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In New York on May 20, the United Nations Department for Disarmament Affairs (DDA) held a panel discussion to mark the 25th anniversary of the first Special Session of the UN General Assembly on Disarmament (SSOD-I) in 1978. The theme of the meeting was 'Multilateral Disarmament After the Iraq War'. Opening the discussion, Jayantha Dhanapala, Under-Secretary-General (UNSG) for Disarmament Affairs, suggested that the Final Document adopted by SSOD-I "remains astonishingly relevant to circumstances today" due to its consensus establishment of both "the enduring principles to guide a grand collective enterprise of the world community" and its creation of "enduring institutional structures" - notably the Conference on Disarmament (CD) in Geneva - to enable the practical translation of those principles into the policies and practice of a demilitarised world. Dhanapala elaborated:
"The Final Document established what it called the 'ultimate goal' of general and complete disarmament, a term that allowed for the retention of a limited number of weapons to protect legitimate security concerns of citizens, to maintain domestic order, and to fulfill international commitments. The document treated 'nuclear disarmament,' by contrast, as the 'highest priority' given the horrific human and environmental effects of such indiscriminate weapons. Today, unfortunately, a few states continue to mix these priorities, despite the consensus reached by states attending the 2000 NPT Review Conference to restore these priorities to their rightful order, as registered in the Final Document of that Conference. Another recent trend is the alarming increase of global military expenditures, expected to rise above the $1 trillion level this year. The Final Document termed the level of military spending in 1978 a 'colossal waste of resources.' The same words are even more applicable today, and even more tragic, as half the world continues to live in dire conditions of chronic poverty - conditions that only give rise to authoritarian regimes, rising domestic violence, and new breeding grounds for terrorists. The Document urged not just the reduction of such spending, but also the re-investment of such financial and technological resources into efforts to alleviate these conditions."
Dhanapala then returned to the Document's emphasis on nuclear disarmament, the "highest priority" issue facing the international system: "With respect to nuclear weapons, the Document minced few words... [I]ts description of non-proliferation efforts as an 'imperative' related closely to its recognition of the damage that proliferation would do to achieving disarmament goals. It also endorsed efforts to reduce nuclear dangers pending the achievement of nuclear disarmament, but left no doubt that these offered no substitute for the actual elimination of nuclear weapons - a point often lost in discussions of various public policies of managed proliferation and counter-proliferation. Nuclear disarmament thus emerges in this Document not as some abstract goal, but an aim that is achievable in the real world, given sufficient political will and effective instruments of implementation. The Document emphasized, for example, the vital importance of verification and full compliance - two very relevant themes today. It warned of the need to control against 'qualitative' improvements in weaponry. It underscored the pernicious effects of certain doctrines, especially the doctrine of nuclear 'deterrence or doctrines of strategic superiority' - a warning as timely now as it was 25 years ago. It called for the elimination not just of nuclear weapons but also their delivery vehicles. In addition, the document urged a comprehensive ban on nuclear tests."
Dhanapala's term of office as UNSG expired on July 1. The Sri Lankan diplomat held the post from January 1998, when the Department of Disarmament Affairs - created by SSOD II in 1982 and subsumed under the Department of Political Affairs in 1992 - was re-established by Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Dhanapala's successor is Nobuyasu Abe of Japan.
In New York on May 13, Dhanapala addressed a farewell reception organised in his honour by The Hague Appeal for Peace, the Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy, and the UN NGO Committee on Disarmament, Peace and Security. His speech was directed to three main, interlocking themes: the chronic international political failure to pursue the SSOD I vision; institutional issues affecting the level of UN support for disarmament; and the vital role of civil society in re-energising the global push for radical demilitarisation:
"It is entirely appropriate, and not without significance, that one of my final statements in New York, in my present capacity, should be made under the aegis of the non-governmental organizations. For, as I have often said, the NGOs have been the wind under my wings - especially during the last five years when some may have wanted to clip those wings! ... I recall the seductive advertisement of a Swiss bank at the Geneva Airport, which read 'Money talks, but wealth whispers'. In a realpolitik-soaked United Nations power speaks but influence lingers. And so, long after the headlines of wars and crises fade away and the short attention span of governments and the media move on to other issues, what the value-based NGOs have said and done will linger in the consciences of us all. ... But, to continue to exert that invaluable influence, civil society must not only keep governments and the United Nations honest and faithful to their ideals and their mandates. ... Let me use this platform to urge once again for the NGOs in the disarmament field the same rights and privileges that are extended, for example, to those in the human rights field. This includes participation in debates and full access to delegations and documents. The voice of NGOs must be heard in all disarmament fora however inconvenient and awkward it may be to some governments. ...
