First Committee

Mounting a successful campaign to counter, and finally eradicate, what many perceived to be the greatest contemporary security threat — weapons of mass destruction — depended on concrete enforcement and verification, delegates heard today as the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) addressed some of the obstacles to strengthening the key conventions prohibiting biological and chemical weapons.

Facing new technological challenges, calming regional tensions, destroying arms and building strong common regulatory initiatives were among the themes of a basket of four resolutions and one decision tabled today as the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) continued its thematic debates.

Strategically or commercially motivated arms supplies to tense or conflict-ridden regions disrupted delicate balance, enhanced the quest for more balanced conventional capabilities, or, in case of an unmanageable differential, the compulsion for acquiring nuclear weapon and missile capabilities, delegates heard today in the First Committee, along with the introduction of five draft texts.

The patchwork of national and regional controls over the conventional weapons trade lacked the global support needed to reduce the millions of arms currently in circulation, delegates heard today in the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security), along with the introduction of two draft resolutions aimed at countering that deficit.

Asserting that the “high priests of disarmament are quite content with the status quo”, Pakistan’s representative told the First Committee that “the deafening silence surrounding the real priorities is pierced by a cacophony about the imaginary malaise of the Conference on Disarmament”.

Joining forces to reduce nuclear arsenals, keeping promises, declaring zones free of nuclear weapons, stemming proliferation, abandoning the rationale for nuclear weapons retention and abolishing them were among the calls to action in five draft resolutions tabled today as the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) concluded its thematic debate on nuclear weapons.

A multilateral agreement on nuclear weapons would reflect the belief that such an instrument could prevent the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons and create a climate for negotiating a ban on the use of nuclear weapons and help diminish their role, said India’s representative in the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) today, upon the introduction of three draft resolutions.

The “tyranny of consensus” was hampering the Conference on Disarmament, said that body’s Secretary-General today in the First Committee, putting the question to Member States: “Do you want disarmament? Or do you want consensus? Or do you want a little disarmament and a little consensus? We proposed a lot of ideas for you, but finally, it is up to you, the Member States, to make decisions.”

A growing asymmetry in military capabilities between major Powers and medium and small States had further increased insecurity among States, and in crucial regions, the pursuit of “great power politics” had destabilized tenuous regional balance, Pakistan’s representative told the Disarmament Committee today.

Pending a negotiated prohibition on the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons, controlling the fissile material holdings of key nuclear-weapon States, in a way that served the strategic interests of all concerned, would go far to curb nuclear weapons proliferation and prevent nuclear terrorism by non-State actors, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) heard today, as it entered the second week of its general debate for the session.