Conference on Disarmament High Level Week: UK statement
As part of his visit to Geneva, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon delivered the UK's statement during the Conference on Disarmament's High Level Week. Lord Ahmad is the Minister for South and Central Asia, North Africa, United Nations and the Commonwealth.
Last year, the United Kingdom published our Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Foreign and Development Policy. It set out very clearly that the deteriorating security environment was a deep concern, it flagged the risks posed by new disruptive technologies, alongside longstanding proliferation concerns about the activities of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Iran. However, it also pointed out the growing challenge from major nuclear armed states willing to flout international norms of behaviour.
Let me be clear be absolutely clear from the outset, Madam President: Russia’s recent unprovoked and horrific attack on Ukraine casts a dark shadow over the work of this very Conference. Because the security environment sets the context for what can be achieved on disarmament.
As I told the UN General Assembly only last week, the United Kingdom is unwavering in its support for Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity. Together we must all unequivocally condemn this Russian aggression, which is a violation of international law and of the UN Charter.
As the United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss, set out in her speech in Ukraine on 17 February, in order to achieve a safer world it is now vital that the international community comes together to recommit itself to arms control.
In doing so, we must strengthen our existing security frameworks. We must refresh our thinking so we are prepared for the challenges, but also the opportunities of the 21st Century.
Strengthening the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, as the cornerstone of the international nuclear architecture, is an important place to start.
This year we look forward to the long awaited Tenth Review Conference to the NPT, which offers an opportunity to reflect on the successes of the Treaty, and its central role in keeping our world safe over the last 52 years.
From our perspective in the United Kingdom, although the world has changed significantly since 1970, the United Kingdom’s commitment to the NPT, and fulfilling our obligations under all three pillars of the Treaty, remains undiminished.
We believe the NPT continues to play a central role, a pivotal role, in promoting long-term stability, peace and security.
The United Kingdom therefore wants to work with all States Parties in the coming months to build the momentum for a successful Review Conference.
In October we published our National Report outlining the steps the United Kingdom has taken to implement its commitments across all three pillars of the NPT since 2015.
The report sets out the progress the United Kingdom has made on disarmament, including our leading role in nuclear disarmament verification, in championing transparency and importantly also in advancing risk reduction.
We have also pressed for significant steps towards multilateral disarmament, including the entry into force of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and beginning negotiations on a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty.
The UK also recognises our responsibility to cooperate very closely with other NPT Nuclear Weapon States, in order to make progress on disarmament and risk reduction. This work is vital, and even more important in periods of heightened international tension, as we see now.
The Joint Leaders Statement on the Prevention of Nuclear War in January of this year was an important signal of our collective commitment, signed by all, to affirm that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought, and that nuclear weapons—for as long as they continue to exist—should serve defensive purposes, deter aggression, prevent war.
We want to build on this landmark statement, by deepening our work within the P5 Process on reducing the risk of nuclear conflict through misinterpretation and miscalculation, and also in enhancing mutual trust and global security.
Building this foundation will be an important step in realising our shared long-term goal of a world without nuclear weapons.
Madam President, the world is facing an extremely challenging global situation in the Ukraine. Therefore it is with deep regret that I reflect on the comments made by Foreign Minister Cafiero of Argentina on the Falklands conflict that took place. Let me be absolutely clear, we will reply formally to the statement made, but our sovereignty of the Falklands is clear, the United Kingdom will retain undiminished sovereignty of the Falklands. I hope that our Argentinian friends hear that message very clearly.
Madam President, moving to 2022 as a year of opportunity. As I said earlier, there are opportunities we must collectively avail ourselves of. We should look towards strengthening the NPT. 2022 is a year of wider opportunities and challenges for the multilateral disarmament architecture.
The prevention of an arms race in outer space is as important today as it was in the 1980s when it first appeared on the agenda of this Conference.
But, the nature of the challenge has evolved considerably in that time, and we need to ensure that discussions and negotiations keep pace with those developments.
The United Kingdom is delighted to see the progress we have all made through the UN General Assembly on tackling threats in, to, and through space.
There was overwhelming support to set up an Open Ended Working Group to look at responsible space behaviours, in support of our overarching objective of preventing an arms race in outer space.
We all rely on space systems for our prosperity and security, and equally we must work together to protect them from State threats.
The United Kingdom promotes responsible space behaviours to reduce the chances of misunderstanding and escalation that could lead to conflict.
