Statment during General Debate of the first Committee
October, 5. 2007 Statment
Mr. Chairman,
Let me begin by congratulating you, Ambassador Paul Badji, for your well-deserved election as Chairman of the First Committee. I wish to assure you of the Kenya delegation’s full support and co-operation in our common endeavour to ensure a fruitful session. Let me also congratulate Mr. Sergio Duarte for his well-deserved appointment as the Secretary-General’s High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, and thank him for his inspiring statement. We are confident that the disarmament machinery will benefit from his wealth of experience and distinguished career in multilateral diplomacy.
Mr. Chairman,
We associate ourselves fully with the statement made by Indonesia on behalf of the Non-Alignment Movement (NAM) and the one Nigeria will deliver on behalf of the African Group.
Kenya remains firmly committed to all efforts aimed at strengthening the disarmament machinery with a view to achieving general and complete disarmament. Despite the setbacks over the last couple of years, we cannot afford to give up efforts to rid the world of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. Kenya believes that multilateralism in the disarmament agenda is the only viable path to a peaceful and secure future free of nuclear weapons.
The Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) remains the cornerstone for the disarmament and non-proliferation regime. We welcome the progress made at the First PrepCom for the 2010 NPT Review Conference held in Vienna in May, 2007, and look forward to useful engagement by all parties in a bid to move the process to a meaningful outcome. We reiterate our well-known position that NPT was a bargain in which the non-nuclear weapon states foreswore not to acquire nuclear weapons while the nuclear weapon states would eliminate their stockpiles.
The three pillars of NPT, namely disarmament, non-proliferation and peaceful uses of nuclear energy - must be given equal and balanced treatment on the basis of non-selectivity.
The decisions reached at the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) meeting of States Parties last year is encouraging and inspires hope in other areas.
Mr. Chairman,
The relationship between disarmament and development cannot be over-emphasized. The two are indeed inextricably linked. In this regard, it is saddening to note that precious resources continue to be directed towards military expenditure at the expense of development. The former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Kofi Annan, vividly established this linkage in his seminal work, “In Larger Freedom” in which he made it abundantly clear that there could be no development without security and no security without development. The ultimate guarantee of human rights presupposes development and security.
At the risk of stating the obvious, I wish to assert that security cannot be guaranteed by individual states in isolation. It requires our concerted efforts. It is for this reason that multilateralism must be given priority by the international community.
In this regard, we reiterate the role of the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva as the single multilateral negotiating forum for disarmament treaties. As a member of the Conference, Kenya has been concerned at the lack of progress at the Conference for close to a decade. We hope that the tremendous efforts made by the P-6 Presidency at the 2007 Session will soon bear fruit so that the conference can embark on substantive negotiations on a programme of work based on the principle of balance and non-selectivity.
Kenya joins the call for the convening of the Fourth Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly devoted to Disarmament.
Mr. Chairman,
Conventional weapons continue to have devastating impacts especially in developing countries.
In this regard, Kenya re-affirms her support to the United Nations Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat, and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects. In this connection, we welcome the report of the Working Group of Government Experts on Illicit Brokering.
Kenya continues to play a key role among the Eastern and the Horn of African countries, who are signatories to the Nairobi Declaration, on the problem of the proliferation of small arms and light weapons in the Great Lakes Region and the Horn of Africa.
In this connection, the Regional Centre for Small Arms and Light Weapons (RECSA) has done considerable work in harmonizing and co-ordinating the activities of Member States in the reduction of small arms and light weapons. We are grateful to the partner States that continue to support the Centre in its noble objectives.
Mr. Chairman,
Kenya is proud to have been among the original co-authors of the resolution on the Arms Trade Treaty adopted by an overwhelming 153 States at the 61st Session. We were encouraged by the responses of Member States to the Secretary-General’s request and look forward to participating in the work of the Group of Governmental Experts towards the conclusion of a legally-binding instrument that would ensure responsible trade in small arms and light weapons.
We support the initiatives taken by a number of States to advance the objectives of the Programme of Action. It is for this reason that Kenya joined other States in adopting the Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development on June 7, 2006. Kenya has since been an active member of the core group in Geneva to advance the goals of the Declaration.
In this regard, the Government of Kenya, together with the Government of Switzerland and in close collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), will be hosting the African Regional Meting on Armed Violence and Development in Nairobi from October 30-31, 2007. We hope that those States that have not adopted the Geneva Declaration will do so and re-dedicate themselves to its realization.
In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, I wish to call on all delegations to work together in the spirit of co-operation so that we can achieve the noble objectives expected of us by the international community. The stakes are high but together we can succeed. Kenya will lend its support.
I thank you!
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