Presented by Ambassador Dr. Sameh Aboul Enein Permanent Representative of the League of Arab States…

Presented by Ambassador Dr. Sameh Aboul EneinPermanent Representative of the League of Arab States in

GenevaProfessor of International Security & Disarmament

United Nations, The League of Arab States and

Disarmament

Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement and Global DialogueMonday 16 November, 2015

Geneva

IntroductionThe United Nations is an international organization

founded in 1945 after the Second World War by 51 countries committed to maintaining international peace and security, developing friendly relations among nations and promoting social progress, better living standards and human rights.

There are currently 193 member states, including every internationally recognized sovereign state in the world but Vatican City and Palestine. From its offices around the world, the UN and its specialized agencies decide on substantive and administrative issues in regular meetings held throughout the year. 

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Purpose of the UNTo keep peace throughout the world;To develop friendly relations among nations;To help nations work together to improve the

lives of poor people, to conquer hunger, disease and illiteracy, and to encourage respect for each other’s rights and freedoms;

To be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations to achieve these goals.

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Main Organs General AssemblySecurity CouncilEconomic and Social CouncilTrusteeship CouncilInternational Court of JusticeSecretariat

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Quick FactsGeneral Assembly: 193 Member StatesSecurity Council: 5 permanent members and

10 non-permanentEconomic and Social Council: 54 membersInternational Court of Justice: 15 judges

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General AssemblyThe United Nations General Assembly  is one of the five

principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation. Its powers are to oversee the budget of the United Nations, appoint the non-permanent members to the Security Council, receive reports from other parts of the United Nations and make recommendations in the form of General Assembly Resolutions. It has also established a wide number of subsidiary organs.

The General Assembly meets under its president or Secretary-General in regular yearly sessions the main part of which lasts from September to December and resumed part from January until all issues are addressed (which often is just before the next session's start). It can also reconvene for special and emergency special sessions. Its composition, functions, powers, voting, and procedures are set out in Chapter IV of the United Nations Charter.

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The first session was convened on 10 January 1946 in the Westminster Central Hall in London and included representatives of 51 nations.

Voting in the General Assembly on important questions – recommendations on peace and security; election of members to organs; admission, suspension, and expulsion of members; budgetary matters – is by a two-thirds majority of those present and voting. Other questions are decided by majority vote. Each member country has one vote. Apart from approval of budgetary matters, including adoption of a scale of assessment, Assembly resolutions are not binding on the members. The Assembly may make recommendations on any matter within the scope of the UN, except matters of peace and security under Security Council’s consideration. The one state, one vote power structure theoretically allows states comprising just eight percent of the world population to pass a resolution by a two-thirds vote.

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Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is the executive organ

of the United Nations and is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security. Its powers, outlined in the United Nations Charter, include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, international sanctions and the authorization of military action. Its powers are exercised through United Nations Security Council resolutions.

The Security Council held its first session on 17 January 1946 at Church House, Westminster, London. Since its first meeting, the Council, which exists in continuous session, has travelled widely, holding meetings in many cities, such as Paris and Addis Ababa, as well as at its current permanent home at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City.

There are 15 members of the Security Council, consisting of five veto-wielding permanent members (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) and 10 elected non-permanent members with two-year terms. This basic structure is set out in Chapter V of the UN Charter. Security Council members must always be present at UN headquarters in New York so that the Security Council can meet at any time. This requirement of the United Nations Charter was adopted to address a weakness of the League of Nations since that organization was often unable to respond quickly to a crisis.

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International court of JusticeThe International Court of Justice is the

primary judicial organ of the United Nations. It is based in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands. Its main function is to settle legal disputes submitted to it by states and to provide advisory opinions on legal questions submitted to it by duly authorized international organs, agencies, and the UN General Assembly and the Security Council.

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SecretariatThe United Nations Secretariat is one of the six

principal organs of the United Nations and it is headed by the United Nations Secretary-General, assisted by a staff of international civil servants worldwide. It provides studies, information, and facilities needed by United Nations bodies for their meetings. It also carries out tasks as directed by the UN Security Council, the UN General Assembly, the UN Economic and Social Council, and other U.N. bodies. The United Nations Charter provides that the staff be chosen by application of the "highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity," with due regard for the importance of recruiting on a wide geographical basis.

The Charter provides that the staff shall not seek or receive instructions from any authority other than the UN. Each UN member country is enjoined to respect the international character of the Secretariat and not seek to influence its staff. The Secretary-General alone is responsible for staff selection. 11

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What is the Arab World ?

