EU Statement – UN General Assembly 1st Committee: Disarmament Machinery (Cluster VII)
Chair,
I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States.
The Candidate Countries North Macedonia, Montenegro*, Albania*, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina* and Georgia, and the EFTA countries Iceland and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, as well as Monaco and San Marino align themselves with this statement.
The EU remains firmly committed to effective multilateralism and to the rules-based international order, with the United Nations at its core. In the current international security environment, marked by growing geopolitical tensions, armed conflicts, and rapid scientific and technological developments, multilateral disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation efforts remain of utmost importance.
We all have a responsibility to ensure that the UN disarmament machinery remains relevant and delivers results in line with its agreed mandates. Its credibility depends ultimately on its ability to address today's security challenges and to produce concrete outcomes.
Chair,
The Conference on Disarmament is a unique multilateral disarmament negotiating forum of the international community. Its predecessors and the Conference itself have contributed to the negotiation of major international instruments which remain important pillars of the international security architecture.
At the same time, the continued inability of the Conference to agree on and implement a Programme of Work and to fulfil its negotiating mandate for thirty years stands in stark contrast to the security challenges we face today.
The Conference urgently needs to resume substantive work and negotiations. Its mandate is to negotiate, not to deliberate.
We call on all CD Members to support practical, realistic and forward-looking measures to improve the functioning and efficiency of the Conference and to create conditions for substantive progress. This includes improving the organisation of its work, and making better use of thematic discussions and expert-level exchanges where these can contribute to advancing substantive work.
Our longstanding priority in the CD is to immediately commence the urgent and overdue negotiations of a treaty banning the production of fissile material for use in nuclear weapons or other explosive devices (FMCT) in accordance with the document CD/1299 and the mandate contained therein. We strongly call on all States to contribute to facilitating negotiations on a FMCT, a longstanding objective of the international community.
The EU calls for a more streamlined and targeted programme of meetings, including, where appropriate, reduced meeting days, taking into account the broader context of budgetary constraints and UN reform efforts. Such measures should make the Conference more efficient, they cannot, however, substitute for the political decisions required to move its substantive work forward.
The revitalization efforts should also contribute to enhancing the inclusiveness, transparency and openness of the Conference. In this regard, the continued blockage of the participation of observers on political grounds, particularly by Russia, is unacceptable. The EU calls on all CD Members to supports the participation of requesting States as observers in accordance with the established practice. Political obstruction of observer participation does not contribute to strengthening confidence in the work of the Conference, rather it weakens the Conference and is in contradiction to the principles which multilateralism builds on.
We also reiterate our longstanding support for the expansion of the membership of the Conference. Its composition should better reflect today's geopolitical realities and the wider membership of the United Nations. The EU supports the enlargement of the CD which currently comprises only 65 members. We call for the urgent appointment of a special coordinator who could lead substantive consultations on the expansion of membership and lay out concrete scenarios for the consideration of CD members.
Procedural improvements alone cannot substitute for political will. We therefore call on all CD members to demonstrate the necessary flexibility and political determination to break the stalemate.
Chair,
We encourage all delegations to engage constructively and to seek common ground, with a view to achieving substantive outcomes within its agreed mandate. The EU will continue to contribute to this work. We regret the lack of progress and agreement during recent sessions, and encourage Member States to show the flexibility, and avoid entrenched positions.
We also acknowledge the contribution of United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), as a stand-alone autonomous institution, to the disarmament and non-proliferation architecture.
We recall that the EU continues to provide significant political and financial support to a number of treaties, conventions and other agreements in the area of disarmament and non-proliferation, which also enables the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) and UNIDIR to carry out various project activities. We will continue to do so.
The EU supports efforts to promote gender equality and the full, equal and meaningful participation of women in disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation, in line with the Women, Peace and Security Agenda. We also encourage greater participation of youth and recognise the contribution of civil society, academia and the scientific community to our collective efforts.
Chair,
The EU stands ready to engage with partners in driving forward UN reform through the “UN80 initiative”, towards a more effective, cost-efficient and responsive UN, to ensure that the UN system is able to address today’s challenges, including in the field of disarmament and non-proliferation. It is timely to review and modernize the structures and working methods of the disarmament architecture ensuring they are fit for purpose.
But the disarmament machinery cannot function effectively without adequate and predictable resources. The EU remains concerned about the financial situation across the United Nations system and calls on all Member States to fulfil their financial obligations in full and on time.
At a time when the international security environment is becoming more challenging, the international community needs a disarmament machinery that can deliver. The EU stands ready to work with all partners to strengthen its effectiveness, efficiency, credibility and relevance and to advance our shared disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation objectives.
I thank you, Chair.
- North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.