Subject: (abolition-usa) Statement by Avis Bohlen, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, in the 1st Committee of the General Assembly on 10-10-01
USUN PRESS RELEASE # 137 (01)
October 10, 2001
AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY
Statement by Avis Bohlen,United States Assistant Secretary of State for Arms
Control, in the First Committee of the General Assembly, October 10, 2001
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Before I begin, please accept my congratulations on
your assumption of the Chairmanship of the First Committee
<http://www.un.org/ga/56/first/> . I am confident that the skill,
experience, and knowledge you and the bureau bring to First Committee
deliberations will assist us in a successful conclusion to our endeavors. I
would like to express my appreciation for the moment of silence observed by
the Committee at its first meeting October 4, 2001.
Mr. Chairman and other representatives to the First Committee,
We convene during a solemn period for humanity. Just four weeks ago a
horrendous attack was carried out against this city and the international
community. In addition to several thousand Americans, hundreds of citizens
from 80 different nations lost their lives at the hands of a well-organized
group of terrorists who showed total disdain for the innocents who suffered
and perished. The world was shocked and appalled by these criminal events.
The depravity of those acts, the tragic loss of life and the horrifying
destruction mark that day forever as a sad chapter in human history .We are
deeply grateful for the outpouring of sympathy that came to us from all over
the world and for the solidarity shown by the international community in
undertaking the long struggle now just beginning to bring the perpetrators
to account and to fight terrorism wherever it manifests itself with all the
weapons at our disposal.
The events of September 11 and the continuing concerns we all share
underscore the need to take a fresh look at the international community's
traditional convictions and approaches to security. We must strengthen them
where appropriate, but we must also consider new ways to reduce the
terrorist threat to mankind.
Responsible governments must assure the security and safety of their
citizens and of civil society as a whole. We are not free to stand aside and
watch our citizens be slaughtered, nor can we tolerate international
aggression or other forcible assaults on key interests and values. Criminals
and terrorists who possess the means to threaten society, and who have shown
no reluctance to use them, are a danger to us all and threaten the
achievement of the goal of general and complete disarmament. Governments
throughout the world must cooperate and devote appropriate energy and
resources to finding them, bringing them to justice, and rooting out the
organized networks that enable them to operate.
There is intense concern that some of these terrorists and criminals may
continue to seek to acquire and use weapons of mass destruction. This gives
the international community important and persuasive reasons to redouble our
non-proliferation and arms control efforts. We must also strengthen other
mechanisms intended to ensure that toxic and dangerous materials remain
under appropriate control and are used solely for legal and constructive
purposes. The United States Government is actively examining these
questions, and we would welcome ideas and views of others on how best to
achieve these goals. We hope to enlist the help of all the members of the
United Nations in the fight against terrorism and the threats posed by
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
Delegations to the First Committee have come here to consider issues of
disarmament, arms control, and international peace and security. We will
consider resolutions that focus on ways and means to reduce the potential
harm to mankind from the tools of war - from small arms to weapons of mass
destruction. We will not always agree on the best ways to reduce these
dangers, but we can exchange insights, discuss alternate approaches, and
seek to persuade each other.
Let me begin by reiterating and emphasizing the strong support of the United
States for the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)
<http://www.state.gov/t/np/nnp/fs/index.cfm?docid=3055> . As a nuclear
weapon state, the United States understands its special responsibility under
Article VI to take steps related to nuclear disarmament. President Bush has
made clear that the U .S. will reduce its nuclear forces to the lowest
possible level that is compatible with the security of the U .S. and its
allies.
NPT Parties and UN Member States, including the U.S., have repeatedly called
for the immediate commencement of negotiations on a Fissile Material Cutoff
Treaty (FMCT) to end the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons.
We are extremely disappointed that the continuing deadlock in the CD
<http://www.unog.ch/disarm/dconf.htm> is preventing the start of these
negotiations. We urge all CD members to start FMCT negotiations without
further delay.
The United States is keenly aware of the dangers we face in today's global
environment. Earlier this year my government began a strategic policy review
that is beginning to bear fruit. As one example, you are aware that the U.S.
Government and the Government of the Russian Federation have been
intensively discussing a new strategic framework. This framework will be
premised on openness, mutual confidence, and real opportunities for
cooperation. It will reflect a clean and clear break from the Cold War. It
will also include substantial reductions in offensive nuclear forces,
cooperation on missile defense, enhanced non - and counter-proliferation
efforts, and measures to promote confidence and transparency.
In this context, I must reiterate that the United States is firmly opposed
to the UN inserting itself into issues regarding the ABM Treaty
<http://www.state.gov/www/global/arms/treaties/abmpage.html> , which remains
a matter for the parties. As I just noted, discussions between the Russian
Federation and my country on a new strategic framework, including a revised
approach to the ABM Treaty, have intensified in recent months and they will
continue. In these circumstances it is even more inappropriate for the ABM
Treaty to be dealt with here in this forum. If a resolution on the ABM
Treaty is introduced again this year, the United States will vote no on it.
We urge our friends and allies to do the same. Today's world provides both
new threats and new opportunities. We must be able to react to these
changes.
However, let me emphasize that the United States is committed to working
constructively with all members of the international community to develop
broad support for an effective agenda to prevent the proliferation of
weapons of mass destruction and to ensure meaningful arms control. It is not
just two or three nations that are threatened in today's world; the entire
globe faces security challenges. We are prepared to work together in search
of common ground, but we do not want to engage in activities that would
undercut genuine efforts to combat the spread of weapons of mass destruction
and address other very real security threats.
Unspeakable though the acts of September 11 were, they unfortunately do not
exhaust the full range of deadly weapons available to a determined and
merciless terrorist. Much has been written in recent weeks about the threat
of the use of biological weapons, about the dangers of toxins and biological
agents being dispersed in areas with large concentrations of people. While
the ease of resorting to such weapons is sometimes overestimated in the
press, the possibility that BW might be used on a massive scale must now,
after September 11, be regarded as less remote than before.
This possibility must give new urgency to our efforts to combat the threat
of biological weapons -- and by weapons I mean here biological agents used
with lethal intent. A first step must be to strengthen the norms against use
of biological weapons, to make clear and doubly clear that this form of
terrorism, like all others, is unacceptable. We believe that the
international community, which has in Security Council Resolutions 1368
<http://www.un.org/Docs/scres/2001/res1368e.pdf> and 1373
<http://www.un.org/Docs/scres/2001/res1373e.pdf> so clearly stated its
resolve to combat terrorism by all the means at its disposal, must equally
clearly state that any use of biological weapons - whether by a state, an
organization or an individual - would be a crime against humanity to which
the international community will respond. We must also make clear that
transfer of BW and other toxins to those who would use them is similarly
unacceptable.
Over the past six years, the United States and many other countries sought
to negotiate in Geneva a protocol that would strengthen the Biological
