armaments and attaining the goal of the general and complete prohibition of nuclear weapon tests.

We now consider it necessary to refer to another problem.

Yesterday, on 9 August, at its unofficial meeting, the Committee on Disarmament resumed consideration of the question of new types and systems of weapons of mass destruction, in accordance with the decision taken by the Committee. Government experts from a considerable number of States are also taking part in the discussion of this most important disarmament problem-a fact which demonstrates the growing interest that States members of the Committee are showing in the Soviet Union's proposal.

Soviet Working Paper Submitted to the Conference of the Committee on Disarmament: Definitions of New Types of Weapons of Mass Destruction and New Systems of Such Weapons, August 10, 19761

The draft agreement on the prohibition of new types of weapons of mass destruction and new systems of such weapons, submitted by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics at the thirtieth session of the United Nations General Assembly, provides that the new types of weapons of mass destruction and the new systems of such weapons to be prohibited are to be specified through negotiations on the subject (article I, paragraph 1 of the draft).2

Further to the preliminary considerations on the question of the definition of new types and systems of weapons of mass destruction, as expressed by the Soviet experts at the 1976 spring session, the present working paper proposes the following draft definitions:

I. New Types of Weapons of Mass Destruction

New types of weapons of mass destruction shall include types of weapons which are based on qualitatively new principles of action and whose effectiveness may be comparable with or surpass that of traditional types of weapons of mass destruction.

The term "based on qualitatively new principles of action" shall be understood to mean that the means of producing the effect or the target or nature of the effect of the weapon is new.

The term "means of producing the effect" shall be understood to mean the specific type of physical, chemical or biological action.

The term "target" shall be understood to mean the type of target, ranging from vitally important elements of the human organism to elements of man's ecological and geophysical environment, and also to networks and installations which are vitally important for human existence.

1 CCD/514. Aug. 10, 1976.

2 Documents on Disarmament, 1975, p. 479.

The term "nature of the effect" shall be understood to mean the new type of destruction which leads either to immediate mass annihilation or to the gradual extinction of large groups of the population.

II. New Systems of Weapons of Mass Destruction

New systems of weapons of mass destruction (apart from systems which may be developed in future when research on and development of new types of weapons of mass destruction has been completed) shall include systems of weapons which assume the character of weapons of mass destruction as a result of the use of new technical elements in their strike or logistic devices.

Brief explanations of the approach underlying the above-mentioned definitions are annexed hereto.

BRIEF EXPLANATIONS OF THE APPROACH UNDERLYING THE DEFINITIONS OF NEW TYPES OF WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION AND NEW SYSTEMS OF SUCH WEAPONS

1. New Types of Weapons of Mass Destruction

The principle of action of any weapon is reflected in the means of producing its effect, and in the target and nature of its effect. A list of the classification criteria characterizing any type of weapon of mass destruction is given below. A type of weapon may be considered as a new type of weapon of mass destruction if it is new in respect of at least one of these three criteria-i.e., the means, target or nature of its effect.

2. Classification Criteria

(a) MEANS OF PRODUCING THE EFFECT

Physical: the direct action of explosions (blast, thermal, etc.), shock waves, acoustic waves, electro-magnetic waves in the radio range (nonionizing radiation and equivalent radiations of charged particles), electro-magnetic waves in the optical range (light and infra-red radiations), hard electro-magnetic radiations (ionizing radiations-Xrays, gamma-rays, etc., and equivalent radiations of elementary particles electrons, protons, neutrons, etc.).

Chemical: the direct effect of chemical agents delivered to the target area (traditional type of chemical effect); the effect of chemical agents. formed directly in the target area from non-toxic or low-toxic components delivered to the target area; the effect of chemical agents formed directly in the target area from non-toxic media and substances present in the target area.

Biological: the use of micro-organisms (microbes, rickettsia, viruses, etc.), plants (parasitic fungi, weeds, etc.).

(b) TARGETS

Man: fluid media of the human organism (cytoplasm, blood plasma, lymph, etc.), cells, tissue, organs, regulatory systems, reproductive system, genetic transfer systems, biological defence systems (immunity thresholds for specific biological, chemical, radiological and other effects) and the behaviour (psychic, vestibular and other effects) of the human population as a whole.

Human environment: edaphic elements (soil, water bodies, etc.); biotic elements (crops and livestock constituting principal sources of food, foodstuffs derived from them); climatic elements; geophysical elements the lithosphere (crust, upper mantle), the hydrosphere, the troposphere (atmospheric circulation, hydrometeorology, composision, etc.), the stratosphere and upper atmosphere (ozone layer and other elements), terrestrial fields (gravitational, magnetic, electromagnetic), near space (radiation belts, radiation and particle flux, etc.).

Man-made products: installations and networks vitally important for human existence.

(c) NATURE OF THE EFFECT

Mass annihilation of people and population, their degradation and extinction, large-scale permanent (irreversible) and temporary loss of certain human abilities, destruction and incapacitation of vitally important installations and networks.

