13
November 2001
The Conference on
Facilitating the Entry in Force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty
(CTBT) had been a success, correspondents were told at a Headquarters press
conference this afternoon.
Following
the conclusion of the three-day conference this morning, the Conference's Acting
President, Olga Pellicer (Mexico), said the Conference's success was, in part,
due to its high-level representation.
Some 108 countries had participated in the Conference, with more than 50
foreign ministers delivering statements in support of the Treaty. The high-level expressions of strong
support for the Treaty had been, in fact, the most significant aspect of the
Conference.
The
adoption of a Final Declaration today had been the objective of the Conference,
she continued. The Final
Declaration, adopted by consensus, not only called for the acceleration of
ratification of the Treaty, but reiterated that the Treaty was an essential part
of the non-proliferation regime.
The fact that the Treaty was part of a regime that worked towards
non-proliferation had also been stated during the Conference by several
representatives. "If we believe in
non-proliferation, then we have to believe in the CTBT", she said.
Another
important aspect of the Final Declaration was that it called upon States that
had not yet ratified the Treaty to maintain a moratorium on testing, she
said. While the States that had
already ratified the Treaty thought that a moratorium was not enough, it was,
nevertheless, important. "It would
be very, very dangerous to start nuclear testing again", she said. The call to maintain the moratorium was
an important part of the Final Declaration.
The
Final Declaration also referred to the work of the Preparatory Commission for
the CTBT Organization and its Provisional Technical Secretariat to install the
test-ban Treaty's verification regime, she added. The verification regime was undoubtedly
one of the Treaty's most important features. For the first time in history, an
international verification regime was being created to ensure that States
complied with the compromise not to carry out nuclear testing. The international verification system
was nearly 30 per cent complete. It
was significant that the Final Declaration recognized the work being done to
construct the verification regime.
How
could the Treaty be brought into force when the United States was backing away
from its previous position? a correspondent asked. She replied that the fact that United
States had pledged in favour of a moratorium on nuclear testing meant that it
believed that not testing was important and part of the non-proliferation regime
and objective. The United States
position vis-à-vis the
Treaty had been changing over time.
Continuing,
she said the Administration and Congress had no "homogeneous" opinion on the
test-ban Treaty. The United States
position might change, if there was a change in the "correlation of forces"
within the Senate. It was important
to take into account the fact that there was much "fluidity" in the
(more)
Pellicer
Press Conference - 2 -
13 November
2001
United
States position on the Treaty. The
objective of not carrying out nuclear testing, however, continued to be a
commitment on the part of the United States.
Had
there been any discussion in the Conference of Osama bin Laden's claim that he
possessed a nuclear weapon? a correspondent asked. The danger of a group of terrorists
possessing nuclear weapons had indeed been discussed, she said. While the concern was not completely
new, there had been a qualitative change in the degree of concern at the
possibility of terrorist groups obtaining nuclear materials. It was a serious danger, which had in
some way contributed to increased confidence in the CTBT as a way to prevent
proliferation in all directions, not only among States, but also among non-State
actors.
Asked
to explain the significance of the high-level ministerial representation at the
Conference, she said the Conference had met its objective of bringing to the
forefront the danger of nuclear testing.
The fact that so many ministers had attended the Conference meant that
they had at least thought about the problem, formulated positions and understood
the Final Declaration. The purpose
of the Conference had been to increase attention of the issue at a high level,
which was why the Conference had been held in conjunction with the General
Assembly's general debate.
Holding
the Conference had also increased the number of ratifications to the Treaty, she
continued. In the three months
leading up to the Conference,
13 States had ratified the Treaty, bringing the number of ratifiers to
87. "That in itself was an
important accomplishment", she said.
Were the current events in Afghanistan helping the CTBT process? a correspondent asked. She said that, while it was difficult to establish a clear relationship between the two issues, there had been general trend in favour of multilateralism.
Did
the fact that a non-State actor had, for the first time, claimed to have a
nuclear weapon affect the positions of States who possessed weapons of terror? a
correspondent asked. The world was
now seeing clearly the danger of the existence of nuclear weapons and materials,
she responded. While falling into
the hands of terrorist groups was not the only danger of nuclear weapons, it
proved to what extent the mere existence of nuclear weapons represented a
danger. In that regard, anything
that contributed to the advancement of nuclear disarmament could be considered a
positive step.
*
*** *