Why the Conference on Disarmament Still Matters
What NGOs Need to Do
David Atwood
The last time the Conference on Disarmament (CD) undertook sustained negotiations was in 1996, at the time of the completion of the ill-fated Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. While there have been previous fallow periods in the history of this Genevabased body and its predecessors, there is nothing to rival this stretch of inactivity and lack of productivity. Whatever the international political factors at the roots of this failure, the members of the CD themselves appear to be incapable, their protestations notwithstanding, of actually facing some of the basic institutional structural and cultural factors which also hamstring this body.
It is, therefore, perhaps strange to be arguing, as this small paper will do, that the CD still matters and why organizations with an interest in the future of disarmament should pay attention to the situation in Geneva.
Remembering Why We Have a Conference on Disarmament
The creation of the CD at the time of the First UN Special Session devoted to disarmament in 1978 was recognition that the broad range of disarmament-related concerns at the time were the concern of all the peoples of the world, and not just the superpowers. While a relatively small number of countries made up the original membership of the CD, they were charged with representing the concerns and interests of the international community as whole. The CD has expanded in membership since 1978 and now has 66 members, but it is still far from a universal body. Members of the CD, therefore, continue to carry responsibilities to the international community as a whole, a fact that many appear to regularly forget in their pursuit of narrow national interests.
The negotiation of the Antipersonnel Mine Ban Convention outside the CD shows that there are situations where serious and effective multilateral treaties can happen in other ways. But in the minds of most governments around the world, the CD remains the central multilateral body with responsibility for negotiating agreements on disarmament concerns considered critical to international security. Because of this, and in the absence of plausible alternatives except around specific limited issues, the dysfunction in the CD should be of major concern to publics horrified by the range present and future threats posed by weapons developments.
A Vicious Circle Leading Only in One Direction
The longer the stalemate in the CD goes on, the less interest there is in it by concerned publics and by governments. But decline in interest has a number of serious consequences. As public interest declines, so too does the sense of pressure that governments feel. The fault does not lie with NGOs – it lies with the governments. But the absence of engagement with the CD is wrongly interpreted by some CD members as showing a lack of concern by NGOs in the issues for which the CD has responsibility. Equally, as the stalemate goes on, there is a noticeable reduction of high level engagement by governments in the CD. In recent years, the number of countries appointing ambassadors solely to the CD has dropped, delegations have been reduced, and the level of expertise within delegations has consequently declined.
It may well be that there is little that can be done in the foreseeable future to unblock the CD as it is currently structured. This must not mean, however, a further decline in either NGO or government engagement. Otherwise, those who really don’t want the CD to work effectively and who are not very interested in multilateral disarmament progress achieve their ends through sheer attrition.
Why Geneva Matters More Than You May Think
Geneva is a major centre for disarmament-related activity – on landmines, on biological weapons issues, on small arms, etc. – quite apart from the CD itself. This is the case in large part because the CD (and hence delegations with staffs dedicated to disarmament matters) is here. Hence, the importance of the CD extends beyond the specificities of the CD itself. Governments need to realize that a further decline in their CD engagement will also mean a decline in the capacities of the other Geneva-based disarmament processes. Similarly, NGOs need to come to understand that by focusing more attention on Geneva as a global focal point for disarmament concerns, they can also help to increase the pressure that governments feel over the real dissatisfaction which exists about inaction in the CD and the state of multilateral disarmament processes generally.
Engaging with the CD: Now Is the Time
The annual session of the CD runs from January to mid-April, mid-May to the end of June, and early August to mid-September. Because of this extended way of working and because very little of anything that ever happens during these many weeks each year is actually open to NGOs, it is very difficult for most NGOs to maintain a regular presence in Geneva. Nevertheless, there are many ways in which NGOs can engage more effectively with the member governments of the CD.
Following the CD
While coverage of the CD is limited, it is not a closed shop entirely. For NGOs not based in Geneva, the best way to follow the CD is by regularly consulting the DDA website on http://disarmament2.un.org/cd/. Here you will also find “provisional verbatim” documents from the formal sessions of the CD as they come on-line. But you should also consult www.reachingcriticalwill.org for the coverage which Reaching Critical Will provides on the CD. Also, you can get regular analysis of the CD through Disarmament Diplomacy, the project of the Acronym Institute. (see www.acronym.org.uk/dd/).
Pressuring Your Government
Geneva representatives to the CD operate on instructions from their capitals. Those NGOs able to follow the work of the CD in Geneva are often told by government respresentatives that governments act when they feel domestic pressure to act on particular. Be in touch with your own relevant government departments as well as your parliamentary representatives to find out what your government is doing at the CD. For those countries not members of the CD, find out if your government is an “observer” state to the CD and, if not, why not. In putting your disarmament positions forward, relate these as closely as possible to action opportunities and realities in the CD. Let the NGO Committees on Disarmament in Geneva and New York know what you are doing (see addresses below).
