Page 110 - 100 Reflections that Crafted Geneva International_V-Petrovsky_private special edition

100 Reflections that Crafted Geneva International

Northern Ireland, United States of America, Venezuela, Yugoslavia and Zaire.
All are Members of the United Nations. The composition reflects the main
political and geographical groups: twenty of the members are non-aligned
nations (referred to as the Group of 21); ten others belong to the Western
group of countries, and six to the Eastern group. China and Sweden do not
belong to any group. Most of the militarily significant States are members of
the Conference. Its expansion has been under consideration for some time. In
addition, non-member States may submit written proposals or working
documents and may, upon invitation, participate in the work of the
Conference. In the 1994 session 47 non-members participated. The presidency
of the Conference rotates among all the members on а monthly basis.

Methods of Work Since 1979

At its initial session, in 1979, the negotiating body agreed, taking into
account the documents of the first special session of the General Assembly
devoted to disarmament, to deal with the cessation of the arms race and
disarmament and other relevant measures in the following areas:

(i) Nuclear weapons in all aspects.
(ii) Chemical weapons.
(iii) Other weapons of mass destruction.
(iv) Conventional weapons.
(v) Reduction of military budgets.
(vi) Reduction of armed forces.
(vii) Disarmament and development.
(viii) Disarmament and international security.
(ix) Collateral measures; confidence-building measures; effective verifi-
cation methods in relation to appropriate disarmament measures,
acceptable to all parties concerned.
(x) Comprehensive programme of disarmament leading to general and
complete disarmament under effective international control.

From this so-called decalogue, the negotiating body chose its annual
agenda and fixed its programme of work each year through 1992. Nineteen-
ninety-three marked the signing of the Convention on the Prohibition of the
Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on
their Destruction (chemical weapons Convention), which had been under
negotiation for а quarter of а century and which was the first multilaterally

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