United Nations Conference to Negotiate Legally Binding Treaty Prohibiting Nuclear Weapons Will Hold Second Substantive Session, 15 June - 7 July

NEW YORK, 14 June (Office for Disarmament Affairs) — The second substantive session of the United Nations Conference to Negotiate a Legally Binding Instrument to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons, Leading towards Their Total Elimination will open in New York on 15 June, under the Presidency of Ambassador Elayne Whyte Gomez (Costa Rica).

When it reconvenes, the Conference will take up its main substantive item, which provided for negotiations, pursuant to paragraph 8 of General Assembly resolution 71/258 of 23 December 2016, on a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination.

On 22 May, the President of the Conference circulated a draft convention on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (document A/CONF.229/2017/CRP.1), which was compiled on the basis of the inputs provided by the States participating in the first session of the Conference.

As stated by the President in her remarks in Geneva on 22 May and in New York on 12 June, the draft was also prepared on the basis of several common aspirations and principles which emerged during the discussions at the first session of the Conference.

First was that the instrument should strengthen and complement the nuclear non-proliferation regime.  Second, the instrument should avoid any loopholes that enable any State to benefit from nuclear weapons or to evade existing non-proliferation norms.  Third, the instrument should be simple, non-discriminatory and reflect a clear prohibition of nuclear weapons.  Fourth, the instrument should constitute a step towards nuclear disarmament and provide for the pathways and framework for the achievement and maintenance of a world free of nuclear weapons.

In accordance with the revised timetable for the initial part of the session (document A/CONF.229/2017/3/Add.1/Rev.1), from 15 to 23 June, when it reconvenes, the Conference will commence an article-by-article review of the text, starting with the preamble, before moving on to the general obligations (article 1), declarations, safeguards and measures relating the verified elimination of nuclear weapon programmes (articles 2 to 5), positive obligations (article 6), implementation (articles 7 to 10) and final provisions (articles 11 to 21).

The article-by-article review will take place on a rolling basis, with a view to completing the first reading of the text by Wednesday, 21 June.  At that point, it is the intention of the President to take stock of the situation and to propose how to structure the remaining meetings of the Conference.

In accordance with resolution 71/258, the Conference will conclude on 7 July.