U.N. disarmament head 'heartened' by new optimism ahead of NPT prep meet

Japan Policy & Politics, May 4, 2009

NEW YORK, May 3 Kyodo

Sergio Duarte, U.N. high representative for disarmament affairs, is hopeful recent moves by world leaders will positively impact a committee meeting that is set to begin in New York next week to lay the groundwork for the 2010 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference.

''I was very much heartened'' by a declaration U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev jointly issued recently, Duarte said, referring to the leaders' pledge to work toward further nuclear arms reductions under Article VI of the NPT. ''They made a specific link to the NPT and I think this is very important.''

Duarte expressed optimism over nuclear disarmament in a recent interview with Kyodo News ahead of the May 4-15 preparatory committee meeting at U.N. headquarters. The article mentioned by him calls on nations to negotiate in ''good faith'' with the aim of ending the nuclear arms race and working toward disarmament.

The mood for nuclear disarmament has grown around the world after U.S. President Obama laid out an ambitious vision in Prague on April 5 for a world without nuclear weapons, saying Washington has ''a moral responsibility to act'' as the only country to have used a nuclear weapon.

The NPT came into force in 1970 and serves as the world's primary legal and political barrier against the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Most nations are members with the exception of North Korea, Israel, India and Pakistan.

Under the treaty, nuclear-weapons nations vowed to work toward disarmament in exchange for the promise that non-weapons states would not acquire them.

''So this is one thing that may have a future,'' Duarte said of an agreement Moscow and Washington reached in early April after their leaders committed to fast-tracking negotiations on reducing nuclear stockpiles of their respective countries.

Specifically the two countries will work together to replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which expires Dec. 5. This is regarded as a marked departure from past policies that strained the bilateral relations under the administration of President George W. Bush.

Every five years, world leaders gather to weigh in on the performance of the treaty and to debate strategies for improving it at the review conference since it was extended indefinitely in 1995.

While the preparatory meeting is largely procedural, important steps, such as the election of a president and the scheduling of thematic debates are to take place over the 10 working days when diplomats gather at U.N. headquarters.

Another end product of the gathering is the expected adoption of an agenda that is to set the tone for the weeks-long review conference that begins next April and lasts through May 21.

The previous 2005 conference was generally regarded as a failure because it did not achieve a consensus on updates to the agreement.

Duarte, who presided over the 2005 conference, said that it took two and a half weeks for all parties just to agree to an agenda. This, he said, left little time for substantive discussions to take place.

He also recalled many frustrations, especially in light of the great progress made in the preceding 2000 review conference where 13 important steps were unanimously adopted by all participants.

While he urged member states against becoming obsessive about the 13 practical steps to move toward the treaty's disarmament provisions, including ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and negotiation of the START III pact for additional U.S.-Russian nuclear arms reductions, it could serve as a useful starting point.

''It would, of course, be useful that now in 2010 that the parties would again revisit the 13 steps to see what can be done about that agreement, but we have to also understand that they were done in 2000 and many things happened in these 10 years,'' he said.

Duarte pointed to the significance of Obama's April 5 speech where he underscored the need to bring into force the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. While it had been signed into effect by President Bill Clinton in 1996, it failed to be ratified by the Senate.

Obama also pledged that Washington would take ''concrete steps'' to reduce its nuclear weapons stockpiles.

Duarte also noted that Britain and France had also made ''positive declarations'' about reducing their own nuclear arsenals. China, on the other hand, has not made any statement regarding any policy changes in its position and has been ''quite low key.''

''The other countries have made some declarations, which are important, but at the same time they say they need their weapons,'' he added.

Despite making such promises the five permanent members of the Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- remain nuclear weapons states and other challenges remain.

Iran, for example, despite being a signatory to the treaty, has alarmed many countries by pursuing what it considers to be its peaceful use of nuclear energy. The United States and its European allies believe that Iran's nuclear program is designed to make weapons.