UNITED NATIONS: U.S. Objects to Special Session on Disarmament

By Thalif Deen Reprint | | Print |

Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 23 1995 (IPS) - The United States has broken ranks with most of its Western allies by voicing strong opposition to a Third World proposal for a special U.N. session on global disarmament.

Stephen Ledogar of the U.S. delegation said Wednesday that the proposed session, possibly to be convened in 1997, was not only badly timed but was also too costly for the financially-strapped world body.

“Given the financial situation facing the United Nations, an early session would be inappropriate on that basis alone. It was not the time to think of big conferences, but to concentrate on the tasks before us,” he told delegates Wednesday.

The resolution, sponsored by Colombia in its capacity as chairman of the 113-member Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), was opposed only by two countries: the U.S. and Israel.

The 46 abstentions came mostly from Western states, while the 98 countries voting in favour of the resolution were mostly from the Third World.

The 185-member General Assembly is expected to establish a committee to prepare a draft agenda and examine all relevant questions concerning the special session.

The proposed special session on disarmament will be the fourth such session in the 50-year history of the world body. The last three sessions were held in 1978, 1982 and 1988.

Ledogar said the last special session on disarmament in 1988 cost the United Nations about 7.5 million dollars. A session in 1997 would, however, cost an estimated 20 million dollars, he added.

The U.S. delegate also pointed out there was a general understanding that all decisions concerning the special session, as well as its outcome, had to be made by consensus.

“Many believed the time was not right to hold a special session, but some states, however, were seeking to impose their will on others by holding a vote,” he said.

“It came down to the question of whether or not the sponsors of the draft wanted to win a vote, and in the process lose any possibility of a special session on disarmament,” he warned.

The 15-member European Union (EU) Wednesday expressed support for the proposal. Consensus was essential in order to convene such an event, and the EU regretted the need for a vote, it said.

The EU’s stand was supported by Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and the Slovak Republic.

Ambassador Andelfo Garcia of Colombia said that in view of the easing of global tensions in a post-Cold War era, the time was ripe for the convening of a special session on disarmament.

Although the current session of the General Assembly was asked to set the date, the year 1997 was considered the most favourable for holding such a session, he said.

The special session is scheduled to be held in the context of several upcoming major developments in the disarmament area — the conclusion of a comprehensive test-ban treaty, cut-off of the production of fissile material, the entry into force of the Chemical Weapons Convention, and the Treaty on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (START II).

The U.N. resolution says that since negotiations and action on important disarmament issues will be completed by the end of 1996, “the year 1997 would be an opportune time to review the progress in the entire field of disarmament in the post-Cold War era.”

The NAM summit meeting in Cartagena, Colombia, last month unanimously supported the proposal for a special session.

Such a session, NAM said, should help “mobilise the international community and public opinion in favour of the elimination of weapons of mass destruction and of the control and reduction of conventional weapons.”

Meanwhile, the United Nations is trying to curb the spread of both conventional arms and weapons of mass destruction.

Last week the General Assembly asked Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali to report on the types of small arms and light weapons being used in the various military conflicts throughout the world.

Boutros-Ghali has been asked to submit a report detailing the nature and causes of “the excessive accumulation and transfer of such arms, and ways to prevent it.”

As a global confidence-building measure, the United Nations is also planning to expand the scope of its current Arms Register by including small arms and domestic production. The present Register is confined to the import and export of heavy weapons.

UNITED NATIONS: U.S. Objects to Special Session on Disarmament

By Thalif Deen Reprint | | Print |

Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 23 1995 (IPS) - The United States has broken ranks with most of its Western allies by voicing strong opposition to a Third World proposal for a special U.N. session on global disarmament.
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