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

Official Records

General Assembly

Fifty-fifth session

First Committee

7th meeting

Friday, 6 October 2000,  10 a.m.

New York

President:  Mr. U Mya Than…………………….(Myanmar)

The meeting was called to order at 10.05 a.m.

Agenda items 65 to 81 (continued)

General debate on all disarmament and international security items

The Chairman: This morning we are pleased to have with us Under-Secretary-General Petrovsky of the United Nations Office in Geneva.

Mr. Pamir (Turkey):  …

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The Middle East and North Africa are home to a higher concentration of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and missile programmes, than any other region in the world. In order to understand the rationale behind this high-level proliferation in the Middle East, it is necessary to look at the root causes of the problem from a wider perspective. We observe that in response to the perceived weapons capabilities of other parties or their neighbours, countries in the region intensify their armament efforts, thus perpetuating a vicious circle of security destabilization. Therefore, we are of the opinion that any credible effort aimed at finding a lasting solution to the problem of proliferation in the Middle East must, first and foremost, address the issue of eradicating all weapons of mass destruction in the region.

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We also believe, therefore, in the necessity of extreme vigilance in the transfer of sensitive material and technology to regions of particular concern, such as the Middle East. While the main responsibility for effective international cooperation for the prevention of proliferation lies with supplier countries, countries located on transfer routes should also shoulder their responsibility and cooperate with the suppliers to prevent unauthorized access to these goods and technologies.

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In view of our proximity to the Middle East, we attach importance to the implementation of the resolution on the Middle East, adopted by the 1995 NPT Review Conference, calling for the establishment of a Middle East zone free of nuclear and all other weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems, which was reconfirmed in the Final Document of the 2000 Review Conference, under the heading, “regional issues”.

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Mr. Enkhsaikhan (Mongolia):  …

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In this context, my delegation will support the draft resolution on a nuclear-weapon-free southern hemisphere and adjacent areas to be submitted to this Committee. Likewise, my delegation supports the efforts to establish a nuclear-weapon-free zone in Central Asia. We further call for a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East.

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Mr. Al-Sindi (Yemen) (spoke in Arabic):  …

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As regards transparency in armaments, my delegation supports the Arab position that the success of any transparency mechanism must be guided by specific principles that are balanced, comprehensive and non-discriminatory. Such principles would enhance national, regional and international security for all countries. Since the Middle East constitutes a special situation characterized by a qualitative imbalance in the field of armaments, because transparency is applied to seven types of conventional weapons while other, more sophisticated and lethal weapons, such as nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, are ignored, undesirable and unbalanced results emerge. The present deteriorating situation in the Middle East and the acts of aggression by Israel against unarmed Palestinian people in Jerusalem and the occupied territories, the toll of which has reached the hundreds in deaths and injuries, provides crystal-clear testimony to that. Israel is thus a risk factor that jeopardizes the region since it possesses the most lethal weapons of mass destruction and has not acceded to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty; nor has it heeded the repeated call of the international community to accede to the Treaty and to place its nuclear installations under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards. This has impeded all efforts aimed at establishing a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East.

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The meeting rose at 12.30 p.m.