1986 Conference on Disarmament sees 'positive and substantive' developments, in-depth discussions held.

1986 Conference on Disarmament sess 'positive and substantive' developments, in-depth discussions held

The Conference on Disarmamenton 26 August concluded its 1986 session in Geneva, with its President stating thet had been both "positive and substantive developments" during the year.

J. Alan Beesley of Canada, Presidentfor the month of August, said: "There was...less antagonism, the atmosphere was healthier, and, as a consequence, perhaps, there was more business-like work, more in-depth discussions, and greater clarification of basic arms control issues, even on such questions as outer space and a nuclear test ban".

Mr. Beesley, who will retain theConference presidency until the 1987 session opens next February, also said that on unresolved nuclear disarmament issues, "deep divergencies remain, but we have at least begun to learn how to structure our work more successfully, which I hope can be further developed when next we meet".

Significant progress, he went on,had been made in negotiations on chemical weapons, and the intensity and pace of work in that area should be accelerated.

During its two-part 1986 session (4February-25 April, 10 June-29 August), the 40-member Conference continued work on disarmament questions drawn from its permanent agenda of 10 items, known as the "Decalogue". Subsidiary bodies were established to continue work on a chemical weapons convention, a radiological weapons ban, prevention of the arms race in outer space and a comprehensive programme of disarmament.

Conference members were unableto agree on creation of groups to work on a nuclear test ban, cessation of the nuclear arms race and nuclear disarmament, prevention of nuclear war and security assurances for non-nuclear States.

The Conference also recognized theurgency of dealing with the question of expanding its membership, which now consists of the five nuclear-weapon States (China, France, Soviet Union, United Kingdom and United States) and 35 other countries: Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burma, Canada, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Egypt, Ethiopia, German Democratic Republic, Federal Republic of Germany, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Romania, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Venezuela, Yugoslavia and Zaire.

The Conference had previouslyagreed that it might add up to four new members, with two States to be nominated by the Gruop of 21 non-aligned and neutral States, and one each by the Socialist Group and the Western Group. Requests for membership have been received from Norway, Finland, Austria, Turkey, Segenal, Bangladesh, Spain, Viet Nam, Ireland, Tunishia, Ecuador, Cameroon and Greece.

This year, the Socialist Group putforward the candidacy of Viet Nam, and the Western Group nominated Norway. The Conference decided to intensify consultations on the question with a view to taking a final decision in 1987.

Chemical weapons: The Conference, in its 1986 report (A/41/27),stated it had made notable progress in its work on drafting a multilateral convention on the "complete and effective prohibition of the development, production and stockpiling of chemical weapons and on their destruction." The Ad Hoc Committee charged with "development and working out the convention, except for its final drafting" was re-established on 6 February with Ian Cromartie (United Kingdom) as Chairman.

Three working groups were set upby the Committee. Working Group "A" considered issues related to "definitions and criteria" (article II) and "permitted activities" (article VI); Working Group "B" discussed "declarations" (article III), "elimination of chemical weapons" (article IV) and "measures on chemical weapons production facilities" (article V).

Working Group "C" considered issuesconcerning "general provisions on scope" (article I), "national implementation measures" (article VII), "consultative committee" (article VIII) and "consultations, co-operation and fact-finding" (article IX). It was also responsible for discussing herbicides and questions relating to investigation of alleged chemical weapon use.

On 28 August, Mr. Cromartie told,Conference members that in 1986, the pace of progress in negotiations had been further accelerated, and that it was "essential" to continue increasing the momentum to ensure an early conclusion of the convention.

The Ad Hoc Committee on chemicalweapons is to resume work under its present mandate from 12 to 30 January 1987. The chairman was asked to hold consultations between 24 November and 17 December on the issues to be discussed at the January meeting.

Papers on chemical weapons submittedduring the second part of the sessions included a United States text entitled" Chemical stockpile disposal programme" (CD/711), giving details of the location and contents of American chemical weapons sites.

Other proposals regarding verificationof a chemical weapons treaty included United Kingdom recommendations concerning inspection on challege in exceptional circumstances (CD/715), Norwegian papers on methods of identifying arsenic-containing chemical weapons (CD/704), handling of chemical weapons (C/702) and verifying chemical weapons use (CD/703), a Finnish text on "air monitoring" as a means of verifying chemical disarmament (CD/719), and Japan's suggestions on quantitative parameters that might be used to determine such matters as "military significance", in order to ensure consistency and effectiveness in verification and control (CD/713).

Outer Space: The Ad Hoc Committeeon Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space, first set up in 1985, was re-established on 24 April "to continue to examine, and to identify, through substantive and general consideration, issues relevant to the prevention of an arms race in outer space . . . [taking] into account all existing agreements, existing proposals and future initiatives as well as developments which have taken place since the establishment" of the Committee. It met 16 times during 1986, under the...