G-8 Leaders Resolute on Terrorism and Nuclear Non-Proliferation

By Victor Comras

G-8 leaders stood together at the close of the Gleneagles Summit to declare their resolve to stay the course and defeat terrorism. �We came to Gleneagles to work to combat poverty and save and improve lives, Blair stated. �We have not allowed violence to disrupt the work of this Summit. The terrorists have not and will not succeed. As well as our work on poverty and climate change, we resolved to intensify our work on counter terrorism.� This having been said, there was little new in the final Summit document on terrorism and few specifics to grab on to. The Conference Paper on Non Proliferation had more meat.

The G-8 Terrorism Statement recounts in very general terms steps that have already been taken to implement earlier counter-terrorism initiatives. It re-iterates the Group's determination to �prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction to terrorists and other criminals, reinforce international political will to combat terrorism, secure radioactive sources and - as announced at Sea Island -ensure secure and facilitated travel.� The G-8 leaders also commit their country�s to �improve the sharing of information on the movement of terrorists across international borders, to assess and address the threat to the transportation infrastructure, and to promote best practices for rail and metro security.� �We leave Gleneagles," they said also, �with a renewed commitment to work with partners in the UN and in other key international and regional fora.{and to} reach early agreement on a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism.�

Despite a UK and American preference for �counter proliferation� as opposed to �non proliferation", the latter term seems to have again won out (See my earlier �Counter-Proliferation Blog) The Final Statement on this score is entitled Gleneagles Statement on Non-Proliferation and the term "counter-proliferation" is no where to be found in the document. Building on UN Security Council Resolution 1540 (2004) the G-8 leaders pledged to assist any country to develop and implement appropriate national control procedures. They also declare their intention to press forward with their Proliferation Security Initiative, and call on all countries to �deepen co-operation in order to counter trafficking in WMD, delivery means and related materials.� They also pressed for �enhanced efforts� to combat proliferation networks and illicit financial flows by developing co-operative procedures to identify, track and freeze relevant financial transactions and assets. Special emphasis was also placed on fortifying the application of IAEA safeguards. �The Additional Protocol must become an essential new standard in the field of nuclear supply arrangements,� they said. They also pledged that those states which forgo the nuclear fuel cycle and meet all nuclear non-proliferation obligations would enjoy assured access to the market for nuclear fuel and related services.

The G8 Statement contains some surprisingly harsh words for North Korea and Iran.

�We express profound concern over the threat posed by DPRK�s nuclear weapons programme, particularly following its recent statements that it has manufactured nuclear weapons and in the light of its missile programmes and history of missile proliferation. The DPRK has violated its commitments under the NPT and its IAEA safeguards agreement. We reiterate the necessity for the DPRK promptly to return to full compliance with the NPT, and dismantle all its nuclear weapons related programmes in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner. It is also essential that the DPRK not contribute to missile proliferation elsewhere, and maintain indefinitely its moratorium on the launching of missiles. We reaffirm our full support for the Six-Party talks, which represent an important opportunity to achieve a comprehensive solution. It is essential that the DPRK return to the Six Party Talks immediately without preconditions, and participate constructively to this end.�

With regard to Iran, the group signaled that it is �determined to see the proliferation implications of Iran�s advanced nuclear programme resolved.�

�It is essential that Iran provide the international community with objective guarantees that its nuclear programme is exclusively for peaceful purposes in order to build international confidence. We welcome the initiative of France, Germany and the United Kingdom, and the High Representative of the European Union to reach agreement with Iran on long-term arrangements which would provide such objective guarantees as well as political and economic co-operation. We call upon Iran to maintain the suspension of all enrichment- related and reprocessing activities while negotiations on the long term
arrangements proceed. We reiterate the need for Iran to co-operate fully with
IAEA requests for information and access, to comply fully with all IAEA Board
requirements, and to resolve all outstanding issues related to its nuclear programme.
We also urge Iran to ratify the Additional Protocol without delay and, pending its
ratification, to act fully in accordance with its provisions.�

TrackBack