DISARMAMENT COMMISSION AT HEADQUARTERS 22 APRIL - 7 MAY
Press Release
DC/2545
DISARMAMENT COMMISSION AT HEADQUARTERS 22 APRIL - 7 MAY
19960419 Background ReleaseThe Disarmament Commission will continue its consideration of international arms transfers and the proposed fourth special session of the General Assembly devoted to disarmament, during its 1996 substantive session from 22 April to 7 May. It will also examine a third item -- a nuclear issue -- as yet to be agreed upon in continuing consultations.
The General Assembly, at its 1995 session, through its First Committee (Disarmament) requested the Commission to expedite its consideration of its item on international arms transfers, with special emphasis on the adverse effects of the illicit transfer of arms and ammunition. It also requested the Commission to study and report on measures to curb the illicit transfer and use of conventional arms, bearing in mind concrete problems in various regions of the world.
During its 1995 session, one of the Commission's working groups had agreed upon the scope and structure of guidelines to control international arms transfers, focusing on illicit arms trade. Much of the text on the guidelines remains to be negotiated.
The arms transfer issue is a particular response to Assembly resolution 46/36 H of 6 December 1991, which called upon States to give high priority to eradicating the illicit trade in weapons and military equipment. The resolution stated that three stages in the arms trade should be the focus of controls: the acquisition of arms by unauthorized persons; their export; and their delivery. The resolution suggested that measures be considered to prevent arms transfers to non-governmental bodies, rather than deal with the issue of government-to-government transfers.
The Commission has, since 1993, limited its discussion to three specific items. At its 11 December 1995 organizational meeting, it was unable to reach agreement on the three items for inclusion in the provisional agenda for the 1996 substantive session. Agreement that the third item would be a nuclear issue was achieved at the 19 April meeting of the suspended organizational session. In its 1995 substantive session, the Commission, despite the efforts of its working group, could not achieve a consensus document on the issue of nuclear disarmament.
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The programme of work for the substantive session has the Commission meeting in plenary in the morning and afternoon of 22 April and in the morning of 23 April for a general exchange of views, again on 30 April to receive progress reports of its three working groups on the specific items and on 7 May to introduce and adopt those reports and the Commission's overall report to the Assembly.
Most of the session will be devoted to the meetings of the Commission's three working groups which will deal individually with each of the agenda items -- working group I on arms transfers, working group II on the nuclear issue and working group III on the proposed fourth special session of the Assembly on disarmament.
Commission Officers
At its extended organizational meetings on 11 December 1995, 13 March and 19 April, the Commission elected Wolfgang Hoffman (Germany) as its Chairman; representatives of Pakistan, Poland, Ukraine, Finland, Colombia as Vice-Chairmen; and Rajab Sukayri (Jordan) as Rapporteur. Two Vice-Chairmen remained to be named from the African Group of States and one from the Latin American and Caribbean States.
The three working groups were to be chaired as follows: Gheorghe Chirila (Romania) would chair working group I, on international arms transfers; Luvsangiin Erdenechuluum (Mongolia) would chair working group III, on the fourth special session of the Assembly on disarmament. A chairman was still to be chosen from the Eastern European States for working group II, on the nuclear issue.
Background on Commission
The Disarmament Commission, a subsidiary organ of the General Assembly having universal membership, was established to make recommendations on specific disarmament issues and to follow up on the decisions of the Assembly's special sessions on disarmament. The Commission, which resulted from a decision of the first special session in 1978, replaced a limited- membership body which existed from 1952 to 1965.
In recent years, the Commission has streamlined its work under reforms adopted in 1990. It has negotiated such confidence- and security-building measures as the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms, and guidelines and recommendations for objective information on military matters and for regional approaches to disarmament.
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