Permanent Mission of India to the UN
Geneva

Statement by India during consideration of
 ‘Geneva Statement on Sound Management of
Chemicals and Waste’ 
issued at the High Level Segment of the
Conference of Parties to
the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions

 10 May 2013

Statement by India during consideration of
‘Geneva Statement on Sound Management of Chemicals and Waste’  
issued at the High Level Segment of the Conference of Parties to
the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions
10 May 2013

Mr. Chairperson,

My delegation would like to convey its deep appreciation to the Co-Chairs Indonesia and Zambia for their tireless efforts to finalize the Geneva Statement, and also to the delegation of Switzerland for their efforts to make the Simultaneous Extraordinary Conference of Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, a success. 

Mr. Chairperson, the Delegation of India has been expressly keen that the Geneva Statement should not only highlight the importance of realizing the goals of sustainable development and protection of human health and environment through effective implementation of the three Conventions, but also renew the commitment of international community to the means of implementation. This calls for supporting developing countries in strengthening their capacity for sound management of chemicals and hazardous waste with necessary technical and financial assistance, and also technology transfer to developing countries, in particular LDCs, Small Island Developing Countries and Africa.

India strongly believes that the Statement ought to have reaffirmed the Rio principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR). This is extremely important as we are jointly aiming to deal with the global problem of managing negative effects of chemicals. The Member States have differential obligations based on their responsibility in creating the problem and their capacities to deal with them. The CBDR principle has been recently re-affirmed at Rio + 20 Conference in June 2012, at the level of Heads of States. Absence of a reference to this important Principle, which has been the bed rock of multilateral environmental agreements, in the Geneva Statement has greatly constrained my delegation’s ability to be associated with this Statement.    

Mr. Chairperson,

During the discussions on the draft Statement, my delegation strongly advocated references to the aforesaid important and cardinal elements namely, the principle of CBDR and the issue of technical and financial assistance and technology transfer to the developing countries, in the Statement.

Indian delegation does not wish to stand in the way of adoption of Geneva Statement, however, for the reasons mentioned above, it would like to disassociate with it.

Mr. Chairperson, we would request that this Statement from Delegation of India be reflected in the proceedings of this meeting.

I thank you, Chair.

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