We are pleased to see scheduled discussions on the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space at this very Conference.
We also welcome calls to ban the testing of direct-ascent anti-satellite missiles that create long-lived debris. This Conference can play an important role in negotiating how this would work.
But, we must not forget that many of the threats we face are not as visible as missiles. There are other ways to degrade and damage space systems, such as lasers and jammers, and we will include these in our work as well.
We also support greater openness and communication between States.
In the spirit of openness, the UK will present our new Defence Space Strategy to this Conference in the coming weeks. And e encourage all States to publish their own military space strategies, so we can better understand each other.
2022 is also a year of challenges for the control of chemical and biological weapons, where the dangers have not been dissipated. But, there are also opportunities.
Let’s look towards the global stage.
Syria remains defiant in its refusal to abide by its obligations on chemical weapons.
In April, the international community underscored its abhorrence of Syria’s use of chemical weapons by suspending Syria’s voting rights and privileges in the OPCW, as provided for in the Chemical Weapons Convention.
We must hold fast to our core principles, we must come together in our core principles, to defend the integrity of the Chemical Weapons Convention and the OPCW, and hold those who use chemical weapons fully accountable.
The Russian Federation has continued to fail to answer the international community’s questions about the poisoning of their own citizen, the courageous Alexey Navalny, who was poisoned directly with a Novichok nerve agent.
Russia has the opportunity to explain what happened, cease disinformation, and declare any chemical weapons programme.
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us the harm that disease can wreak on all our societies. It knows no barriers.
We should grasp the opportunity of the upcoming Review Conference of the Biological Weapons Convention, and strengthen the provisions that ensure current and future life sciences are used only for peaceful purposes.
Full implementation of commitments under the Convention will keep us all safer, as will steps to make the Convention more effective, visible and relevant.
The UK also recognises the extraordinary potential that technology has for global prosperity. But, we also acknowledge the potential for misuse.
We are focused on ensuring that existing counter-proliferation regimes remain effective in light of technological development.
We are also committed to working with our international partners to develop standards and principles for the deployment of critical technologies.
Together we must inject new energy into the work of the Group of Governmental Experts looking at Lethal Autonomous Weapons systems. We should aim to make tangible progress through 2022. The United Kingdom will signal a clear path to achieving this at the upcoming meeting in March.
In addition to this work, the United Kingdom’s commitment to the humanitarian goals of disarmament remains unwavering.
As Presidency of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, we are concerned about reports of the use of cluster munitions in the current conflict taking place in Ukraine.
Under our Presidency, we are intensifying work to achieve universal ratification of this important and vital Treaty.
In coordination with our Nigerian and Swiss partners, we will host a regional universalisation ratification workshop in Abuja next month to exchange ideas and best practices, and bolster support for this important Convention.
Since 2018, the UK has invested approximately £146 million to save lives, limbs and livelihoods from the scourge of land mines, cluster munitions and the explosive remnants of war.
This work includes clearing and releasing land for productive use, and delivering risk education for communities still living with the deadly legacy of conflict.
We will continue this work with the next phase of our Global Mine Action Programme.
But, even with the significant investment that the UK and other donors have made over the years, the scale of the challenge dwarfs the funds available from these sources.
That is why, alongside our direct contribution, the United Kingdom has funded research into innovative financing options for mine action.
We will continue to explore and discuss this including through hosting a conference in March, with the aim to pilot an alternative finance model in due course.
Madam President, to conclude, 2022 presents us with significant challenges. Indeed, as we sit here today in this very Conference, those challenges are all too clear with the conflict in Ukraine. But also, there are new opportunities to find creative solutions to make our world safer and more prosperous. That is what our citizens ask of us. That is what we should all aim for.
This Conference has a key role to play, as the world’s single multilateral negotiating forum on disarmament.
The United Kingdom is pleased with our collective decision to establish Subsidiary Bodies to allow for an in-depth examination of the state of play on the core issues on the Conference’s agenda.
Let me pay tribute to the work of the Chinese Presidency in preparing the ground for this important step.
Your Excellencies, Madam President, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is down to all of us, it is down to each and every nation, to make this mechanism productive, and approach the challenges we face, the problems that confront us, with an open and constructive attitude.
And let me assure you finally of this - the United Kingdom and our delegation will also seek to support the work of this important Conference and we will continue to support the work of the five coordinators charged with that task in whatever way we can.
Thank you.