30 October 2023, New York
Mr. Chair,
I have the honor to speak on behalf of the Member States of the European Union.
The Candidate Countries Türkiye, North Macedonia*, Serbia*, Albania*, the Republic of Moldova and Bosnia and Herzegovina*, the potential candidate country Georgia, as well as Monaco align themselves with this statement.
The 2016 European Union Global Strategy for the Union’s Foreign and Security Policy as well as the 2003 European Union Strategy against the proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) are founded on the conviction that a multilateral approach to security, including disarmament and non-proliferation, provides the best way to maintain international peace and security.
The Joint Declaration of the Paris Summit for the Mediterranean of 13 July 2008, establishing the Union for the Mediterranean, reaffirmed the common aspiration to achieve peace as well as regional security as set out in the Barcelona Declaration adopted at the Euro-Mediterranean Conference of 27-28 November 1995, which, inter alia, promotes regional security through, inter alia, nuclear, chemical and biological non-proliferation, adherence to regional arrangements such as zones free of nuclear weapons, including their verification regimes, as well as by fulfilling in good faith the commitments of the signatories to the Barcelona Declaration under arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation conventions.
The Parties to the Union for the Mediterranean agreed to pursue a mutually and effectively verifiable Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear Weapons and Other WMD and their delivery systems and to consider practical steps, inter alia, to prevent the proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons as well as the excessive accumulation of conventional arms.
The EU reiterates its full support for the Non-Proliferation Treaty, which has laid the foundation for establishing nuclear-free zones around the world as well as the establishment of a Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction and their delivery systems.
It remains a strategic priority of the EU to support peace and stability in the entire Middle East. The EU remains committed to the implementation of the Resolution on the Middle East adopted at the 1995 NPT Review Conference. The EU reaffirms its full support for the establishment of a Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction and their delivery systems, as agreed by NPT States Parties. The path for action as set out in the 2010 Action Plan remains the most promising basis on which to proceed.
Such zones can only be established on the basis of arrangements freely arrived at between all States of the region concerned. Dialogue and confidence building among stakeholders is the only sustainable way to agree on arrangements for a meaningful conference, to be attended by all States of the Middle East, on the basis of arrangements freely arrived at by them. The process must be inclusive for it to be effective and proposals that force the issue risk failure.
The EU has consistently presented this position at the UN. The EU reiterates its support for the UN Secretary-General’s Agenda for Disarmament ‘Securing our Common Future’, which pledges to work with UN Member States to strengthen and consolidate nuclear-weapon-free zones, including by supporting the further establishment of such zones, including in the Middle East. The EU takes note of the third session of the Conference on the Establishment of a Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear Weapons and Other WMD, held on 14-18 November 2022 in New York. The EU calls on all Parties to further their efforts to build an inclusive and consensus-based process, including all States of the region, taking into account the security concerns of all States and covering all weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems, in line with the 1995 resolution on the Middle East and the 2010 NPT Review Conference Outcome. The EU reconfirms its readiness to assist the process leading to the establishment of a Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear Weapons and Other WMD and their delivery systems, as it has done in the past by facilitating dialogue among States of the region.
The EU has adopted specific legislative acts to support UN works in this regard. Council Decision (CFSP) 2022/574 currently supports the implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540, where assistance requests from States to take additional, practical steps to implement the obligations of UNSCR 1540 (2004) at national level, gives priority to States from, inter alia, the Gulf and Middle East region. Furthermore, the EU is supporting a process of confidence-building leading to the establishment of a Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear Weapons and Other WMD and their delivery systems, most recently through Council Decision (CFSP) 2023/1306, of 26 June 2023, in support of a project on a zone free of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East in an evolving regional security environment. Its objectives are to assist in mitigating regional WMD proliferation trends, encourage regional security arrangements and arms control, non-proliferation, and disarmament norms and processes, develop a more in-depth understanding of the relationship between the Middle East WMD Free Zone and current regional and international developments, and promote an effective, verifiable, inclusive, and sustainable Middle East WMD Free Zone. The EU also confirms its readiness to continue to assist the Middle East region, via “The European Union Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Risk Mitigation Centers of Excellence Initiative” (CBRN CoE), launched in response to the need to strengthen the institutional capacity of countries outside the Union to mitigate CBRN risks. The Centers of Excellence established in Jordan, Algeria, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates all contribute to enhanced capacity building in the region and cooperation between these States.
The EU continues to call on all States in the region, which have not yet done so, to accede to and abide by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC), to sign and ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), and to conclude a Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement, the Additional Protocol and, as applicable, a modified Small Quantities Protocol with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). We also encourage subscription to The Hague Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missiles Proliferation (HCoC) that could contribute to regional confidence building, which is necessary for progress towards a Middle East WMD free zone.
For the abovementioned reasons, the EU Member States have supported in voting the draft Resolution on Establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the region of the Middle East.
Source: Press and information team of the Delegation to the UN in New York
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* North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.