It has not been easy...to conduct the affairs of the smallest department in the UN Secretariat in the face of progress-resistant budgetary procedures, patronizing attitudes from our big brothers and sisters and the blurred jurisdictional lines of the bureaucracy. ... I am...especially grateful to Secretary-General Annan for having appointed me - a national of a small developing country with little political influence and less economic muscle, contributing 0.016% to the UN Budget - to a position at the high table of the Senior Management Group. However, at the end of ten years with the United Nations...I remain gravely concerned that the gap between the advocacy of the concerns of the vast majority of the Global South...and the actual redressing of these concerns is growing. We have only to view the actual record of the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals; the obscene disparity between the cost of one unilateral military action and the global resources allocated to urgent human security needs; and the rapidity of radar screen changes in the priorities of the poor, the sick, the homeless and dispossessed to realize the under-achievement of this great organization...
Let me now turn more directly to the role of the UN in Disarmament. This role covers a gamut of issues - from weapons of mass destruction through missiles and small arms to confidence building measures like transparency. The relentless advocacy, consistent implementation and objective monitoring of the norms that exist, and assistance in future norm-building, must encompass this entire range. There are some, I know, who would like DDA to be re-directed into the cul-de-sac of small arms and light weapons alone. This I have resisted. The disarmament component of the Millennium Assembly Report of the Secretary-General may have been confined to small arms proliferation had not DDA made its own contribution to the Report. It was a contribution that the Secretary-General unhesitatingly accepted and it enlarged the scope of the disarmament agenda to rightly include weapons of mass destruction, especially nuclear disarmament, missile defence issues and landmines. I must therefore warn against continuing efforts, through cheque book diplomacy, to distract attention from the priorities of multilateral disarmament, set by that unique consensus reached at the First Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly in 1978... There must be no empires established only for the small arms and light weapons proliferation problem, however well funded they may be by extra-budgetary resources, while the possession and proliferation of WMD, missiles, sophisticated conventional weapons, and new types of weapons proceed apace, consuming a trillion dollars a year.
As I leave the UN, witnessing the debris in the aftermath of the war in Iraq and the disarray of the global security system, many uncertainties surround the organization and the future of disarmament. Yet I am confident that, under the wise and inspiring leadership of Kofi Annan, this world body will together overcome the current challenges. On disarmament - the only certain path to durable and universal security - self-interest and the human instinct for survival will finally act as an imperative for public opinion to compel leaders to adopt restraints and reductions in military expenditures and weapons arsenals. Until that time comes, we must transform ourselves into 'neo-multilateralists' in this critical era, redefining the role of the UN and reconceptualising the goals of peace and disarmament, which, through centuries of human existence, have had to contend with the forces of narrow nationalisms and the primitive instinct to use force. I know we shall overcome."
Reports: Remarks by Jayantha Dhanapala, Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs, NGO farewell reception, New York, May 13, 2003, UN website, http://disarmament.un.org; Opening remarks by Jayantha Dhanapala, Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs, UN Department of Disarmament Affairs Panel Discussion on the Occasion of the 25th Anniversary of the First Special Session of the General Assembly on Disarmament, New York, May 20, 2003, UN website; Secretary-General appoints Nobuyasu Abe as new Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs, UN Press Release SG/A/838, May 28.
© 2003 The Acronym Institute.