UNITED NATIONS WORKSHOP ON IMPLEMENTING SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION 1540 (2004)

TO BE HELD IN PORT-VILA, VANUATU, 29 APRIL TO 1 MAY

A United Nations Workshop on Implementing United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540 (2004) will be held from 29 April to 1 May in Port-Vila, Vanuatu.  The Workshop is hosted by the Government of Vanuatu and organized by the Office for Disarmament Affairs with financial and in-kind support from the European Union and the Governments of New Zealand and Norway.

Officials from the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu, as well as representatives of a number of international, regional and subregional organizations have been invited to participate.  Consistent with the objectives of resolution 1540 (2004), the Workshop aims to enhance national capacities for the management of export-control processes at a practical level and improve information and experience-sharing between participating countries.  The Workshop is also expected to facilitate assistance related to implementation of the resolution.

On 28 April 2004, the Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 1540 (2004) under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, obliging all States to refrain from providing any form of support to non-State actors that attempt to develop, acquire, manufacture, possess, transport, transfer or use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and their means of delivery.  Under resolution 1540 (2004), all States are to establish domestic controls to prevent the proliferation of these weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery, including by establishing appropriate controls over related materials.  The resolution also affirms support for the multilateral treaties whose aim is to eliminate or prevent the proliferation of these weapons.

As a subsidiary body of the Security Council, the 1540 Committee was established pursuant to resolution 1540 (2004).  States were called upon to report to it on steps they had taken or intended to take to implement the resolution.  On 25 April 2008, by its resolution 1810 (2008), the Security Council extended the mandate of the 1540 Committee until 25 April 2011 and emphasized the importance for all States to implement fully resolution 1540 (2004).  The Council, among other things, requested the 1540 Committee to continue to organize and participate in outreach events at the regional and subregional level promoting States’ implementation of resolution 1540 (2004).

The Workshop in Vanuatu is the third on implementation of resolution 1540 (2004) organized by the Office for Disarmament Affairs after the adoption of resolution 1810 (2008).  The two previous workshops were held in Brazil (November 2008) and Qatar (March 2009) for MERCOSUR and Arab States, respectively.

For further information, contact Gabriele Kraatz-Wadsack at tel.:  212 963 3633.

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For information media • not an official record