First Committee

The First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) today approved eight drafts, with a new one on follow-up to the General Assembly’s high-level meeting on nuclear disarmament drawing attention, particularly the provision expressing deep concern at the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of those weapons and the reaffirmation of the need for all States at all times to comply with applicable international law including international humanitarian law.

Forwarding 18 drafts to the General Assembly addressing conventional weapons, other disarmament measures, regional disarmament and the disarmament machinery, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) today took action on a raft of texts covering, among others items, preventing the spread of illicit small arms and light weapons, transparency of armaments, and on revitalizing the Conference on Disarmament and taking forward multilateral disarmament negotiations.

Taking up a range of texts spanning clusters on nuclear weapons, other weapons of mass destruction and the disarmament aspects of outer space, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) today approved a draft decision that would have the General Assembly include in the provisional agenda of its next session a sub-item on a treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other explosive devices.

Light weapons were “only light in name” and contributed to problems ranging from exploitation of natural resources, to child soldiers, piracy, terrorism and trans-border organized crime, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) heard today in nearly 70 interventions, as thematic debates concluded on conventional weapons, other disarmament measures, and regional disarmament and security.

After seven years of hard work, the adoption of the Arms Trade Treaty signified “the first time in a generation” that nations from every corner of the world had shown what could be achieved with strong vision and a clear sense of purpose, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) heard today as it continued its thematic debate on conventional weapons.

Development of anti-ballistic missile systems and their integration into space assets was an “especially worrying dimension” and the resultant arms race in space would aggravate the intensity of conflicts on Earth, with potentially disastrous consequences, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) heard today as it concluded its thematic consideration of the item.

The outer space environment was becoming increasingly “congested, contested and competitive” as States vied to benefit from space-based technologies, while cautioning that it must not become the next theatre of proliferation, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) heard today as it took up its cluster on the disarmament aspects of outer space.

Speakers today in the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) said any breach of the chemical and biological weapons ban was repugnant and the recent use of chemical weapons a graphic reminder of the very real threat and scale of the potential consequences of those weapons, insisting that no effort should be spared to completely eliminate them for the sake of all humankind.

As delegations decried the impasse in the Conference on Disarmament, Pakistan’s representative said today that its “lacklustre performance” did not derive from the “myth” of organizational or procedural issues, but was instead a reflection of the external political environment, which underpinned the deadlock in nuclear disarmament — the Conference’s raison d’être — for more than 30 years.

The world risked falling into a “globalization of indifference” and must act with one voice to ban all mass destruction weapons, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) heard today at the conclusion of its thematic debate on nuclear weapons, which over the course of four days had been characterized by a mix of frustration and cautious optimism.