Nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East – First Cttee debate – Verbatim record (excerpts)

Official Records

General Assembly

Fiftieth session

First Committee

22nd meeting

Wednesday, 15 November 1995, 3 p.m.

New York

Chairman: Mr. Erdenechuluun ……………………….. (Mongolia)

The meeting was called to order at 3.50 p.m.

Agenda items 57 to 81 (continued)

Action on all draft resolutions submitted under all disarmament and international security agenda items

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Mr. Mubarak (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya) (interpretation from Arabic): I should like to explain my country’s position on the draft resolution on transparency in armament in document A/C.1/50/L.18.

My delegation has abstained from voting, as it did last year, because the draft resolution just adopted contained nothing new with regard to transparency. The draft resolution, focused, as did the resolution adopted last year, on the Register of Conventional Arms as if it were an end in itself. To consider the Register an important stage on the road to transparency, as stated in the second preambular paragraph and operative paragraphs 2 and 6 of the draft resolution does not reflect, in the view of my country, the full concept of transparency.

The Register’s scope with regard to conventional weapons does not go beyond imports and exports of such weapons and unless it is expanded to encompass domestic production and stockpiles of those weapons, the Register will remain a form without content. Furthermore, the draft resolution does not underscore the relationship between conventional weapons and weapons of mass destruction. This is an important consideration to which my country accords a high priority particularly in the Middle East region, where the Israelis’ possession of stockpiles of highly advanced sophisticated conventional weapons side by side with nuclear weapons poses a definite threat to peace and security in the region.

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Mr. Sulaiman (Syrian Arab Republic) (interpretation from Arabic): My delegation wishes to explain its position on draft resolution A/C.1/50/L.18, “Transparency in armaments”.

My delegation affirms its full support for the international tendency to build an international society free from the threat or use of force and in which the principles of peace and justice would prevail.

While confirming our readiness to participate in any international effort aimed in good faith at achieving that goal, we wish to draw the Committee’s attention to the fact that the draft resolution “Transparency in armaments” does not take into account the special situation that exists in the Middle East region, where the Arab-Israeli conflict continues because of Israel’s persistence in occupying Arab lands, its refusal to implement the relevant Security Council resolutions, its continued possession of the most sophisticated and lethal weapons of mass destruction and its ability to produce the most sophisticated of weapons and to stockpile them in the region.Therefore, transparency in Israel’s armaments is non-existent save for a glimpse at the tip of the iceberg.

For all those reasons, my delegation abstained in the voting on draft resolution A/C.1/50/L.18. I hope that the record will show that my delegation had wished to make a statement in explanation of vote before the vote.

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Mr. Hamdan (Lebanon): My delegation would like to explain its position on draft resolution A/C.1/50/L.18, “Transparency in armaments”.

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We deplore the fact that nuclear armaments continue to enjoy special attention. In the Middle East, this is causing serious concern, in particular with Israel’s continued refusal to accede to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and to place its nuclear facilities under full-scope International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards while at the same time it enjoys considerable unsafeguarded nuclear and mass-destruction capabilities.

This is why my delegation abstained in the voting on draft resolution A/C.1/50/L.18.

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The Chairman: I shall now call upon those representatives wishing to make statements in explanation of position.

Mr. Yativ (Israel): Israel joined the consensus on this draft resolution because it supports the objective of global prohibition of biological weapons. In our view, any arrangement reached must include, in a comprehensive manner, all the States in the region of the Middle East. Furthermore, arrangements involving compliance in enforcement require the establishment of a credible verification regime so as to confer confidence in the Convention.

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The meeting rose at 6 p.m.