STATEMENT BY H.
E. MR. J. ENKHSAIKHAN,
PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF
MONGOLIA IN THE GENERAL DEBATE OF THE FIRST COMMITTEE
3 October
2002 New
York
Mr. Chairman,
I would
like to join the preceding speakers in extending to you the warmest
congratulations of my delegation on your election to guide the work of this
Committee. My delegation is confident that your rich experience and expertise in
disarmament issues will be an invaluable asset to our committee. I also
congratulate the other members of the bureau on their well deserved election
Mr.
Chairman,
Two years ago
through the Millennium Declaration the heads of States and Governments of member
States expressed their solemn resolve to, inter alia, free peoples from the
scourge of war and to eliminate the dangers posed by weapons of mass
destruction. However, during the past two years neither a breakthrough nor any
significant progress have been made in multilateral negotiations on the
elimination of weapons of mass destruction. Moreover, United nations Disarmament
Commission could not hold its session this year that would have observed its
50th anniversary, while the Conference on Disarmament could not agree on its
program of work for the last four years.
In view of the
widely recognized urgency of nuclear disarmament this lack of genuine progress
defies logic. Is it because the accumulation of “rust” in multilateral
disarmament machinery the Secretary General spoke about got so thick that it is
inhibiting its effective functioning or perhaps the machinery is overburdened
by the vestiges of cold war and requires a profound overhaul? How can we
explain such a lethargic movement towards the cherished goal to ordinary men
and women who are waiting eagerly for the implementation of unequivocal
undertaking of nuclear powers to accomplish total elimination of their nuclear
arsenals. It is specially so in light of the security challenges presented by
international terrorism. The tragic events of 9/11 have left a deep impact both
on international relations and on the minds of peoples. It opened our eyes to
dangers and risks brought by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction
and their means of delivery. The tragedy signaled the increasing danger of
possible possession and use by non-State actors of such horrible weapons.
On a positive
note, the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was signed by 165 states of
which 93 states have ratified it. Of the 44 states whose ratification is
necessary for entry into force of the CTBT 31 have so far ratified the Treaty.
165 states had signed the Chemical Weapons Convention and 146 of them have
already deposited their instruments of ratification.
The agreement
between USA and Russian Federation to reduce their deployment of strategic
nuclear weapons, the initiative approved at G8 Kananaskis summit to earmark $20
billion to assist Russian Federation and other countries in disarmament
activities related to weapons of mass destruction raises the hope that
verifiable and transparent disarmament involving other nuclear powers will
become a reality in the coming days.
Mr.
Chairman,
Strengthening
international peace and security through disarmament process and making its own
modest contribution to this end has always been a priority of my Mongolia’s
foreign policy. In doing so, we always attached special importance to
elimination of weapons of mass destruction and means of their delivery. In this
context, Mongolia attaches special importance to the destruction of tactical
nuclear weapons. We firmly believe that nuclear disarmament is not only the key
to the solution of a wide range of disarmament and non-proliferation issues,
but also for maintaining and strengthening of international peace and
security.
Therefore, my
delegation fully shares the view that there is a pressing need to make tangible
progress in the areas of nuclear disarmament, in particular, disarmament in the
field of tactical nuclear weapons and non-proliferation. The Treaty on the
Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons is the cornerstone of global
non-proliferation regime, and the foundation for further concerted efforts
towards nuclear disarmament.
During
the 2000 NPT Review Conference, the States Parties to the Treaty have committed
to implement the important conclusions and recommendations contained in the
Final Document. In this context, my delegation welcomes the decision of the
Government of Cuba to accede to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear
Weapons and to ratify the Tlatelolco Treaty. Leaders of the United States and
the Russian Federation agreed in Moscow in May to reduce by 2/3 their strategic
nuclear warheads by the end of 2012. Mongolia welcomes these measures as
positive step in nuclear disarmament.
The Review
Conference also concluded that there was a need to establish in the Conference
on Disarmament an appropriate subsidiary body to deal specifically with nuclear
disarmament issues and called for an immediate establishment of such a body. I
wish to emphasize the vital role played over the years by the Conference on
Disarmament (CD), the sole multilateral negotiating body of disarmament issues.
