New Website for ‘1540’ Committee Launched

 

NEW YORK, 11 April (Office for Disarmament Affairs) — The United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs is announcing the launch of the redesigned website of the 1540 Committee, http://www.un.org/en/sc/1540.  The work has been carried out in cooperation with the Department of Public Information.

In 2011, the Security Council requested the Committee established pursuant to Security Council resolution 1540 (2004) to continue to institute transparency measures and activities, including by making the fullest possible use of its website.  The upgraded website offers new elements to render it more user-friendly, informative and interactive.

The content of the site is now organized according to the four main areas of the 1540 Committee’s work:  implementation; assistance; cooperation with international, regional and subregional organizations; and transparency and outreach.

Multimedia resources will allow users to find a variety of sources for information on the work and activities of the 1540 Committee.  Users now have the option of receiving real-time information on new website content.

Comments and suggestions to help improve the website are welcome, in order that it may continue to better serve the needs of its users.  Please send your feedback to Chen Wang, e-mail: wang28@un.org.

Background

Unanimously adopted by the Security Council on 28 April 2004, resolution 1540 (2004) obliges 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.  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 multilateral treaties aimed at eliminating or preventing the proliferation of these weapons.  The 1540 Committee is a subsidiary body of the Security Council, composed of the 15 current Council members, with the assistance of experts to carry out its mandate.  The mandate and scope of activities of the 1540 Committee are derived from resolution 1540 (2004) and subsequent resolutions 1673 (2006), 1810 (2008) and 1977 (2011), the latter of which extended the mandate of the 1540 Committee until 25 April 2021.

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For information media • not an official record