Global Security Newswire

Discussions at the international Conference on Disarmament have "regressed" and could become "irrelevant" if the body fails to take up key arms control issues, the top U.N. official in Geneva, Switzerland, said yesterday (see GSN, Jan. 27).

The 65-nation conference in 2009 broke a deadlock that had lasted for more than 10 years, agreeing to a work plan that addressed four issues: nuclear disarmament, a fissile material cutoff pact, the prohibition of space-based weapons, and an agreement by nuclear-armed states not to use their strategic weapons against nations that do not possess such armaments. Pakistan, though, last year objected to the plan, preventing the conference from reaching the necessary consensus to move ahead.

Pakistan also initially opposed the conference agenda for 2010, but later allowed the program to be approved while warning it would still not consider a potential global ban on production of nuclear-weapon material.

Islamabad could also force the body to address additional concerns, including local military issues as well as the use of missiles to deliver weapons, Pakistani envoy Zamir Akram said. Pakistan has feared that a fissile material treaty could hinder its ability to counter its regional rival India, which already possesses a larger stockpile of nuclear-weapon material.

"What we see is not zero, but it is minus," said Sergei Ordzhonikidze, head of the U.N. Office at Geneva. "We have done nothing."

"I don't know what to tell the secretary general (Ban Ki-moon) when he asks what is going on in the CD except to say, 'I am sorry Mr. Secretary General, nothing is going on.'"

Speaking for the U.N. chief, Ordzhonikidze urged conference participants to be "a little more flexible" and reach consensus on their agenda for the year.

"It is not the finalization of the elaboration of any treaty, it is just the program of work," the official said (Stephanie Nebehay, Reuters, Feb. 11).