3. Examples of New Types of Weapons of Mass Destruction

1. Infrasonic weapons emitting acoustic waves designed to injure human internal organs are a new type of weapon in so far as the target they are directed against (human internal organs-for example, the cardio-vascular system), the means of producing the effect (infrasonic waves) and the nature of the effect (the death of a human being due to sudden cardio-vascular dysfunction) are all new.

2. Weapons designed to damage the human reproductive system are a new type of weapon in so far as the target they are directed against (the genital system) and the nature of the effect (extinction as a result of sterilization) are new, though the effect may be produced by traditional methods.

3. Ethnic weapons using various agents for the selective extermination of specific ethnic population groups are a new type of weapon in so far as they produce a new type of effect (selective extermination of individual ethnic groups), though the target and means of producing the effect may be traditional.

4. Examples of New Systems of Weapons of Mass Destruction Any system of weapons is the practical embodiment of a specific means of attack comprising a combination of strike and logistic elements. Such a combination may for example consist of a vector, the

strike weapon itself, and means of control, communication, monitoring, etc.

A determining feature of the transition from a traditional system of weapons to a new system of weapons of mass destruction is the newness of its effect as mentioned in paragraph 2(c). This may be the result of the incorporation in a traditional weapons system of a new technical element in the strike or logistic elements. For example, missile, artillery, aircraft or other traditional weapons systems may assume the character of a new system of weapons of mass destruction if they embody a new technical element such as fuel-air ammunition for producing powerful fuel-air explosions.

Statement by the British Representative (Allen) to the Conference of the Committee on Disarmament: Chemical Weapons, August 12, 19761

It is my intention today to speak on the subject of chemical weapons. It was suggested at our last meeting that today we should discuss the progress report of the Ad Hoc Seismic Group.2 The topic of weapons of mass destruction is, of course, also in all our minds, as we have been having informal meetings with experts on this subject this week. I propose to defer my comments on these two matters to a further intervention next week.

At our 708th meeting on 1 July, the leader of the United Kingdom delegation, Lord Goronwy-Roberts, announced our intention to table a draft comprehensive chemical weapons convention. I introduce today working paper CCD/512 containing the text of a draft convention on the prohibition of the development, production and stockpiling of chemical weapons and on their destruction.3

The United Kingdom delegation would be the last to claim that this is a completely original document. Many other Governments have worked in this field. I should like to pay tribute to their labours. Many delegations here will be able to identify sections of their own work in this draft. Our convention, as Lord Goronwy-Roberts said, attempts to bring together those elements of previous drafts which we consider constructive and realistic; but it also attempts to add some ideas of our own. And it attempts to do this in treaty language.

We also recognize that this draft is incomplete. At the very least, it requires the negotiation, here in the CCD, of a number of additional protocols. And of course we recognize that it may need amendment, in the light of comments by my distinguished colleagues both here and later perhaps in the General Assembly. Indeed, we ourselves may be stimulated to look again at certain of its provisions. For all this we are

prepared. The draft is offered not as the last word on chemical disarmament, but as a focus for negotiation, as a response to the General Assembly's call to all States in resolution 3465 (XXX) to "make every effort to facilitate early agreement" on a chemical weapons ban. It is offered as a contribution to further work, as a step along the road. My Government believes the time has come for the CCD to take such a further step. In the first place, we think all the necessary materials are there. All of us in the CCD have now a fairly complete understanding of the complexities of an effective convention on chemical weapons. Thanks to an initiative by the Federal Republic of Germany, the recent meeting of chemical weapons experts has brought home to us the recent technological improvements in monitoring techniques. There are before us a wealth of ideas on the approach to definition; these ideas are ably summarized in the United States working paper CCD/499.5 Also in recent weeks we have heard several closely argued speeches on the chemical weapons problem, most recently that of the distinguished representative of Iran on 3 August. Moreover, in general terms, recent experience over the draft text on environmental modification has shown again how effectively the CCD can function as a negotiating body. In my Government's view, we should use all these assets, as soon as possible, in the detailed discussion of a chemical weapons convention.

There is another area of experience from which we can draw assistance for the negotiation of a chemical weapons convention. This is the work of the international inspectors under the Nuclear Safeguards Agreements which many States, including the United Kingdom, have concluded with the International Atomic Energy Agency.' Experience in this area has shown that technically trained personnel, under the control of an international agency, can add materially to the confidence of the international community in a highly sensitive area of arms control, without creating unacceptable risks to industrial or military secrets. This is useful and encouraging, though we recognize that the pattern of IAEA may not necessarily be ideal in this context, since the civilian chemical industry is so much bigger and more diverse than the civilian nuclear industry.

May I, Mr. Chairman, sketch the recent historical background of our draft?

On 28 March 1972 the delegations of Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Mongolia, Poland, Romania and the USSR tabled in paper CCD/361 a draft chemical weapons convention. Their text was modeled closely on the Biological Weapons Convention which the CCD had brought to a successful conclusion in 1971, the previous year."

7

For IAEA safeguards, see Documents on Disarmament, 1961, pp. 21–34; ibid., 1965, pp. 446-460; ibid., 1971, pp. 218–244.

8 Ibid., 1972, pp. 120-124.

'Ibid., 1971, pp. 568–572. For final version, see ibid., 1972, pp. 133-138.