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LAS History

Created in March 22, 1945

7 founder independent Arab States

The LAS H.Q. is in Cairo

Last State joining the LAS was Comoros Island (1993)

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LAS History (Secretary Generals)

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LAS Main Role

Fostering and promoting relations among its member States

Coordinating policies of its member States

Promoting common interests of its member States

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LAS General Structure

Secretary General of the LAS

Deputy General Secretary

Under Secretary General

The Council of the League of Arab States: at the Summit Level (Heads of States) (1946)at Ministerial level

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LAS General Structure

9 General Secretariat Departments

18 missions abroad

12 Specialized Ministerial Councils:

Technical Committees

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LAS General Structure

The Social & Economic Council (1950)

27 Arab Specialized Organizations

22 Arab Unions

Joint Arab-Foreign Chambers Of Commerce

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Some New InstrumentsRegional Summit Meetings

Forum

Arab Charter on Human Rights (EIF 2008)

Units: Unit for Combating Human Trafficking Crisis Room Unit

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Types of International Relations:

General Agreement Cooperation: UN - OIC - AU

MoU: US Department of States - WHO - European Commission – OCHA

Observer Status: UN - OSCE

Full member: Union for the Mediterranean

LAS International Relations

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Benefits and Strengths:

Better understanding of member StatesAvoid duplicationsCreating synergySave resources and effortsExchange of expertiseBest practices and lessons learnedEtc…

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A Focus on Arms Control and Disarmament

Weapons of Mass Destruction“Atomic explosive weapons, radioactive material

weapons, lethal chemical or biological weapons, and any weapons developed in the future which have characteristics comparable in destructive effect to those of the atomic bomb or other weapons mentioned above”

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• Conventional Weapons “Weapons that are not weapons of mass destruction.

Typically understood to include devices designed to kill, injure, or cause damage usually, though not exclusively, by means of the effects of high explosives, kinetic energy or incendiaries, and their delivery systems”

BackgroundThe NPT is an international treaty whose objective is

to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and to further the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament and general and complete disarmament.

At the 1995 NPT Review and Extension Conference held in New York at the United Nations, States Parties agreed without a vote "that the Treaty shall continue in force indefinitely."

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Quick Facts: Date of Adoption: 12 June 1968Date of Signature: 1 July 1968Place of Adoption: United Nations, New YorkDate of Entry into Force: 5 March 1970Depositary Governments: Russian

Federation, United Kingdom, United StatesParties: 190 States PartiesNon-Parties: India, Israel, DPRK (Withdrew)

and Pakistan.

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StructureThe NPT consists of a preamble and eleven

articles.The treaty is interpreted as a three-pillar system,

with an implicit balance among them, these are: 1.Non-Proliferation2.Disarmament3.The Right to the peaceful use of Nuclear

Technology.

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First Pillar: Non-ProliferationFive states are recognized as nuclear weapon states

(NWS): China , France, the Soviet Union (obligations and rights now assumed by the Russian Federation), the United Kingdom , and the United States.

These five NWS agree not to transfer "nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices" and "not in any way to assist, encourage, or induce" a non-nuclear weapon state (NNWS) to acquire nuclear weapons (Article I).

NNWS parties to the NPT agree not to "receive," "manufacture" or "acquire" nuclear weapons or to "seek or receive any assistance in the manufacture of nuclear weapons" (Article II).

NNWS parties also agree to accept safeguards by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to verify that they are not diverting nuclear energy from peaceful uses to nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices (Article III).

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Second Pillar: DisarmamentArticle VI of the NPT represents the only binding

commitment in a multilateral treaty to the goal of disarmament by the nuclear-weapon States. The NPT's preamble contains language affirming the desire of treaty signatories to ease international tension and strengthen international trust so as to create someday the conditions for a halt to the production of nuclear weapons, and treaty on general and complete disarmament that liquidates, in particular, nuclear weapons and their delivery vehicles from national arsenals.

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Third Pillar: Peaceful use of Nuclear EnergySince very few of the states with nuclear

energy programs are willing to abandon the use of nuclear energy, the third pillar of the NPT under Article IV provides other states with the possibility to do the same, but under conditions intended to make it difficult to develop nuclear weapons.

The treaty recognizes the inalienable right of sovereign states to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, but restricts this right for NPT parties to be exercised "in conformity with Articles I and II

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2010 Review Conference 1995 Resolution on the Middle East: The RevCon called on Israel to

accede to the NPT as a NNWS and to place all its nuclear facilities under comprehensive safeguards. All States in the Middle East region were urged to take the relevant steps and confidence-building measures to contribute to the objectives of the 1995 Resolution on the Middle East. The RevCon established that a conference should be convened by the UN Secretary-General and three cosponsors of the 1995 Resolution (the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Russian Federation) in 2012 on the establishment of a zone free of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East. It further decided that the UN Secretary-General and the cosponsors, in consultation with the States of the region, should appoint a facilitator, with a mandate to support implementation of the 1995 Resolution by conducting consultations with the States of the region in that regard and undertaking preparations for the convening of the 2012 Conference, as well as assisting in implementation of follow-on steps. The IAEA, Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OCPW) and other relevant international organizations were requested to prepare background documents for the conference.

