First Committee

The First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) today approved 19 draft resolutions and one draft decision on nuclear weapons, including a draft resolution entitled “Nuclear Disarmament”, which drew extensive debate.

The world’s worst-kept secret is that the United Nations disarmament machinery is falling apart, but by no stretch of the imagination is that the only problem, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) heard today, as it concluded its series of thematic debates for the session.

With concerns growing about the weaponization of the heavens, speakers renewed calls today for a multilaterally negotiated and legally binding instrument to prevent an arms race in outer space, during a joint ad hoc meeting of the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) and Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization).

A Damocles sword was hanging over space, threatening to transform the peaceful domain into a theatre of conflict, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) was warned today, during its thematic debate.

The Middle East could not continue to sit idly by with its hands tied while ignoring the severity of the region’s deteriorating security situation, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) heard today, as it concluded its thematic debate on regional security and started consideration of the disarmament aspects of outer space.

Conventional arms, the so-called “weapons of limited destruction”, claimed hundreds of thousands of lives around the globe each year, and their horrendous impact was widespread and devastating for humanity, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) heard today, concluding its thematic debate on conventional weapons and opening its discussion on other disarmament measures and international security, as well as on regional security.

The world was manufacturing enough bullets each year to kill almost twice the number of inhabitants on the planet, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) heard today as it continued its thematic debate on conventional weapons.

“We cannot keep mopping up the damage while the pipeline keeps leaking”, without serious action by weapons-producing States to prevent unauthorized use, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) was told today in its debate on conventional weapons.

Chemical and biological weapons had become the best alternative to nuclear weapons for rogue States and non-State actors, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) heard today as it concluded its thematic debate on weapons of mass destruction and opened debate on conventional weapons.

No United Nations Member State was too big to disarm on its own and none too small to make a contribution, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) was told today as it concluded its thematic debate on nuclear weapons and began consideration of other weapons of mass destruction.