Canada’s Statement to the Conference on Disarmament 2024

Check against delivery.

January 23, 2024

Delivered by Ambassador Leslie Norton

Thank you, Mr. President, for allowing me to take the floor. May I firstly congratulate you and your team on your presidency, and wish you a great year ahead as you take the helm first in 2024. I am also grateful to the Secretariat for their tireless support.

Mr. President,

You, the five successive presidents over the next nine months, and all CD member states have the opportunity to lay down a marker on 2024 as the year the CD returns to efficacy. At the UN General Assembly’s 78th First Committee, the overwhelming majority of Member States expressed a desire to make progress on disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation. There is drive and motivation to move forward on finally addressing some of the most concerning challenges facing the international community.

Among these, Canada views the following issue areas as ripe for inclusion in the 2024 programme of work in the Conference on Disarmament:

• fissile materials for nuclear weapons;
• nuclear risk reduction
• radiological weapons;
• negative security assurances;
• artificial intelligence
• universalization of treaties, including the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty;
• gender and youth; and,
• revitalization of the CD and the disarmament machinery more generally.

Mr. President,

It is unlikely that we will be able to negotiate instruments on all the traditional CD agenda items at the same time, but there should be enough common ground to start negotiations on at least a few issues that reflect the interests of states in a balanced manner. We do not believe that an all or nothing approach serves the interests of the international community and neither do we believe that agenda items should be interpreted in a manner that excludes modern challenges, such as those imposed by new technologies.

In our view, it is important to make a good effort to achieve consensus on a programme of work, but we are hopeful that we will avoid protracted procedural discussions. In that regard we appreciate the efforts made by CD Presidencies in 2022 and 2023. Should it become clear that there is no agreement on detailed negotiation mandates, we prefer to move forward with substantive discussions, rather than endless procedural considerations.

For the purpose of leaving a record for future consideration, our delegation prefers that meetings of the CD, whether in plenaries or subsidiary bodies, be held in a formal format. We also call for an inclusive approach that offers opportunities for observer states and civil society to participate in the deliberations of the CD.

Mr. President,

The CD remains the one standing forum where key states relevant to disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation are represented. Some of these states may not interact much with each other elsewhere, but they have an opportunity to do so in this forum. Let us not squander this opportunity. Our delegation stands ready to support you and to work with other delegations in good faith on a programme of work and, more importantly, on the elaboration of multilateral disarmament instruments.

Thank you.