About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

1 Tim Caughley, Conference on Disarmament: Breaking the Ice 1 (2010)

handle is hein.unl/unaaec0001 and id is 1 raw text is: The Conference on Disarmament Breaking the Ice December 2010 The CD Discussion Series Between December 2010 and July 2011, the UNIDIR project The Conference on Disarmament: Breaking the Ice and the Geneva Forum are organizing a series of thematic discussions to examine the myths and realities of the CD-as well as the critical challenges facing it-with the aim to increase understanding of the history, processes and issue areas of this unique negotiating forum. Comments by Tim Caughley, Resident Senior Fellow, UNIDIR at the seminar The Role of the Conference on Disarmament in History and Practice, 3 December 2010 In the first of this series on the Conference on Disarmament, my aim is to try to shed some light on the CD as an institution, as well as on why it is in its current frozen state. Beginning with the institution, I will touch on some aspects of the history of the CD that are relevant to the current situation in this body and the way it operates under its rules of procedure. Origins of the Conference on Disarmament The key historical points to note are that the CD (in more or less its current form) stems from a decision of the UN General Assembly in 1978 during the Special Session devoted to disarmament. It was a minor breakthrough in multilateral diplomacy that the Session could be convened at all. It occurred at the time of the limited d~tente of that era after a particularly frosty period of the Cold War. It was also due to an initiative by the Non-Aligned Movement stemming from concerns that global military expenditures remained larger than expenditures on health, education and economic development. The General Assembly has held three special sessions devoted to disarmament, in 1978, 1982 and 1988. Only the first succeeded in producing a final document. Through that document, the General Assembly established the immediate precursor of the Conference on Disarmament, replacing its smaller predecessors, one of which curiously enough was chaired jointly by the United States and the Soviet Union. That joint-chairing arrangement gives an insight into the stranglehold of the Cold War on the matters of high security that characterize multilateral disarmament, non- proliferation and arms control then and now. Initially, the body was open to the nuclear weapon states, and thirty-two to thirty- five other states representing all geographical regions and political groupings. Since then, the membership has almost doubled. The final document of the first Special Session contained a Programme of Action (not to be confused with programme of work) on the multilateral disarmament machinery in which the CD was described as the single multilateral disarmament negotiating DEAS FOR PEACE AND SECURITY

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most