Statement on Special Meeting for 2016 Comprehensive Review to Monitor Global Implementation of Security Council Resolution 1540 (2004)

United Nations Security Council resolution 1540 (2004) is a key instrument in global efforts to prevent non-State actors, in particular terrorists, from threatening society with weapons of mass destruction, whether nuclear, chemical or biological.  The resolution does this by requiring States to adopt laws with penalties that make such actions criminal, whether undertaken directly or by financing or assisting them; and by requiring States to implement wide-ranging domestic controls designed to keep weapons of mass destruction or the means to produce them out of the hands of non-State actors.

This year, under the Chairmanship of the Government of Spain, the 1540 Committee, established by the Security Council to monitor implementation of the resolution, is undertaking a comprehensive review to identify the best ways forward to achieving its full implementation.

To further this effort, the Spanish Chair of the Committee, Román Oyarzun Marchesi, invited the members of the 1540 Committee to a special Committee meeting on the 2016 Comprehensive Review in Madrid on 12 and 13 May, sponsored by the Government of Spain and the United Nations Office of Disarmament Affairs.  He welcomed the participation in the meeting of the United Nations High Representative for Disarmament Affairs and representatives of the African Union, European Union, International Atomic Energy Agency, INTERPOL, Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, United Nations Office of Disarmament Affairs, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the World Customs Organization.

The meeting was an informal, forward-looking discussion of how best to effect full and effective implementation of resolution 1540 (2004) on a global basis.  He also invited international and regional organizations to participate as important contributors for effective implementation of the resolution, based on their relevant expertise and knowledge.

Participants met in the context of a common understanding that the threat is real and the risk environment foreboding, and that it was magnified by the potential use by terrorists of weapons of mass destruction.

The participants used the opportunity to have a free exchange of ideas about how to achieve their common goals:  effectively address the threats and challenges of the future; preserve the essence of the resolution as an effective global non-proliferation instrument; strengthen its capabilities to meet these challenges and assist Member States to do so; and, most important, prevent non-State actors, in particular, terrorists, from threatening us all with weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery.  The participants discussed and explored ways of strengthening contributions and more active involvement of relevant international and regional organizations for the implementation of resolution 1540 (2004).

The participants also agreed that relevant sectors of society have important roles to play; for example, from the academic community, insight and useful ideas into what threats are emerging and how to counter them; and from industry, proactive participation in ensuring that the flow of commerce remains free, but at the same time that it does not support any activity of non-State actors related to weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery.