Disarmament Commission

2011 Substantive Session

314^th Meeting (AM)

As Disarmament Commission Session Continues Apace, Chair Elected to Working Group

Dedicated to Formulating Nuclear Disarmament, Non-proliferation Recommendations

In a brief organizational meeting today, the United Nations Disarmament Commission elected Knut Langeland ( Norway) as Chair of its Working Group I, dedicated to “recommendations for achieving the objective of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons”.

Mr. Langeland was nominated by the Western European and Other States Group, and joins Kayode Laro (Nigeria), who was elected 4 April as Chair of Working Group II — “elements of the draft declaration of the 2010s as the fourth disarmament decade” — on the nomination of the African States Group.  The Commission has yet to elect a Chair of its Working Group III, dedicated to “practical confidence-building measures in the field of conventional arms”.

The Commission operates in plenary meetings and working groups, with the number of working groups depending on the number of substantive items on its agenda.  The 2011 session features three such agenda items and is in the last session of its usual three-year cycle of consideration on those, in the search for a common position that takes the form of non-binding recommendations or guidelines.

The Commission will reconvene in plenary at a time and date to be announced.

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For information media • not an official record