Submitting Documents
Most NGOs are unaware that they have the right to submit documents to the CD. Most annual sessions now pass without any significant written input from NGOs. This only feeds the sense that there is no public interest. The Secretariat to the CD will notify all Geneva missions of documents received and will make these documents available upon request to Missions requesting them. NGOs are encouraged to send documents related to the broad range of issues on the CD’s “agenda” to: Mr. Enrique Roman-Morey, Deputy Secretary General of the Conference on Disarmament, Conference on Disarmament, Palais des Nations, avenue de la Paix 8-14, 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland. You could also send these electronically to him on eromanmorey@unog.ch. In your cover note to your publication, please say that you are submitting your publication to the Conference on Disarmament and that you would appreciate his assistance in making delegations aware of the receipt and availability of it. Instead of a report at the end of this year’s CD which says NGOs submitted no documents in the 2004 session (as was the case last year), it would be wonderful if the CD were flooded with well researched, well argued positions on disarmament concerns. If you wish to get documents directly to the Geneva missions, the NGO Committee for Disarmament can supply you with a list of Mission permanent representatives and addresses.
Formal Recognition of the Importance of an NGO Role: Small Progress
While there are few NGOs regularly in Geneva, the steps they and others have taken – and the engagement of NGOs more generally with other disarmament processes both within and without Geneva – means that there is growing recognition among many governments that the present relationship between NGOs and the CD is inadequate and ultimately self-defeating. The almost total exclusion of NGOs from the work of the CD not only puts the CD at odds with nearly every other multilateral process but also is costing the CD dearly in valuable expertise and in outreach work to publics. Some governments – notably Egypt, Sri Lanka, Japan, Canada, Ireland, and Kenya in recent years – have made major efforts to get the rules of the CD changed so that NGOs can be more effectively included in the life of the CD.
It is impossible to report major progress, but two steps taken this year signal an opening to the role of NGOs. These are small steps indeed, but it is critical that we take full advantage of them. The first is that NGOs will be allowed twice during any given annual session to display documents outside the room where the CD meets. The NGO Committee will make suggestions as to when these two times might best be. The initial view on this is that this should be done when there may be a major parallel conference or initiative underway which would also bring NGOs in numbers to Geneva.
The second concession is that NGOs will be allowed to address an informal meeting of the CD once an annual session. However, this will only come into play once the CD has adopted a “programme of work,” something which has been blocked, with one short exception, since 1996. Nevertheless, NGOs must think how best to do this most effectively and be ready, should the time come. The NGO Committee for Disarmament will have the responsibility to put this into place.
The CD and the NPT Review Conference: Why Geneva is Critical in the Coming Months
Many NGOs will be unaware that many of the diplomats who represent their governments at the Non-Proliferation-Treaty (NPT) preparatory meetings and Review Conferences are also representatives to the CD. The 2005 Review Conference of the NPT appears headed in a bad direction. If you are working to see that this doesn’t happen, then you should put Geneva on your list of “intervention points” over the coming year. Governments need to feel the hot breath of the public on their necks. Here are some important steps in this:
Send documents on disarmament issues to the UN Department for Disarmament Affairs in Geneva (address above) requesting that Missions in Geneva be notified; and send a copy of what your sending to Geneva to your government ministries responsible for the CD and the NPT, telling them what you’ve done.
When writing to your government ministers and members of parliament, send a copy to the Mission of your government in Geneva, regardless of whether your government is a member of the CD.
Plan to come to Geneva at least once between now and the NPT Review Conference, 2-27 May 2005. Visit your representatives here as well as the Missions of other key states in the CD and let them know how you feel. It is very important that NGOs be seen. Between now and the Review Conference it would be good if there were significant numbers of NGOs in the balcony on Thursday mornings (the only “open” meeting of the CD each week), letting CD members know that they are being watched.
Organize a meeting or an event in Geneva in the coming months. One of the most important things NGOs do in their engagement with governments in Geneva is to organize seminars and meetings for those governments. Formal methods of inclusion within the CD are far less important than what can be achieved informally through bilateral discussions and meetings of all sorts.
Join the NGO Committee for Disarmament. This small Committee (at present) needs all NGOs that care about disarmament issues to join. Then this Committee will be able to serve you better as the interface with the UN system. Write to the committee at the address below, with a letter outlining your work and if possible with a sample newsletter or publication showing what you are doing on disarmament. All requests for membership are reviewed by the Committee twice a year.
