Resumed Session
Geneva, 11 – 22 November 2002
STATEMENT ON BEHALF OF
THE GROUP OF THE
NON-ALIGNED MOVEMENT
AND OTHER STATES
Note by the President
The statement annexed to this note was delivered on
behalf of the Group of the Non-Aligned Movement and Other States by Mr. Peter
Goosen (South Africa) at the eighth plenary meeting on 14 November 2002, in the
context of the adoption of the draft report of the Conference (BWC/CONF.V/L.1). Mr. Goosen requested that the statement be
circulated as an official document of the Conference.
Annex
Mr President,
The members of the Non-Aligned Movement and Other
States have been deeply disappointed at the inability that has been demonstrated
in the endeavours of the States Parties to the Biological Weapons Convention to
successfully undertake initiatives to strengthen the implementation of the
Convention. While standing at the verge
of success, the draft Protocol that was negotiated over so many years was
snatched away from us. While standing
at the verge of success, we were prevented from achieving a successful
conclusion of the BWC Review Conference at our meeting in 2001. The NAM and Other States are disappointed at
the limited nature of the decision that we have just taken. We are disappointed that we have again
foregone the opportunity to strengthen the Convention and that limited work,
which at best only has the potential of enhancing the implementation of the
Convention, is all that could be achieved despite our best endeavours.
The NAM and Other States, together with other
like-minded States Parties, have, however, succeeded in preventing any attempt
to foreclose the option of more meaningful work in the future. The NAM and Other States, together with
other like-minded States Parties, have also succeeded in preserving
multilateralism as the only vehicle for preventing the reprehensible use of
disease as instruments of terror and war in a sustainable way.
In this context the NAM and Other States would recall
that at the Ministerial Meeting of the Co-Ordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned
Movement, which was held in Durban, South Africa during April 2002, the
Ministers of the NAM, “…as a matter of principle, expressed their strong
concern at the growing resort to unilateralism and unilaterally imposed
prescriptions and … strongly underlined and affirmed that multilateralism and
multilaterally agreed solutions, in accordance with the UN Charter, provided
the only sustainable method of addressing disarmament and international
security issues.”
With regard to the BWC, the Ministers reaffirmed
their conviction that the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development,
Production, and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons
and on their Destruction is essential for the maintenance of international and
regional peace and security. They
reaffirmed the Movement’s continued determination, for the sake of humankind,
that the possibility of any use of bacteriological (biological) agents and
toxins as weapons should be completely excluded, and the conviction that such
use would be repugnant to the conscience of humankind. The Ministers believed that the threat of
biological weapons as instruments of war and terror have reinforced the
necessity and urgency to strengthen the effectiveness and improve the
implementation of the Convention. They
stressed the importance for all States Parties to pursue the objectives that
were set forth by the Fourth Review Conference and underlined that the only
sustainable method of strengthening the Convention is through multilateral
negotiations aimed at concluding a non-discriminatory legally-binding
agreement. They furthermore regretted
the inability of the Fifth Review Conference to conclude its work in the
allocated period of time during 2001, and called on the States Parties to show
the necessary flexibility for the Conference to successfully conclude when it
reconvenes in November 2002.
Turning now to the decision that the Conference has
just adopted, the NAM and Other States would like to underline that we have
gone along with it on the basis of our understanding that:
-
The
language of the decision has many ambiguities, but that we believe that as we
move away from the climate and pressures of this Conference the need for the
States Parties to be practical will ensure that the required work is done and
that the ambiguities are clarified.
-
The
States Parties are sovereign and that as masters of their own fate they can
together and at any time decide on further work that may be required.
-
The
time that has been set aside for this decision is extremely limited and that
the States Parties will in 2006, after they have considered the work that has
been undertaken, decide on further action.
-
The
BWC forms a composite whole and that while it is possible to address related
issues separately, it will be necessary for all of the inter-linked elements of
the Convention – whether they relate to regulation, compliance or promotion –
to be dealt with.
Finally, the NAM and Other States will, as in the
past, work constructively to achieve the limited goals of the decision that we
have just taken. The NAM and Other
States would consequently call on all of the other participants to also
approach the work that needs to be done in the same constructive fashion. The time for division and the pursuit of
singular objectives should now be past and we should unite around our
Convention.
Mr President,
I would request that this statement be circulated as
an official document of this Conference.
I thank you.
______________