Sixty-eighth General Assembly

First Committee

2^nd Meeting* (AM)

First Committee Holds Brief Organizational Session to Adopt Agenda, Work Programme

The First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) met today for a brief organizational meeting to adopt its agenda and work programme for the sixty-eighth session of the General Assembly.

During the session, discussions would be held on several thematic debate clusters:  nuclear weapons, other weapons of mass destruction, disarmament aspects of outer space, conventional weapons, other disarmament measures and international security, regional disarmament and security, and disarmament machinery.  

Examination of those broad themes would focus on, among many others, nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, Chemical Weapons Convention, Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), a fissile material ban, nuclear-weapon-free zones, Arms Trade Treaty and the functioning of the disarmament machinery, especially the Conference on Disarmament.

Ahead of the thematic debate segment, a panel discussion is expected with representatives of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO).  This will be confirmed by the Committee Chair, Ibrahim Dabbashi of Libya.

Fleshing out the details of the work programme, Mr. Dabbashi said the Committee would hold its general debate on all disarmament and international security-related agenda items during seven meetings, from 7 to 16 October.  Ten meetings would then be devoted to thematic discussions on specific subjects, from 17 to 29 October.  At those meetings, delegates would introduce and consider all draft resolutions submitted under the agenda items.

During that period, the Committee would also hold its usual exchange with the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Angela Kane, on the follow-up of resolutions and decisions adopted by the Committee at its previous sessions, and the presentation of reports.  It would convene a panel discussion with the President of the Conference on Disarmament, Chairman of the United Nations Disarmament Commission, Chairman of the Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters, and the Director of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) on Monday, 21 October.  A further panel discussion would be held on Monday, 28 October, with the Director and Deputy to the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, as well as Directors of the three United Nations Regional Centres for peace and disarmament.

Following the thematic debates, the Committee would take action on all draft resolutions and decisions during six meetings, from 30 October to 6 November.  Upon completion of the Committee’s work, the package of resolutions and decisions would be forwarded to the General Assembly for its consideration before the end of the main part of the sixty-eighth session.

Along with the Committee Chair, the Bureau is comprised of Vice-Chairs Miloš Nikolić (Montenegro), Fernando Luque Márquez (Ecuador) and Peter Winkler (Germany).  Khodadad Seifi Pargou ( Iran) would serve as Rapporteur for the session.

The First Committee will meet again at 10 a.m. on Monday, 7 October, to begin its general debate.

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*     The 1^st Meeting was covered in Press Release GA/11432 dated 1 October 2013.

For information media • not an official record