Strengthening collective security through general regulation and reduction of armaments - Ambassador Pfanzelter at the Security Council

Statement by Mr. Gerhard Pfanzelter, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Austria to the United Nations

New York, 19 November 2008

Mr. President,

The EU-Presidency has already taken the floor earlier and Austria fully supports that statement. I would nevertheless like to add a few points from our national perspective.

Let me begin by thanking you for this initiative. We have often said that arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation need more political attention. In view of rising arms expenditures worldwide, concern about national nuclear programs and little progress in the international disarmament fora, we agree that we must use all opportunities today to discuss these pressing issues.

Thank you, Mr. President, for giving us the opportunity to speak about these issues also here in this room and to demonstrate that the world's pre-eminent security forum, the UN Security Council, gives these important issues its full attention.

Last month, in his much acclaimed address to the East-West Institute, Secretary General Ban outlined 5 points for progress in the field of arms control and called for a "fresh start not just for disarmament but to strengthen our system of international peace and security". This debate today, and the concept paper presented by Costa Rica can become part of such a fresh start.

Mr. President,

I would also like to use this opportunity to take up some of the issues you have touched upon in the concept paper presented by Costa Rica (S/2008/697). Austria particularly wants to put on record its full support for the emphasis given to the necessary commitment to multilateralism and the rule of law, the relevance of existing international treaties and conventions and the initiatives for new global security treaties.

In this context I would like to raise 2 issues of particular importance to the Austrian Government.

1. Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban-Treaty (CTBT)

With their very nature, nuclear tests are a deliberate threat to peace and security. As Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik stated at the CTBT-Ministerial Meeting in September in New York: Twenty years after the end of the Cold War the language of threat should no longer be the language we speak today.

The entry into force of the CTBT is long overdue. Austria as Article XIV Co-Chair - a function we have the honour of sharing with our partners Costa Rica - is actively working for an early entry force of the CTBT, for instance by sponsoring CTBT conferences and workshops in different parts of the world. Since 2007 we have been witnessing a growing momentum towards the universalization of the CTBT as demonstrated by the recent ratifications of the CTBT by Bahamas, Colombia, Malaysia, Barbados and most recently Mozambique as well as the signature by Iraq and Timor Leste. The Ministerial Meeting of 24 September 2008 in New York demonstrated the widespread interest in bringing the Treaty into force. This is a Treaty that can make an undisputed positive contribution to global peace and security. I would like to use this opportunity to call on all states that have not yet ratified the treaty to do so as soon as possible.

2. Conventional Arms/Arms Trade Treaty:

Success stories at the intersection of disarmament, humanitarian law and the rule of law such as the Landmine Ban Treaty (the Ottawa Convention) have been inspiring examples that with political will legal arms control and disarmament is not only an aspiration but can become reality.

A very recent example is the Convention on Cluster Munitions which was agreed on this May and will be opened for signature in two weeks at the Signing Conference in Oslo on 3 December 2008. As one of the states that actively campaigned for that Treaty, Austria hopes that many states will come to Oslo and be part of this process to ban a weapon that has proved to have terrible consequences for civilians.

Such individual success stories give us hope but should not make us complacent. With more than one thousand people dying daily from firearms the regulation of trade in conventional weapons including small arms and light weapons should be a matter of utmost priority for all the UN member states. Irresponsible arms transfers foment violent conflicts, perpetuate poverty and underdevelopment, and contribute to violations of human rights and humanitarian law.

Thirteen years ago, Mr. President, you / Dr. Oscar Arias called upon a group of fellow Nobel Peace Laureates to promote an international campaign to establish an agreement to control arms transfers, drafting the Nobel Peace Laureates International Code of Conduct on Arms Transfers. From the very beginning, Austria fully supported the process towards an Arms Trade Treaty and hopes that the open-ended working group on an Arms Trade Treaty will succeed in creating the basis for a robust legally binding instrument in 2009.

Mr President,

There are many further initiatives promoting the rule of law in the field of arms control worthy of more in depth discussion. In his speech on 24 October mentioned earlier, SG Ban proposed that we consider negotiating a nuclear weapons convention with a strong verification system.

The multilateral regulation of the nuclear fuel cycle could also be a way of increasing confidence and mutual trust among states and thereby creating an environment more conducive to arms control and nuclear disarmament. Austria believes that it is time to design a framework suited to the nuclear realities of the 21st century which places the most dangerous technologies, enrichment and reprocessing, under multilateral control of the IAEA. Accompanied by fair and equal rules of transparency and access, those states that have opted for nuclear energy could have access to all the nuclear fuel they need under the control of the IAEA, which would be responsible for ensuring safety and security. The creation of an IAEA fuel bank currently under discussion could be a first step in this direction.

In closing, let me once again thank you, Mr President for this initiative, which we hope shall make a positive contribution to the global efforts for arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation.

Thank you.