State joins disarmament conference after wait of 17 years

Ireland has been admitted to membership of the international Conference on Disarmament after 17 years of trying.

The decision by the Geneva-based conference was welcomed last night by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Andrews. He said it was a major recognition by the international community of the active role Ireland plays in international disarmament efforts.

"Membership of the conference will enable Ireland to participate in the detailed negotiating work on instruments to achieve disarmament. I believe Ireland can play a very useful and constructive role in all the crucial negotiations conducted by the conference," he said.

The conference is the main forum at which the world's halting efforts to disarm are played out. Ireland first applied to join in 1982 but its attempts were blocked or delayed. Some countries were opposed to any further expansion of the conference. Others objected to states allied to political blocs, though this source of friction has diminished since the end of the Cold War. Another reason for opposition to the application stems for annoyance among some Third World countries at Ireland's vocal stance on human rights abuses.

However, after intensive lobbying over the past 18 months, Ireland's application was accepted unanimously yesterday, along with that of Ecuador, Malaysia, Kazakhstan and Tunisia. A total of 20 states had applied to join.

Last year, Mr Andrews launched a nuclear disarmament initiative on behalf of Ireland, with significant backing from non-aligned states. In December 1998, the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted a resolution tabled by Ireland which called for a nuclear weapon-free world.

The resolution called on states possessing nuclear weapons to demonstrate "an unequivocal commitment to the speedy and total elimination of their respective nuclear weapons".

The conference is currently engaged in attempts to strengthen the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention. It is also addressing ways of banning the production of fissile material for use in nuclear weapons, with formal negotiations expected to begin next year.

"We've been knocking at the door for some time," acknowledged Ms Anne Anderson, Ireland's Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, "but this is certainly very good news".

Ms Anderson said that Ireland, because it was not a member of NATO, enjoyed a wide range of friendships with other countries and was well-placed to act as a "bridge-builder" or broker between different interests.