By S.L. Wong
The Star (Section 2) - Monday July 31, 1995
France's decision to resume nuclear tests in the Pacific has been condemned by a world that has experienced Hiroshima, Nagasaki. Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. But while confrontational tactics by opposers such as Greenpeace grab headlines, one body on disarmament and arms control has been working quietly but diligently to make words speak louder than action. United Nations spokesman Peggy Mason explains to S.L. Wong.
THE language of nuclear nonproliferation treaty negotations is absolutely clear - to end all nuclear tests in all environments for all time.
So must the international community speak with one voice on this, said Peggy Mason, a member of the United nations Secretary-General;s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters.
Nations must keep talking to each other about security issues. For it is this multilateral approach - discussion among all parties to identify common grounds and processes - which leads to confidence and hopefully, peace.
That was one of the messages emphasised during Mason's recent stop-over in Malaysia, which was in conjunction with the visit of HMCS Regina, a navy frigate from her country of origin, Canada.
Besides disarmament in the post-Cold War era, she explained how security decisions in this region fit into the global jigsaw.
How did multilateral dialogue become important?
At tge end of the Cold War in 1989, when the world was no longer pre-occupied with averting war between East and West, the regional dimension suddenly became much more important.
(As the then Ambassador for Disarmament) I began to travel much more in various regions, particularly the Asia-Pacific, in support of what Canada came to call co-operative security dialogue - to encourage countries to engage in productive dialogue on questions of direct interest to them in a multilateral framework.
How do you move away from a hostile or confrontational relationship to a more co-operative one? How do you develop principles to which everyone will agree?
The UN body most ilvolved in arms control and disarmament questions from a multilateral perspective is the UN Centre for Disarmament Affairs.
The first UN regional centres for peace and sisarmament were set up in 1989 by UN resolution during the Cold War. (There is one regional centre each for the Asia-Pacific, Africa, and latin America and the Carribean).
It was controversial then for the UN to become ilvolved in regional questions. Many countries in this (Asia-Pacific) region felt the only focus should be East /West, that persuing regional matters would detract from the priority of nuclear disarmament, that this would be meddling, that bilateral was the way to go.
What is this region's attitude towards multilateral dialogue?
The interesting development in this region is the acceptance and promotion, by Malaysia for example, of a multilateral security dialogue.
And the regional side can give an impetus to global processes if agreements can be reached along international guidelines.
What does disarmament mean in the post-Cold War age?
During the Cold War, it was about the small countries trying to get the big guys to do something.
Now, we're talking about a process of getting countries to open dialogues first on security questions. So arms control, and diarmament really broadens into confidence-building, which in turn broadens into a whole process of countries developing a more co-operative approach to security.
An aim for a long time has been to get the military more involved, of confidence-building among the military, having exchanges and practical co- operation, for example in peace-keeping.
The range of activities navies are involved in now is tremendous, including resource protection, the exclusive economic zone, technology-related aspects and so on.
Now security isn't just military security; there's economic security; human security... you cannot just focus on the borders of a country if there isn't certain level of security for the individuals in a country.
Comprehensive security is the term used and co-operative security is the ultimate way to achieve comprehensive security.
