Mideast situation/Nuclear non-proliferation – Disarmament Commission session – Press release (excerpts)

Disarmament Commission

2003 Substantive Session

252^nd & 253^rd Meetings (AM & PM)

‘CREEPING RETREAT’ FROM NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT,

INCREASED PROLIFERATION RISK AMONG ISSUES

STRESSED, AS DISARMAMENT COMMISSION OPENS SESSION

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Background

The Disarmament Commission opened its 2003 substantive session this morning.  It was expected to adopt its agenda and approve its organization of work.  It was in its third year of deliberations on two items:  ways and means to achieve nuclear disarmament (for which it had before it a Chairman’s working paper, A/CN.10/2003/WG.1/WP.1); and practical confidence-building measures in the field of conventional arms (for which it had before it an explanatory note of the relevant working group chairman).  Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs Jayantha Dhanapala was expected to speak.

The Commission, which is composed of all Member States of the United Nations, is a deliberative body, with the function of making recommendations on various problems in the field of disarmament and following up on the relevant decisions and recommendations of the 1978 General Assembly’s first special session devoted to disarmament.  It was first created in 1952, under the umbrella of the Security Council, with a general mandate on disarmament questions.  Since 1978, as a subsidiary body of the General Assembly, the Commission has focused on a limited number of agenda items each session to allow for in-depth consideration.  Since 1993, it has dealt with two or three items, which it usually considers for three years.  The Commission is in its third year of consideration of the two agenda items.

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Statements

RAMEZ GOUSSOUS (Jordan) …

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Regarding the Middle East, he said all States of the region had pledged to achieve nuclear disarmament through adherence to the NPT in order to free the region and the world of nuclear weapons.  Israel, however, had refused to adhere to that treaty and had chosen to follow the nuclear option.  It had refused to place its nuclear installations under the safeguard system of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).  The Sixth Review Conference of the NPT had included reaffirmation that Israel should adhere to the Treaty and place all its installations to the safeguard system in its final document.  In 1980, the General Assembly had adopted, by consensus, a resolution on a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East.

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Right of Reply

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ADAMANTIOS TH. VASSILAKIS (Greece), …

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He stressed the importance of implementation of the “13 practical steps” contained in the Final Document of the 2000 NPT Review conference and called for the early entry into force of the CTBT, as well as for all States that had not yet ratified the Treaty to do so without delay and unconditionally, in particular, the 13 States whose ratification was required for entry into force.  He also called for, among other things, the immediate start of negotiations on a non-discriminatory, multilateral, internationally and effectively verifiable treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other explosive devises, the preservation and continued implementation of the Strategic Arms Limitation and Reduction treaty (START), and regular reporting on article VI and the Middle East, in accordance with the 2000 Final Document.

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