STATEMENT BY
AMBASSADOR J. ENKHSAIKHAN
PERMANENT
REPRESENTATIVE OF MONGOLIA
TO THE UNITED NATIONS 2001 SUBSTANTIVE
SESSION OF THE
DISARMAMENT CONFERENCE
Mme.
Chairperson,
I
also join the previous speakers in expressing the gratitude of my delegation to
the Under-Secretary-General Jayantha Dhanapala for his important statement in
which he has touched upon the pressing issues of disarmament at the very
beginning of this century.
Mme.
Chairperson,
Mongolia fully shares the view
that the UNDC, an important international deliberative
body, has an increasing role to play in promoting the goals of arms control and
disarmament at the regional as well as global levels. The international
community is well aware of
excessive
stockpiling of
arms – of some 30,000 nuclear warheads
and of 500 million small arms in different countries and various
regions of the world.
2001
is the second year for the UNDC’s quest for agreements on two important
topics: 1) ways and means to achieve nuclear disarmament; 2) practical
confidence-building measures in the field of conventional arms. In this
connection my delegation would like to express its gratitude and appreciation to
the chairmen of the two working groups, namely Mr. Yaw Odei Osei of Ghana and
Ms. Gabreila Martinic of Argentina for the efforts they have been making since
last year’s session in promoting negotiations
of the aforementioned two important issues.
Mme.
Chairperson,
Taking this
opportunity my delegation would like to briefly focus on some issues that, in
its view, need priority attention.
Nuclear disarmament, the most
crucial task of the whole range of disarmament and non-proliferation issues, is
a prerequisite for the maintenance and strengthening of international peace and
security.
By adopting
the
Millennium Declaration last year, the
Heads of State and Government of member States of the United Nations have
underlined their determination for the elimination of all weapons of mass
destruction, particularly nuclear weapons. This commitment should be vigorously
pursued. Bearing this in mind, Mongolia
welcomes and supports the proposal by the Secretary-General to convene a major
international conference aimed at identifying ways of eliminating nuclear
dangers.
In addition, we have a very
important statement by the nuclear-weapon States concerning “an unequivocal
undertaking to accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals
leading to total nuclear disarmament”, made during
the 2000 NPT Review Conference.
This statement implies taking of concrete practical measures to reduce
the
nuclear arsenals and
to
embark
upon the process that would lead to a substantial reduction and ultimately to
the total elimination of nuclear weapons, as reflected in the final document of
the Conference.
Still on nuclear disarmament, my delegation believes that the member
States and parties concerned should make every effort to achieve without delay
the following objectives: bringing the
CTBT into force as soon as
possible and ensuring compliance with its provisions, strengthening the
non-proliferation regime and
implementing fully the NPT, preservation
of the spirit of the ABM Treaty and conclusion of a universal and verifiable
Fissile Materials Cut-Off Treaty as early
as possible. My delegations also
attaches a great importance to the implementation of START II
and to the conclusion of
START III.
Mme.
Chairperson,
Mongolia
believes that the principles and
guidelines on the establishment of NWFZs, adopted two years ago by the UNDC
would further consolidate the
existing zones and facilitate the establishment of
new ones which is an
important and valuable component of nuclear non-proliferation and a positive
factor of regional security and stability.
Mongolia’s nuclear-weapon-free status
is broadly supported by the international community. The United Nations
General Assembly has adopted two resolutions in 1998 and 2000
in support of strengthening of Mongolia’s
nuclear-weapon-free status and the five nuclear-weapon States last fall have
provided Mongolia with both positive and negative
security assurances in connection with that status.
We believe that a clearly defined and internationally recognized status
would be Mongolia’s practical contribution
to promoting the goal of strengthening the non-proliferation regime.
Mme. Chairperson,
The other important task of the UNDC is to discuss and identify practical
confidence-building measures in the field of conventional arms. Mongolia
attaches great importance to reduction and even elimination of certain
categories and types of conventional weapons. It believes,
however, that reduction in conventional armaments should be carried out
bearing in mind the defense and security needs of States.
My
delegation shares the legitimate concerns of the international community
over the increasing threat from spread of small arms and light weapons and their
illegal trade. Nowadays it would not be an exaggeration
to say that each of us knows by heart
the alarming statistics of impacts that have been caused to the human
lives by these types of weapons during the last decade. In this context, my
delegation welcomes
the ongoing preparations
under chairmanship of Amb. Carlos Dos Santos of Mozambique
for the United Nations
Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in all its
aspects in July
2001. This conference should adopt a
comprehensive action program containing all necessary measures to prevent,
combat and eradicate the illicit trade of these types of weapons in all its
aspects at the national, regional and
global levels as well as concrete ways of international cooperation and
assistance and follow-up.
Mongolia
welcomed the entry into force of the anti-personnel landmines convention as
an important step
in conventional disarmament. Strict implementation of the convention
would reduce substantially human sufferings in many regions of the world.
Although the country’s specific conditions do not allow
Mongolia to join the above convention at present, being supportive of the
primary objective of banning landmines, we will be seeking ways and means to
accede to the above convention as early as possible.
It
is also my delegation’s belief that further
reduction of conventional arms and increase in transparency of military budgets
and arms trade of States would promote confidence-building. Therefore my
delegation advocates further strengthening of the
UN arms register.
Finally, Mme. Chairperson, I
would like to take this opportunity to assure you of my delegation’s full
cooperation in your efforts to bring the
work of the session to a successful conclusion.
Thank you,
Mme. Chairperson.