Mideast situation/Disarmament – Disarmament Commission debate – Verbatim record (excerpts)

Official Records

General Assembly

Disarmament Commission

245th meeting

Tuesday, 10 April 2001, 3 p.m. 

New York

    The meeting was called to order at 3.20 p.m.

General exchange of views ( continued)

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 Mr. Nejad Hosseinian (Islamic Republic of Iran): …

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  Following intensive deliberations, the Sixth Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) was able to agree, on the basis of article VI of the Treaty, on a framework containing certain specific measures towards nuclear disarmament. This awaits implementation. The Conference also made important decisions and contributions regarding regional initiatives, particularly with respect to the special situation in the Middle East and the nuclear threat of Israel. Through that decision, the international community expressed its concern over unsafeguarded nuclear facilities in the region.

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  Mr. Al-Humaimidi (Iraq) (spoke in Arabic ): …

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  In this context, Iraq wishes to stress the importance of the creation of zones free of weapons of mass destruction throughout the world and considers this a significant way to achieve global and comprehensive nuclear disarmament. In this regard, my country was among the first to advocate the creation of a zone free of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East, in accordance with the principle of accession to the international treaty banning the manufacture and proliferation of this weapons system.

  Despite the accession of the Arab countries to the NPT, Israel remains the only anomalous case in the region, having refused to accede to this Treaty and to submit its installations to verification and control safeguards, despite the fact that it possesses the largest nuclear weapons arsenal in the region.

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  With regard to the Middle East region, a special case, there is an absence of qualitative balance in the area of conventional weapons because the application of transparency to the seven categories of conventional weapons — while disregarding other more complex weapons and weapons systems, such as nuclear weapons — is an imbalanced approach which can be described as non-global, and therefore it cannot achieve the Register’s original goal. If we need to guarantee transparency with regard to conventional weapons as a means of strengthening international peace and security, we follow basic specific guidelines that are balanced, comprehensive and non-discriminating. Thus, this item should not be separated from other points linked to disarmament, in view of the close relationship and interdependency between the various items on the agenda.

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The meeting rose at 5.30 p.m.

This record contains the text of speeches delivered in English and of the interpretation of speeches delivered in the other languages. Corrections should be submitted to the original languages only. They should be incorporated in a copy of the record and sent under the signature of a member of the delegation concerned to the Chief of the Verbatim Reporting Service, room C-178. Corrections will be issued after the end of the session in a consolidated corrigendum.