Breaking the impasse, displaying necessary political will to start the
discussion of substantive issues on its agenda is of crucial importance. In this
regard, Mongolia reiterates its belief that the “Amorim proposal” could serve as
a useful basis for further consultations. At the same time our position is
flexible. We are ready to consider any proposal that may facilitate the start of
the substantive work within the CD. A year ago my Minister for Foreign Affairs,
speaking at the CD, proposed that pending the negotiation of the Fissile
Materials Cut-Off Treaty, the nuclear-weapon-States declare a moratorium on the
production of weapons grade fissile materials and promote greater transparency
through disclosure of their present stocks. He also urged the United Nations to
establish a Register for all stocks of weapons grade fissile material. The
recent seizure of enriched uranium at Turkish boarder clearly demonstrates the
significance and timeliness of this proposal.
Mr.
Chairman,
Mongolia consistently supports
consolidation of existing and establishment of new nuclear-weapon-free zones,
which are important components of nuclear non-proliferation that positively
impact regional security and stability. In this connection I would like to
congratulate Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan on
reaching an agreement on the content of a treaty establishing a
nuclear-weapon-free zone in Central Asia. In conjunction with properly
institutionalized Mongolia’ nuclear-weapon-free status, this new treaty could
make a significant contribution to strengthening nuclear non-proliferation and
turning the entire Central Asian region, which merely a decade ago housed
thousands of nuclear weapons, into a zone of peace and predictability. This
would foreclose the possibility of “nuclear great games” in the heart of Asia by
States or non-State actors.
Ten years ago Mongolia declared its
territory a nuclear-weapon-free zone. As seen from the report of the
Secretary-General contained in document A/57/159, Mongolia has taken a number of
concrete steps to institutionalize the status at national and international
levels. Nationally, we adopted a legislation that legally defines the status as
well as imposes penalties for its breach. Internationally, together with the UN
appropriate bodies, Mongolia is working to find ways of proper
institutionalizing it. The Sapporo meeting of independent experts of the five
nuclear-weapon States, Mongolia and of representative of DDA/UN has thoroughly
examined the issue and the participants have come to agreed conclusions and
recommendations. In line with those recommendations, Mongolia proposed to
institutionalize the status by concluding a multilateral agreement, to which our
two immediate neighbors – China and Russia- have in principle responded
positively.
Mongolia is interested in moving
forward on this issue on the basis of general agreement. It is open-minded on
the ways and means of consolidating and institutionalizing the status. Being
special case, perhaps, it needs an individual approach to consolidating the
status and addressing the formidable external challenges. It is bearing this
mind that Mongolia, together with UNDP and some other UN bodies, is undertaking
two studies on its economic and ecological vulnerabilities. We are looking
forward to the results of the studies.
At this session of the General
Assembly Mongolia will present a procedural resolution that would invite member
States and relevant UN bodies to continue their assistance in consolidating its
nuclear-weapon-free status.
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. The 2001
Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons of 2001 adopted
a comprehensive action program containing the necessary measures to prevent,
combat and eradicate the illicit trade of these types of weapons at all levels.
It also pointed out the concrete ways of developing international cooperation
and assistance and follow-up. Any positive steps in implementation of the
program will constitute an important building block for resolving wide ranging
humanitarian and socio-economic issues related to this issue. Such as removal
the threat of illicit arms trade to peace and security as well as sustainable
development at national, regional and international levels.
My delegation shares the view of
Mr. Dhanapala, Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs concerning the
daunting challenges presented by non-proliferation education- and missiles. On
the initiative of Mongolia years 2003-2013 has been declared a decade of
literacy. My delegation is confident that literacy will empower the poor and
neglected, enable them to participate actively in the life of society, including
the struggle for disarmament. In the same vein, we should closely cooperate
with NGO’s for nuclear disarmament, prohibiting illicit arms trade, in the
field of advocacy for relationship between disarmament and development.
Mr.
Chairman,
Mongolia welcomed the entry into
force of the anti-personnel landmines convention as an important step in
conventional disarmament. Mongolia is carefully studying the possibility of its
accession to the convention. 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.
Finally, Mr.
Chairman, my delegation wishes to underscore that the current setbacks in the
multilateral disarmament process, should serve as the call to redouble our
concerted efforts for the search of practical and far-reaching measures of
disarmament, first and foremost, in the field of non-proliferation of weapons of
mass destruction and nuclear disarmament.