Statement by Ambassador D.B. Venkatesh Varma
Permanent Representative of India to the Conference on Disarmament

Informal Discussions on Negative Security Assurances
 

Mr. Coordinator,

It is a pleasure to see you coordinating our discussions on NSAs. We wish to thank you for your letter of 18 August offering a structure for discussions and also to the Secretariat for preparing a background paper on the subject.

2.   The history of negative security assurances is a long one, largely of unfulfilled aspirations for legally binding assurances. Negative Security Assurances has been on the Agenda of the Conference since 1980. The Final Document of SSOD-I called upon nuclear weapon States to take steps to assure non-nuclear weapon states against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons. Non-nuclear weapon states have a legitimate right to be assured against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons. Despite the end of the Cold war more than two decades ago, nuclear doctrines of a number of nuclear states still contemplate use of nuclear weapons for purposes other than deterrence. This lowering of the nuclear threshold remains a matter of concern.  The role of ‘nuclear umbrella’ states should also be examined.

3.   Nuclear weapons pose the gravest danger to humanity and the best assurance against their use or threat of use is their complete elimination. India has been consistent in its support for global, verifiable and non-discriminatory nuclear disarmament. India attended the three conferences on the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons at Oslo, Nayarit and Vienna in the expectation that renewed attention on the most serious threat to the survival of mankind posed by the use of nuclear weapons would help generate momentum for increased restraints on use of such weapons and thus correct an imbalance in the international legal discourse that has focused almost exclusively on restraints on possession. As part of our doctrine of credible minimum nuclear deterrence, India has espoused a policy of “No First Use” against nuclear weapon states and non-use against non-nuclear weapon states.  We are prepared to convert these undertakings into multilateral legal arrangements.

4.   Pending their elimination, measures to reduce nuclear dangers arising from accidental or unauthorized use of nuclear weapons and increasing restraint on the use of nuclear weapons are pertinent. India has therefore called for an agreed multilateral framework that would bring together all states possessing nuclear weapons to discuss measures relating to reducing the role of nuclear weapons in security doctrines and policies. This is an important dimension that has been largely neglected.

5.   For over three decades, the First Committee has voted in favor of a resolution sponsored by India calling on this Conference to negotiate a Convention on the Prohibition of Use of Nuclear Weapons. India’s resolution in the First Committee on Reducing Nuclear Danger is supported by a large number of States. In its Working Paper CD/1816, India suggested specific measures including a Global No First Use Agreement. These are concrete suggestions which we believe are essential steps for achieving the goal of the complete elimination of nuclear weapons.

6.   India supported resolution 69/30 adopted by the General Assembly which recommends that the CD actively continue intensive negotiations on the issue of NSAs. India also joined the G21 working paper CD 1960 submitted in 2013. The discussion of NSAs cannot be limited to the context of a single treaty, or confined to nuclear weapon free zones. The two UNSC resolutions – UNSCR 255 and 984 have fallen short of global expectations. In fact, an UNIDIR study released in 2014 highlighted that ameliorating the consequences for victims of nuclear weapons attack was beyond the capacity of any state or group of states or international organizations under the UN family.

7.   India supports the objective of the establishment of a subsidiary body to negotiate with a view to reaching agreement on effective international arrangements to assure non-nuclear weapon states against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons as part of a comprehensive and balanced programme of work in the CD.  

Thank you.