Conference on Establishing Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear, Other Mass Destruction Weapons Concludes Fifth Session
The fifth session of the Conference on the Establishment of a Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction concluded today at United Nations Headquarters in New York with the adoption of a report.
At the end of the debate, the session’s President, Sidi Mohamed Laghdaf, Permanent Representative of Mauritania, passed the baton to his successor, Omar Hilale, Permanent Representative of Morocco, who will lead the sixth session.
Speaking from Geneva, Ambassador Hilale said he views the Conference as a beacon of hope in a context marked by divergences, confrontations between blocs and the persistent failure of the international community to honour its disarmament commitments. Welcoming a new opportunity to continue discussions that could accelerate the establishment of a zone free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East, he called for acts of good faith that can increase confidence and help resolve common technical challenges.
"The possibility of dialogue and confidence-building in the Middle East still exists," he said, expressing hope that the Conference would remain open to the participation of all Member States and various actors, including youth, experts, and academics. He spotlighted the innovative potential of inclusiveness, enhanced by the President of the fifth session, who had invited six new non-governmental organizations to attend the public meetings this year.
The session, in which Israel again refused to participate, like it has every year, took place in the shadow of the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon. In his opening message on Monday, Secretary-General António Guterres had stressed that “Gaza has experienced a non-stop nightmare that threatens to engulf the entire region”. He had stated that the goal of the Middle East zone is “becoming more urgent by the day,” with “regional conflicts raging and tensions reaching a boiling point”.
The session had a week of exchanges, including a three-day general debate and an address by the President of the General Assembly. It was attended by 20 States members of the Conference, mainly Arab countries and Iran. The League of Arab States and four of the five official nuclear Powers - China, Russian Federation, France and the United Kingdom – were invited as observers, alongside representatives of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the Biological Weapons Convention Implementation Support Unit. Participants discussed the peaceful use of nuclear energy and verification, as well as technical cooperation, in these areas.
The Conference is being held pursuant to General Assembly decision 73/546 of 2018 and derives its mandate from the resolution on the Middle East adopted by the 1995 Review and Extension Conference of the States Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). It held its first four sessions in 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023 at the UN Headquarters. The COVID-19 pandemic prevented any conference in 2020.
For coverage of the opening meeting, please see Press Release DC/3890 of 18 November.
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