UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY: FIRST COMMITTEE
14 October 2011
Thematic statement on nuclear weapons
Statement by HE Mr Peter Woolcott
Australian Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva and Ambassador for Disarmament
Mr Chair,
Australia is committed to the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons and has a history of practical and determined activism in support and promotion of this goal.
The Australian Foreign Minister, Mr. Rudd, reaffirmed Australia’s commitment to this goal in his address to the General Assembly last month.
Australia attaches importance to the First Committee as a place where we can build support for practical steps to strengthen efforts in the field of nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament.
In this regard, Australia, with fellow sponsor New Zealand, strongly supports Mexico in its leadership this year of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) resolution. This important resolution is strongly supported within the General Assembly and has enjoyed co-sponsorship by the five nuclear-weapon States since the General Assembly’s sixty-fourth session. It is a serious failure that fifteen years after it opened for signature, the CTBT has not yet entered into force. We call on those states yet to ratify the CTBT – particularly Annex 2 states – to do so as soon as possible. In the meantime, we encourage all Member States to support this resolution.
Mr Chair
Australia is under no illusion about the complexity and difficulty of achieving our shared goal of a world free of nuclear weapons. All of us – NPT states and non-NPT states alike – have an opportunity to keep moving towards that goal, an opportunity we must seize. There is no magic bullet; we have to work through a rigorous step-by-step approach.
Australia worked hard for and strongly welcomed the consensus outcome of the 2010 NPT Review Conference, under the highly effective leadership of Ambassador Cabatulan of the Philippines. The adoption by NPT States Parties of the consensus Action Plan, which spans the NPT’s three pillars of disarmament, non-proliferation and the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and which also addresses matters relating to the Middle East, was a substantial achievement. However, the Action Plan – our road map – will only be as good as its implementation; this is now the time for hard work.
For its part, Australia is encouraged by the recent meetings of the five nuclear-weapon States. We look forward to positive results from their individual and collective efforts in implementing their obligations under the consensus Action Plan.
Australia also supports the efforts made by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the depository states, in consultation with the states of the Middle East region, for the convening next year of a conference on the establishment of a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and all other weapons of mass destruction. We urge all relevant states to continue to cooperate constructively in this endeavour.
But of course, implementing the Action Plan is not the work and responsibility of a limited number of NPT States Parties, but of all NPT States Parties. While the five nuclear-weapon States have a special responsibility under the NPT, Australia is keen for all NPT States Parties to carry this notion of broad responsibility for Action Plan implementation to the first session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2015 Review Conference, including through looking at how their own endeavours can support Action Plan implementation.
Mr Chair
Australia takes its responsibilities in this regard seriously. Following our collaboration in establishing the International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament (ICCND) and our joint work at the 2010 NPT Review Conference, Australia and Japan last year convened the Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Initiative (NPDI) focused on Action Plan implementation. Our two countries are joined in this initiative by eight other NPT States Parties, all countries committed to a world free of nuclear weapons and all with strong non-proliferation credentials.
Ministers of these countries met again in New York on 21 September, and in their statement, which has been circulated during this First Committee session, they outlined the NPDI’s on-going efforts, including on specific actions in the Action Plan.
The NPDI has developed and shared with the five nuclear-weapon States a draft standard nuclear disarmament reporting form as a contribution to their discussions on the implementation of Action 21. In accordance with Actions 28 and 29, NPDI states are offering to share our collective experience in concluding and implementing Additional Protocols; the NPDI regards a safeguards agreement and an Additional Protocol as the standard for effective verification of states’ safeguards commitments.
In accordance with Action 13, the NPDI continues to take diplomatic opportunities to urge states that have not done so to sign and ratify the CTBT and to do so as soon as possible. And the NPDI is working to see Action 15, on the negotiation of the Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty (FMCT), implemented.
Australia’s position on FMCT is well known: we consider its negotiation long overdue. Banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons purposes through an FMCT is an essential step towards irreversible nuclear disarmament. An FMCT would further tighten controls on fissile material, reinforcing efforts to reduce the risk of fissile material leaking to proliferators or terrorists. It would also complement the CTBT. The CTBT impedes the qualitative development of nuclear weapons by prohibiting testing; an FMCT would impose a quantitative limit on the amount of fissile material available for weapons use.
It remains scandalous that sixteen years after the Shannon Mandate, the Conference on Disarmament (CD) still has not begun negotiations on this treaty. In 2011, Australia and Japan made a practical gesture to encourage the CD back to work through our FMCT experts side events. At this First Committee, Australia strongly supports Canada’s efforts through its annual FMCT resolution to move FMCT beyond its current impasse and we encourage others to support Canada. We will continue to do all we can to support FMCT.
Mr Chair,
Australia remains gravely concerned about the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s nuclear activities, including the revelation of a covert uranium enrichment capability. DPRK’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and defiance of UN Security Council resolutions pose a significant threat to stability of our region and to the non-proliferation efforts of the international community.
Australia also shares serious concerns about the mounting evidence of the possible military dimensions of Iran’s nuclear program. Iran continues to defy binding UN Security Council resolutions and IAEA requirements. We again encourage Iran to comply with Security Council resolutions and engage with the IAEA to resolve all issues, and demonstrate conclusively the peaceful intent of its nuclear program.
Mr Chair
As many Member States have noted, there have recently been a number of positive developments in non-proliferation and disarmament, and it is important that we try to build on the momentum if we are ever to achieve the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons. This is not a time for complacency; there remains much work to be done. We should all focus on practical and positive efforts which keep us moving forward.