Canada’s statement to the Conference on Disarmament – High-Level Segment, 2024

Check against delivery

February 26, 2024

Delivered by Parliamentary Secretary Damoff

Mr. President,

In 1960, Canada was one of ten nations tasked with exploring avenues for general and complete disarmament. The Conference of the Ten Nation Committee on Disarmament eventually became the 65-member Conference I have the honour to address today. The goal remains the same: general and complete disarmament.

Our predecessors recognized the urgency to reduce and ultimately eliminate global nuclear arsenals. Thanks to decades of arms control agreements, dialogues and mutual trust, today’s nuclear weapon stocks have been reduced to a level not seen since the late 1950s.

While we work tirelessly to ensure that this number will continue to decrease, there is cause for concern, including: a lack of sustained progress on nuclear disarmament; a rise in risks associated with rapidly evolving technologies; and an increased potential of conventional wars sparking regional conflicts.

We call on all states that are expanding their nuclear arsenals to reverse this trend. And we urge all states that have not yet ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty to do so without delay.

The global community bears a collective responsibility to protect international peace and security, but malign actors must be held accountable for their role in weakening the disarmament machinery.

For two years, Ukraine has endured full-scale war as a result of President Putin’s illegal and reckless aggression. Russia has further destabilized the disarmament system. It has abused consensus decision-making and rules of procedure in multilateral forums. It has withdrawn from bilateral arms control agreements, and revoked their ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty. Russia’s blatant and reckless actions undermine our collective peace and security.

We call on Russia to withdraw its forces from Ukraine, return to the table on New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, begin talks in good faith on a successor treaty, and end its disinformation campaigns.

We call on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to cease its ballistic missile launches, dismantle its illicit nuclear program, comply with the United Nations Security Council Resolutions, and cease its arms transfers to Russia.

Iran’s unabated escalation of its nuclear program is a threat to global peace and security. Syria’s use of chemical weapons to murder and maim innocent civilians, of which women and girls were disproportionately affected, is abhorrent. We implore all actors to comply with safeguards and conventions banning these weapons and materials of mass destruction.   

The international community must continue to recognize the devastating humanitarian impact of all conflicts and condemn the indiscriminate use of explosive weapons in densely populated areas. The proliferation of small arms and light weapons pose their own risk of mass death and destruction, and must be addressed with the same urgency.

Finally, we call on the international community to fulfill the mandate of the Conference on Disarmament with renewed energy. We must negotiate disarmament instruments, beginning with a treaty on fissile materials for nuclear weapons. To facilitate negotiations, all states that produce fissile materials for nuclear weapons should declare and implement voluntary moratoriums on production without delay. One Nuclear Weapon State, as well as several other states, has yet to do so despite overwhelming calls for action.

Likewise, much more remains to be done to strengthen the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, uphold the Chemical Weapons Convention, prevent an arms race in outer space, develop a framework for autonomous weapons systems, and better regulate conventional weapons to respond to evolving conflicts.

In 1960, my Canadian predecessor stood before the Ten Nation Committee stating, “It is easier to point out what we know ought to be done than to find the means of doing it.”

Now is the time to empower one another to find the means to build a safer, and more peaceful world for all. To do so we must empower young people, women, and individuals from all geographic regions to be engaged on issues of disarmament. Canada is committed to working with all members of the Conference on Disarmament to achieve meaningful progress towards this goal.

Thank you, Mr. President.