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“The Middle East Free Zone: A Challenging Reality” In advance of the conference on the establishment of a Middle

East zone, there is substantial agreement between States on such issues as the geographic scope of the zone, and the inclusion of substantive agenda items such as verification and compliance. However, in view of items raised previously, a range of additional crucial issues are still pending for discussion by the region’s States. Key questions remain, including: Which institutions will be entrusted with the responsibility of the

zone? What are the implications of non-compliance? (The Euratom treaty

may be a useful example here as there is a process to deal with violations: depending on the severity of the violation. There is a range of options that the Euratom Commission can decide: from sending a warning to actually taking all the fissile materials out of a facility).

How can security guarantees be given to reinforce the process of the zone’s establishment?

What role will the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, as well as nuclear safety and security, play in future zone discussions?

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Moreover, technical provisions need to be considered in order to achieve nuclear disarmament and non- proliferation in the Middle East:

Dismantling and destroying existing or remaining nuclear weapons capabilities, facilities, and devices under international verification mechanisms;

Renouncing nuclear weapons through refraining from conducting indigenous development and activities related to nuclear weapons;

Prohibiting the transit or stationing of any nuclear explosive devices in the zone;

Prohibiting nuclear explosive testing in the zone and the role of the CTBTO;

Using nuclear materials and facilities for peaceful purposes only; Placing all nuclear facilities under comprehensive IAEA safeguards; Establishing the necessary relevant institutions and mechanisms or

entities to uphold a zone, free of nuclear and other WMDs; Addressing the issue of verification, including identifying the role of the

IAEA and other relevant organizations such as the OPCW and CTBTO.

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Multi-lateral Treaty-Based Regime:

The NPT will be central in the negotiation of a treaty-based Middle East WMDFZ. Negotiators should consider IAEA safeguards, as well as verification and inspection mechanisms. These tools are to be implemented in a manner designed to comply with Article IV of the NPT and to avoid the hampering of the economic or technological development of the Parties or international cooperation in the field of peaceful nuclear activities.

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Potential Building Blocks and Best Practices Middle East Nuclear Free Zone & the United Nations Available Guidelines The IAEA Forum The IAEA convened a forum on “Experience of Possible Relevance to the Creation of a Nuclear Weapon Free Zone in the Middle East,” in Vienna, in November 2011. Forum attendees presented several constructive proposals that should be taken into consideration, including suggestions to:

Take stock of the importance of declaratory policy and, in particular, declarations of good intent, and identify specific and practical confidence-building measures;

Consider the lessons and context of other regions prior to the establishment of a NWFZs;

Review existing, multilateral principles for establishing such zones, and review the relevant theory and practice of establishing the five existing NWFZs;

Discuss the experience of the representatives from the five NWFZs in setting up and implementing such zones and discuss the region of the Middle East in this context.

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The United Nations (UN) guidelines and principles for the establishment of nuclear-weapon-free-zones are another important reference for future zones that should be thoroughly utilized. Provisions include references to the following: A NWFZ should not prevent the use of nuclear science and technology for

peaceful purposes and may promote, if provided for in the treaties establishing such zones, bilateral, regional and international cooperation for the peaceful use of nuclear energy in the zone in support of socio-economic, scientific, and technological development of the States parties;

The nuclear-weapon-states (NWS) are to be consulted during the negotiations of each treaty, including the negotiation of relevant protocol(s) establishing a NWFZ, in order to facilitate the signature and ratification of the treaty;

A NWFZ will help strengthen the security of States parties to such zones and will serve as an important disarmament tool that contributes to the primary objective of strengthening regional peace and security and, by extension, global peace and security;

It can also be considered an important regional confidence-building measure that reaffirms the commitment of the States that belong to the zone to honor their legal obligations to other international non-proliferation and disarmament instruments to which they are parties;

The obligations of all the States parties to a zone treaty should be clearly defined and legally binding, and the States parties should fully abide by such agreements

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WMD Treaties

Those vested in the establishment of a Middle East zone should give a greater degree of attention to the CTBT, in addition to other international treaties such as the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and Biological Weapons Convention (BWC).

The role of the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) in any future zone is also important. The commitment by States not to carry out any nuclear weapon text explosion or any other nuclear explosion, and to prohibit and prevent any such nuclear explosion at any place under its jurisdiction, is one of the critical building blocks of any future zone.

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There are several successful examples for regional NWFZs, such as the Tlatelolco Treaty, the Rarotonga Treaty and the Pelindapa Treaty.

