of the unequivocal undertaking towards nuclear disarmament and the principles emanating from previous Review Conferences. Any future outcome should not roll back or reinterpret agreements reached in 1995, 2000 and 2010, which remained valid until fully implemented. Mr. Botes added that the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons complemented other international instruments by contributing towards fulfilling the nuclear disarmament obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the objectives of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and various nuclear-weapons-free zones treaties.

ALEXANDER YANEZ, Vice-Minister for Multilateral Affairs, People’s Power Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Venezuela, said that, as a non-nuclear weapon State, Venezuela advocated for the implementation of Article VI of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. In recent years, the Conference had failed to progress in fulfilling its mandate due to one delegation, which, guided by supremacist principles, had tied the negotiation of legally binding documents to the revision of methods of work.

Recalling that Latin America and the Caribbean constituted a zone of peace, free from nuclear arms, as had been declared at the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States Summit in 2014, Mr. Yanez said nuclear-weapons-free zones were an effective means of fostering the concept of the global prohibition of nuclear weapons. Multilateralism was being challenged by imperialist and genocidal powers trying to impose their hegemony, he said. At the beginning of the year, a nuclear-weapon State had attacked a country that did not have nuclear arms and a great military leader, General Soleimani, had been assassinated, in violation of fundamental international laws. This was without a doubt an act of terrorism carried out by a State that generated additional regional tensions, Mr. Yanez said.

OSMAN ABUFATIMA ADAM MOHAMMED, Deputy Permanent Representative of Sudan, addressed the Conference on Disarmament in his capacity as the President of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction [the Ottawa Treaty], and said that this landmark humanitarian and disarmament instrument would celebrate, on 1 March, twenty-one years since the entry into force. The anti-landmines movement continued to grow: 164 States had now made a solid commitment to ending the suffering and casualties caused by anti-personnel mines. Calling for the universal acceptance of the Convention, Mr. Mohammed said all mined areas must be cleared, stocks must be destroyed, and victims had to receive assistance. He appealed to all Members of the Conference who had not yet done so to join the Convention as soon as possible.

Speaking in his capacity as Deputy Permanent Representative of Sudan, Mr. Mohammed said that his country was making efforts in the disarmament field in its region, and example of which was a bilateral collaboration with Chad in landmine clearance in border areas.

Following a popular revolution calling for peace and justice, Sudan had recently witnessed a political transformation and had established a transitional government. Determined to make fundamental positive changes in the country, the Government had launched, as one of its priorities, a peace-making process with all armed groups. It had already signed some agreements and the process was moving forward and was working on opening humanitarian corridors in the country. Those would help many areas to develop and would allow for the safe return of people displaced by conflict.


For use of the information media; not an official record


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