Approving New Agenda, Disarmament Committee Will Address Current Arms Control Landscape, Conventional Weapons, Nuclear Bombs

The First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) met today for a brief organizational meeting to elect its Chair and adopt its agenda and work programme for the seventy‑second session of the General Assembly.

Following a general debate on all disarmament and international security‑related agenda items, delegations would hold a number of thematic discussions, including on nuclear weapons, other weapons of mass destruction, disarmament aspects of outer space, conventional weapons and the disarmament machinery.

Elected Committee Chair by acclamation at the outset of the meeting, Mohammed Hussein Bahr Aluloom (Iraq) said the Committee’s general debate would take place from 2 to 10 October, with the President of the General Assembly addressing it on 2 October.  On 10 October, an exchange would be held with the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs on follow‑up of resolutions and decisions that had been approved by the Committee and adopted by the Assembly at previous sessions.

Subsequently, the Committee would devote 12 meetings to thematic discussions, from 11 October to 25 October, during which it would introduce for consideration all draft resolutions and decisions.  The thematic segment would begin with a high‑level exchange with the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs and other senior officials in the field of arms control and disarmament.  The theme would be “the current state of affairs in the field of arms control and disarmament and the role of international organizations with mandates in this field”.

Other panels would be scheduled during the thematic segment.  They included a regional disarmament and security discussion on 23 October with directors of the three United Nations Regional Centres for Peace and Disarmament.  An exchange on the disarmament machinery would be held on 24 October with representatives of the Conference on Disarmament, United Nations Disarmament Commission and the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR).

During the final phase of its work, the Committee would take action on all draft resolutions and decisions over the course of six meetings, from 26 October to 2 November, with the aim of concluding its work earlier, on 1 November.  Upon completion of the Committee’s work, the draft texts would be forwarded to the General Assembly for its consideration before the end of the main part of the seventy‑second session.

The representatives of Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Ecuador, Chile, Honduras, Venezuela, Cuba, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Peru, Guatemala and Colombia requested that the Secretary General of the Agency for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean participate in the panel discussion on 11 October to give the perspective of States that were part of nuclear‑weapon‑free zones.  In response, the Chair suggested that the Committee continue consultations on its timetable in hopes of reaching an agreement by consensus within the week, adding that he would take up the matter with the Bureau.

Along with the Committee Chair, the Bureau is comprised of Vice‑Chairs Alfredo Fernando Toro‑Carnevali (Venezuela), Terje Raadik (Estonia) and Georg Sparber (Liechtenstein), as well as Martin Eric Sipho Ngundze (South Africa), serving as Rapporteur.

The First Committee will meet again at 10 a.m. on Monday, 2 October, to begin its general debate.