NPT Meeting Ends in Discord

Delegates failed to agree Friday on a closing statement from the chairman of a meeting on the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, as Iran and other Nonaligned Movement nations objected to the proposed language, Reuters reported (see GSN, May 11).

The disagreement caused the statement to be reduced to a “working paper” instead of a “summary” describing the meeting’s discussions.  The two-week session in Vienna, intended to prepare for the treaty’s 2010 review conference, was also marred by the inability to agree to an agenda for more than a week.

Iran argued that it was unfairly singled out in the proposed chairman’s summary.  Relegated to working-paper status, the document included this paragraph on Iran:

“Serious concern was expressed over Iran’s nuclear program and that state party was strongly urged to comply with all the requirements in the U.N. Security Council Resolutions 1737 and 1747 and the relevant resolutions of the IAEA Board of Governors without further delay.  It was noted that these multiple unanimous Security Council resolutions on Iran’s nuclear program demonstrate the resolve of the international community on this issue.  States parties believed that this issue should be resolved peacefully through diplomatic efforts and negotiations.  For its part, Iran indicated its readiness, provided Security Council disengagement was realized, to resolve issues in the framework of the IAEA.”

The failure to agree on an official summary would harm the treaty, said one diplomat.

“It gives the impression of a dying NPT, even though we will meet again next year to pick up the ball again,” the diplomat said.

“It's not the NAM as such that is causing this impasse, it's the Iranians playing terrible games,” added a European diplomat.

One disarmament advocate said the document was even-handed.

“We think the report is fair, balanced and representative.  The precedent of rejecting the chair's text undermines standard multilateral practices, which sets a dangerous precedent for the NPT itself,” said Felicity Hill of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (Mark Heinrich, Reuters, May 11).

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