DYB2011-Part-II-web

Related issues, including information and outreach
predicament over this issue. Among the most frustrated delegations, there
seemed to be a readiness to take radical action should the year end without
starting substantive work.
Following his address4 at the formal plenary meeting of the CD on 26
January, the United Nations Secretary-General held an informal meeting
with all members and observer States. The Secretary-General’s appeal to the
Conference to start negotiations and his initiative in convening the High-level
Meeting on Revitalizing the Work of the Conference on Disarmament held in
September 2010 were widely supported. There were also positive reactions to
the Secretary-General’s idea of starting an informal process before initiating
formal negotiations on a fissile material cut-off treaty. In addition, many
delegations welcomed the Secretary-General’s suggestions at the High-level
Meeting and his follow-up efforts, and looked forward to the work and
recommendations of his Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters, including
the possible establishment of a high-level panel of eminent persons with a
special focus on the functioning of the CD.
On 28 February, the President of the sixty-fifth session of the General
Assembly, Joseph Deiss (Switzerland) delivered a statement5 in which he
acknowledged the merit of having broad-based support for substantive work
while also emphasizing that the rule of consensus should not be used to block
such work. Referring to the High-level Meeting of September 2010, which
was one of the recommendations of the 2010 Review Conference of the
Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, he noted
the Secretary-General’s intention to breathe fresh life into the CD and stated
that the General Assembly, as the founding body of the Conference, would be
ready to contribute to the revitalization process.
In the absence of any prospects for an agreement on a programme of
work, the first two Presidencies of the CD in 20116 —Canada and Chile—
organized substantive discussions in plenary meetings, focusing on the
four core issues (nuclear disarmament, a fissile material cut-off treaty, the
prevention of an arms race in outer space and negative security assurances).
These efforts resulted in a high degree of engagement by members in thematic
debates, creating a congenial atmosphere in the Conference. Many delegations
acknowledged the usefulness of such discussions, even though they stressed
that exchanges of views could not be a substitute for substantive work, i.e.,
4 Ibid.
5 Available from http://www.unog.ch/80256EDD006B9C2E/(httpNewsByYear_en)/08C33
AFF117B41A1C1257845004933EB?OpenDocument (accessed 16 May 2012).
6 Successive Presidents of 2011 were as follows: Marius Grinius from Canada (24 January to
20 February), Pedro Oyarce from Chile (21 February to 20 March), Wang Qun from China
(21 March to 1 April and 16 to 29 May), Alicia Victoria Arango Olmos from Colombia
(30 May to 26 June), So Se Pyong from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (27
June to 1 July and 2 to 21 August) and Rodolfo Reyes Rodrigues from Cuba (22 August to
16 September).
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