The Pelindaba Treaty, as a recent example, contains the following provisions: The Treaty prohibits the research, development, manufacture, stockpiling,

acquisition, testing, possession, control, or stationing of nuclear explosive devices in the territory of parties to the Treaty and the dumping of radioactive wastes in the African zone by Treaty parties;

The Treaty also prohibits any attacks against nuclear installations in the zone by Treaty parties and requires them to maintain the highest standards of physical protection of nuclear material, facilities and equipment, which are to be used exclusively for peaceful purposes;

To allow for the verification of its nuclear non-proliferation undertaking, the Treaty requires parties to conclude comprehensive safeguards agreements with the IAEA equivalent to the agreements required in connection with NPT;

The Treaty provides for verification and compliance mechanisms, including the African Commission on Nuclear Energy (AFCONE), which serves as a compliance mechanism and encourages regional and sub-regional programs for cooperation on the peaceful uses of nuclear science and technology;

The establishment of AFCONE encourages African states to take responsibility for natural resources and, in particular, nuclear material, and protects against the dumping of toxic waste.

Successful Regional Zones

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Successful Institutions

The European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom)Important lessons for the Middle East can be drawn from

the experience of the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). Euratom was initially created to coordinate research programs for the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and to pool knowledge, infrastructure and funding.

It ensures the security of atomic energy supply within the framework of a centralized monitoring system and acts in several areas connected with atomic energy, including research, safety standards, and the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. This experience is worth investigating to see how it might be applied to the Middle East.

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The Brazilian-Argentine Agency for Accounting and Control of Nuclear Weapons (ABACC)

It is a Regional organization that also has relevance to the establishment of a Middle East zone. The Middle East requires a similar bold vision to rid the region of nuclear and other WMDs and reposition it on a non-nuclear course. The relationship attained by Brazil and Argentina through ABACC, in addition to the signature in July 1991 of the Agreement for the Exclusively Peaceful Use of Nuclear Energy is significant. While recognizing the sovereign right of each nation to access nuclear technology for scientific, technological, economic and social development, both Brazil and Argentina created a Common System for Accounting and Control of Nuclear Materials (SCCC).

Moreover, the Agreement implied a clear and definite compromise for the use of all peaceful-use materials and nuclear facilities submitted to Brazil and Argentina’s jurisdiction and control. It was within this context that ABACC was created to manage and apply the Common System of Accounting and Control (SCCC).

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Selected Country SuccessSouth Africa’s Example of the dismantlement of its nuclear program The example of South Africa—the first country to voluntarily abandon a fully

developed nuclear weapons program—should serve as a standard model for relevant disarmament and dismantlement strategies. It took South Africa five years to build the country’s first nuclear device and a total of sixteen years to construct its six-weapon arsenal. South Africa terminated and fully dismantled its program and all related facilities it less than twenty-four months, wherein it:

Dismantled the six completed gun-type devices at Armaments Corporation of South Africa Ltd. (ARMSCOR) under controlled and secure conditions;

Melted and recast the highly-enriched uranium (HEU) from the six devices, including a partially complete seventh device, and returned it to the Atomic Energy Corporation (AEC) for safe-keeping;

Fully decontaminated ARMSCOR facilities and returned severely contaminated equipment to the AEC, including a melting furnace;

Converted the ARMSCOR facilities to conventional weapon and non-weapon commercial activities and destroyed all hardware components of the devices, technical design, and manufacturing information;

Joined the NPT, signed the Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement with the IAEA, and submitted a full and complete national initial inventory of nuclear material and facilities as required by the Safeguards Agreement. The first IAEA team arrived in South Africa in November 1991.

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Kazakhstan’s example of dismantling its nuclear site Semipalatinsk

Kazakhstan decided to renounce all nuclear weapons it inherited from the USSR (the fourth largest nuclear arsenal in the world).

Kazakhstan completed the dismantlement of the nuclear testing infrastructure at Semipalatinsk in 2000.

The Low-Enriched-Uranium Bank between Kazakhstan and the IAEA is an example of a pro-active diplomacy that works for encouraging the states to pursue nuclear projects for peaceful purposes. It also allows Kazakhstan to make use of its abundant Uranium deposits.   

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Key Points Summary Finally, I would like to leave you with the following points:

The establishment of a zone free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in the Middle East remains crucial despite the failure to convene a conference on this initiative as mandated within the Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Cycle.

This project has taken a new dimension after the Arab Spring because, as a result, civil society and parliaments are likely to play an increasing role in foreign and security policy issues and may press their governments for more progress in this field.

The experience of other regions in establishing nuclear-weapon-free zones will be useful to set up a similar zone in the Middle East, including in its technical dimensions and verification mechanisms.

In order to make progress towards a such zone in the Middle East, the conveners of the planned conference should engage Israel, Iran and the Arab League in substantive and procedural preparations to launch a negotiating zonal conference cycle.

Progress towards this goal would be reported to the NPT Review Cycle conferences, and would require the contribution of international organizations such as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) or the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

Thank you for your attention

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