Conference on Disarmament Begins 2007 Session

The U.N. Conference on Disarmament opened its 2007 session yesterday after another year of deadlock.  The conference has been unable to agree on a negotiating agenda for a decade (see GSN, July 18, 2006).

In a statement read to the conference, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged this year’s session to “rise to the challenge” of invigorating international disarmament and nonproliferation efforts.

He called for progress on a treaty to ban the production of fissile materials for weapons (see GSN, May 18, 2006), for bringing the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty into force (see GSN, Jan. 22), for developing stronger “negative security assurances” from nuclear-weapon states (see GSN, Apr. 27, 2005), and for preventing an arms race in space (see related GSN story, today).

“I look to the Conference on Disarmament to lead progress on all these fronts,” Ban said.  “I need hardly remind you that the stakes are high” (U.N. release, Jan. 22).

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