Conference on Disarmament
The Geneva Conference on Disarmament (CD) is the UN's special and sole body for negotiating international treaties in the field of disarmament (in relation to weapons of mass destruction and conventional weapons) and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The CD has 65 members and is strictly governed by the consensus rule.
The Conference on Disarmament (CD) was established by resolution of the 1st Special Session of the UN General Assembly on Disarmament in 1978 as the successor body to the Geneva Disarmament Committees and is the only multilateral negotiating forum in the field of disarmament. The CD reports annually to the UN General Assembly.
The Conference on Disarmament originally had 40 member states, which have gradually grown to 65. The former Czechoslovakia was one of the founding members of the CD; after the division of the federation, the Slovak Republic took over this membership by mutual agreement. Since then, the Czech Republic has applied for membership in vain. From August 2012 to February 2015, the Czech Republic led the Informal Group of Observer States (IGOS).
The most important multilateral disarmament treaties have been negotiated in the CD, the most recent being the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty in 1996. Since 1998, however, the CD, which takes all decisions by consensus, has been virtually blocked by the obstructionist policies of one of its members. Frustration with the CD's paralysis has led, among other things, to the negotiation of some treaties outside the CD framework.
The four key issues of the CD are nuclear disarmament, the negotiation of the Fissile Material Cutoff Convention (FMCT), negative security assurances to non-nuclear weapon states (NSAs), and the prevention of a weapons race in space (PAROS). The overwhelming support of CD members is for the negotiation of the FMCT, for which the so-called Shannon Mandate was adopted as early as 1995. However, the current tense situation in international relations does not provide the desired impetus to unblock the CD.
The Czech Republic is a party to all disarmament treaties negotiated at the CD, and Czechoslovak or Czech experts actively participated in their negotiation, in some cases even being among the main actors. The Czech Republic therefore supports any steps that would contribute to unblocking the work of the CD and also to the next round of enlargement of the CD membership, this time including the Czech Republic.
