Statement

Mr. Heidar Ali Balouji

First Counselor

of the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations

at the Open-Ended Working Group on Conventional Ammunition –

June 5, 2023 New York - United Nations

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In the Name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful

Mr. Chair,

Firstly, I would like to express my gratitude for all your efforts, as well as those of your team and the secretariat, in organizing the meeting and drafting the updated outcome document. I hope that with due attention to the views of all delegations, this session will successfully conclude with consensus.

Mr. Chair,

As we have already mentioned, although the current text has shown some slight progress, more specific modifications are needed to achieve consensus.

In this regard, one important issue to consider is maintaining the necessary balance between the dimensions of security and safety of conventional ammunition. The current text predominantly emphasizes security, which poses a problem for us.

Additionally, the nature and orientation of the document should be voluntary and in line with the role and authority of the General Assembly, which will ultimately review and decide on this document. Therefore, we emphasize the need to amend the text and remove phrases with legally binding connotations. The examples and necessary cases are specified in our textual proposals.

On the other hand, adherence to the mandate and the scope of the work of the OEWG is crucial. From this perspective, referring to specific weapon systems and calibration is not only unnecessary but also contradictory to the mandate and the scope of the work of the OEWG. Therefore, we insist on amending these aspects as well as avoiding the use of vague phrases like comprehensive framework in paragraph 20.

Furthermore, considering the current text, we believe that relying solely on the existing mechanisms of international cooperation will not achieve the important objective of capacity-building, education, technical cooperation, financial assistance, and technology transfer required for effective conventional ammunition management. Consequently, international cooperation should be appropriately strengthened.

On another note, in line with our persistent position of having a simple and concise text for this document, the follow-up section should be significantly condensed, and the annex should be published as a working paper. As we have mentioned before, by incorporating our proposals in the main text as well as the annex, including a disclaimer highlighting the non-legal status of the annex and emphasizing its purpose solely for a better understanding of the objectives stated in the main text, we can be flexible regarding the annex issue.

Lastly, despite our clear position on the GGE report and the resolution establishing this OEWG, my delegation has had constructive cooperation with the current process, and we expect fair treatment by incorporating our proposals in the outcome document.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.