Statement by representative of the Russian Federation Andrei Belousov in the First Committee of the 74th session of the UNGA on
Distinguished Mr. Chairman,
Distinguished colleagues,
We all see that the current situation in the field of international security, arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation is characterized by increasing tension and unpredictability, escalation of previous threats and challenges and the emergence of new ones, as well as strengthening of military and political factors that undermine global strategic stability. Therefore, we all urgently need a positive and unifying agenda right now.
In this regard, the Russian Federation introduced the draft resolution “Strengthening and development of the system of arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation agreements” to the 74th session of the UNGA. Our document is aimed at consolidating world community around the need to maintain and improve the existing architecture of arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation. The UN Member States were also encouraged to ensure full and strict implementation of the existing agreements in this field, and to maintain their integrity. This, in turn, would improve the credibility and effectiveness of the system of arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation, contribute to maintain a climate of trust, which is an essential prerequisite to achieve new agreements.
We are convinced that the adoption of the resolution would be a significant contribution to creating conditions for the success of a number of important activities in 2020-21, such as the NPT, BTWC, CCW Review Conferences, and for the extension of the New START Treaty.
We call upon UN Member States to support and co-sponsor the draft resolution.
Mr. Chairman,
We are convinced that the leading role in the consideration of arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation issues, as well as issues of international peace and global security, should belong to the United Nations, as it was intended when the Organization was established. The strengthening of existing and the development of new arms control regimes should be carried out either within the framework of existing conventional mechanisms or within the framework of the UN disarmament machinery, namely, at the Conference on Disarmament, a negotiating forum specially designed for this purpose. Only such a principle can ensure real multilateralism in disarmament and consideration of security interests of all parties involved.
Each of the components of the disarmament triad, the First Committee of the UN General Assembly, the UN Disarmament Commission, the Conference on Disarmament (CD), seeks to perform its functions responsibly and efficiently. We, as UN Member States, are required to provide the necessary conditions for this. In order to achieve that goal, it is necessary to strictly adhere to their mandates and avoid politicization to the detriment of finding consensus solutions to the pressing issues of arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation.
A significant event was the appointment of Ms. Tatyana Valovaya to the high office of Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva and, equally important for the disarmament machinery, the Secretary-General of the Conference on Disarmament and Personal Representative of the United Nations Secretary General to the CD. For the first time in history, these positions are held by a woman. We are doubly pleased that the representative of Russia has been granted such an honor. We are ready to assist her in carrying out her noble mission in every way possible.
Mr. Chairman,
Recently, the disarmament machinery has shown destructive trends that have reduced its former effectiveness to almost zero. The outcomes of the UNGA's vote on the resolutions in the field of arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation lead to a clear conclusion that States are finding it increasingly difficult to reach consensus decisions and that there is no common understanding of what direction should be chosen to move forward in addressing pressing challenges facing the international community. Even issues that previously were considered unifying, are becoming the subject of heated debate. The trends to move away from substantive dialogue, to politicize the discussions, as well as the attempts to turn the UN platform into a tool of pressure on the "undesirable" have become particularly evident already at the 2018 session of the First Committee of the UN General Assembly. As a result, the number of consensus resolutions has sharply decreased, from about half in 2017 to about a third in the last year.
This year, the situation in the CD is extremely unhealthy, characterized by the same symptoms. We consider inadmissible any attempts to shift away from well-established practices in the CD. Instead, we shall focus on a joint search for mutually acceptable solutions to the issues related to elaboration of a comprehensive and balanced CD programme of work.
As a practical contribution to these efforts, I would like to mention the proposal made by Russia in March 2016 for negotiations in the CD on the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Chemical and Biological Terrorism (ICCBT). This initiative does not infringe on the security interests of States, and its implementation provides for the development of a new instrument to counter WMD Terrorism contributing to the strengthening of regional and international security. The Russian proposal remains on the Conference table.
Mr. Chairman,
An additional destructive factor in the context of work of the First Committee and the UN Disarmament Commission is the unreasonable acts of the US authorities who didn’t issue visas to leading experts of the Russian delegation in violation of their obligations under the 1947 Agreement on UN Headquarters. In this context we’d like to remind also about the blocking of entry into the U.S. for Russian experts participating in the 11th Conference on Facilitating the Entry into Force of the CTBT during the high-level week of the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly (New York, 25 September).
The "visa war" unleashed by Washington led to the disruption of this year's session of the UN Disarmament Commission, for the first time in its history. Thus, the U.S. has clearly demonstrated its priorities in the field of arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation. It appears that they preferred to deny visa to the head of the Russian delegation to the discussion on transparency and confidence-building measures in space activities that they themselves initiated.
The U.S. has no grounds, let alone legal rights, to block the participation of representatives of UN Member States in the events on the UN platform or to decide for them who should be part of, or even more so head of, national delegations. Through their destructive actions, the Americans are undermining the credibility of the United Nations Secretariat and Secretary-General of the Organization personally, who are obliged to ensure the resolution of all organizational issues for the normal functioning of the United Nations bodies, regardless of the country in which the event is held.
In order to restore the algorithm of work of the First Committee and the UN Disarmament Commission, we are introducing a draft resolution "Improving the effectiveness of the work of the First Committee", as well as amendments to the traditional draft resolution "Report of the Disarmament Commission" on complete review of the issue of holding the sessions of the First Committee and the UN Disarmament Commission in 2020 in the Vienna or Geneva UN Office. The approval of these decisions would let all delegations to participate in the work of these platforms on a non-discriminatory basis and would help to improve the situation within the UN disarmament machinery and to enhance the credibility of the world Organization. We invite all delegations to support the decisions.
Thank you for your attention.
