FISSILE MATERIALS CUT-OFF NEGOTIATIONS
Since the mid-1950s, successive Canadian Governments have been directly and actively promoting
a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT), an effectively verifiable treaty banning the production of
fissile material for nuclear weapons and other nuclear explosive devices. In 1994, Canada's then
Ambassador for Disarmament, Gerald Shannon, was appointed Special Coordinator in the
Conference on Disarmament (CD) and tasked with achieving consensus for a negotiating mandate
for a FMCT. In 1995, the " Shannon Report" was adopted by the CD and endorsed in the " Principles
and Objectives" decision of the NPT Review and Extension Conference. In August 1998, the CD
agreed to establish an Ad-Hoc Committee to negotiate a FMCT based on the mandate agreed in this
report. Canada's Ambassador for Disarmament chaired the first session of the FMCT Ad-Hoc
Committee in 1998.
In the FMCT negotiations, Canada will work to ensure that the CD deals both with nuclear
disarmament and arms control objectives, as regards the five NWS, and equally with nuclear
non-proliferation objectives, as regards those states which have remained outside the NPT regime.
A Treaty that puts an end for all time to the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons must
be matched by parallel undertakings from the NWS to establish effective mechanisms to reduce and
eventually eliminate existing stockpiles of fissile material.
On March 18, 1999, Canada's Ambassador for Disarmament presented a speech to the CD in which
he outlined Canada's views on the negotiations. At that time, Canada also submitted to the CD a
working paper entitled Elements of an Approach To Dealing With Stocks of Fissile Materials
for Nuclear Weapons or Other Nuclear Explosive Devices
for consideration of the other member states.
Regrettably, the continuing inability of the CD to agree on a program of work has prevented the resumption of FMCT negotiations since the conclusion of the 1998 CD session. Canada continues however to promote the objectives of an eventual FMCT by calling for an immediate and universal moratorium on production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices, and by urging all concerned to commit themselves immediately to such a moratorium.
Canada has been active in efforts to build the necessary consensus within the CD to adopt a program of work that will see FMCT negotiations resumed as soon as possible. Such efforts dominated its recent CD presidency, which spanned the first four weeks of the CD's 2001 session but ultimately foundered on the absence of political will in key capitals.
At the same time, Canada has consistently supported and/or spearheaded efforts to ensure that FMCT negotiations remain high on the international agenda, as well as to lay a solid technical and procedural basis for those negotiations when they resume. In this regard, Canada was pleased to support the NPT 2000 Review Conference Final Document's call for "the immediate commencement of negotiations" on an FMCT, a call subsequently incorporated in a resolution tabled by Canada that was adopted by consensus at the UN General Assembly First Committee in the Fall of 2000. Canada has also participated in a number of seminars on technical and other preparatory issues relevant to FMCT negotiations.
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