Page 263 - 100 Reflections that Crafted Geneva International_V-Petrovsky_private special edition

Bringing the Concept to Life

underscores the special relationship Geneva has with the United Nations and
Geneva's role as the centre for arms regulation and disarmament activities. This
relationship is long-standing and well-known. It is only natural that the
humanitarian activities for which Geneva is famous also led to efforts to reduce
the violence of weapons. It is therefore natural that in search for international
peace the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Conference on
Disarmament in fact complement each other.

This meeting also symbolizes another truism, perhaps not yet fully appre-
ciated. Multilateralism, in the new changing world, is the key to assuring
progress in international disarmament and security matters. However, it can-
not be limited as before to traditional State actors. It is becoming evermore
apparent that the work Governments undertake at multilateral fora benefits
from the dynamic encouragement and activities of academia, including special-
ized research institutes, concerned non-governmental organizations, and other
actors that comprising civil society. The United Nations stands ready to sup-
port these various efforts, to encourage the new multilateralism through the
achievement of practical tangible results in arms limitation and disarmament.

The current aim of the United Nations is to facilitate the emergence of a
new international system which President Chirac of France has vividly defined
as “globalization with a human face”. This aim requires among other things a
new look at disarmament issues.

Today the top priority is a CTBT. The negotiations on a CTBT is a unique
experience for this treaty is being written not by two pens, as before, but by
many. It has been a long and time-consuming exercise so far, but 95 per cent of
the text is now agreed upon and the outstanding issues are few. The CTBT is
within reach. What is at stake today is the realization of the long awaited aim
that will help the international community to affect three targets: nuclear
disarmament, non-proliferation and protection of the environment. I strongly
hope that the Member States, through consultations, will resolve those
remaining issues by the time the Conference on Disarmament resumes its
session on 29 July 1996, to enable the signing of this treaty by the start of the
st
51 session of the UN General Assembly. It is not too late.

In the same way as the CTBT is top priority in macro-disarmament, on
micro-level the search for the solution of the landmines issue is similarly
important. The results of the recently concluded Review Conference of States
Parties to the Convention on Prohibitions and Restrictions on the Use of

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