Regional Seminar on HCoC in Djibouti

26 September 2019

On 26 September 2019, FRS organised a regional outreach seminar in Djibouti entitled « Dealing with missile proliferation: one side of the non-proliferation and disarmament regime » with the support of IGAD and UNREC.

AGENDA

WELCOMING REMARKS 

  • Mr Alexandre HOUDAYER, Secretary General, FRS
  • Mr Patrick GEYSEN, Head of the Political, Press and Information Section, Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Djibouti

 

I/ CONTRIBUTION OF THE UNREC IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF PERTINENT NON-PROLIFERATION INSTRUMENTS BY AFRICAN STATES 

  • Ms Maïté FRANCOIS, Judicial Affairs Specialist, UNREC

 

II/ THE HCoC: KEY INSTRUMENT TO PROMOTE CONFIDENCE IN THE FIELD OF WMD DELIVERY VEHICULES 

MODERATOR:

  • Ms Agnès LEVALLOIS, Senior Research Fellow, FRS

PRESENTERS:

  • Amb. Kjersti Ertresvaag ANDERSEN, Ambassador of Norway to Austria, HCoC Chair, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norway
  • Mr Alexandre HOUDAYER, Secretary General, FRS
  • Amb. Georg PÖSTINGER, Ambassador of Austria to Saudi Arabia, representative of the HCOC Immediate Central Contact (ICC), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Austria

 

KEY ISSUES:

  • Contribution of the Code to international security
  • Being a Subscribing State: commitments and benefits
  • Day-to-day implementation of the Code

 

III/ THE PROLIFERATION OF MISSILES, A REGIONAL THREAT? 

MODERATOR:

  • Mr Alexandre HOUDAYER, Secretary General, FRS

 

PRESENTERS:

  • Ms Agnès LEVALLOIS, Senior Research Fellow, FRS
  • Dr Sitki EGELI, Assistant Professor, Izmir University of Economics
  • Mr Jean MASSON, Research Fellow, FRS

 

KEY ISSUES:

  • Missile proliferation in the Gulf of Aden: what dynamics?
  • Trafficking and missiles proliferation risks in the Horn of Africa
  • The role of transparency instruments in the case of missiles

 

IV/ INSERTING THE HCoC IN REGIONAL NON-PROLIFERATION & DISARMAMENT PRIORITIES 

MODERATOR:

  • Mr Hervé-Jude SIABI, Program Manager, UNREC

 

PRESENTERS:

  • Mr Noël STOTT, Senior Researcher, Verification Research, Training and Information Centre (VERTIC)
  • Mr Khalid ABDELRAHMAN, Head of Security Institutions Capacity Building, Security Sector Program, Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD)
  • Dr Susan MWANGI, Professor, Kenyatta University

 

KEY ISSUES:

  • Eastern African priorities on non-proliferation and disarmament
  • Regional efforts to enhance non-proliferation norms: from SALW to WMD
  • Combining non-proliferation with peace and development in the Horn of Africa

 

PERSPECTIVES & CONCLUSION 

Research Papers

Ballistic missiles and conventional strike weapons: Adapting the HCoC to address the dissemination of conventional ballistic missiles

The Hague Code of Conduct aims at curbing the proliferation of missiles capable of carrying weapons of mass destruction. Today, with an important increase in ranges, these weapons are more and more used for a conventional mission, by a variety of states. This dissemination illustrates the fact that many stakeholders master the technologies necessary to build and sustain these weapons. But it also raises questions on the possible destabilising effects of these arsenals, even when they are not linked to WMDs.

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Research Papers

The HCoC: current challenges and future possibilities

The Hague Code of Conduct (HCoC), currently the only game in town on its topic, marked its 10th anniversary in 2012. It has generated membership comfortably into three figures, and its supporters have tried valiantly to help it make progress. However, even its most enthusiastic admirers would concede that has not fulfilled the hopes and expectations of its founders when they gathered for the opening ceremony in November 2002.

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Research Papers

Limiting the proliferation of WMD means of delivery: a low-profile approach to bypass diplomatic deadlocks

Since the creation of the HCoC in 2002, the need for more collective commitment and action to fight the proliferation of ballistic missiles has certainly not decreased. The destabilizing nature of these weapons has not changed. Non-proliferation is just less about keeping the world stable and more about not adding a risk factor to an uncertain future. The HCoC was and remains a response to that need, but certainly not the end of the quest for improvement.

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