Disarmament

The United Nations Conference to negotiate a nuclear-weapon ban elected its president today, and adopted — as orally revised — the draft provisional agenda for its four-week substantive session, to begin in March.

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Volodymyr Yelchenko (Ukraine):

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

The Disarmament Commission elected the Chair and two Vice-Chairs for its 2017 substantive session today, and took note of the provisional agenda for the third year of its three-year cycle, to be held from 3 to 21 April.

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message to the opening of the 2017 session of the Conference on Disarmament, in Geneva today:

NEW YORK, 19 January (Office for Disarmament Affairs) — The United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific has launched a project to assist the Philippines in strengthening its national capacity to control transfers of small arms and light weapons, with a view to preventing their illicit trade and diversion.

NEW YORK, 3 January (Office for Disarmament Affairs) — The United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs and the World Customs Organization have agreed on a memorandum of understanding to formalize existing cooperation.

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, to the Security Council open debate on stopping the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction by non-State actors, in New York, today:

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message, delivered by Michael Møller, Director-General of United Nations Office at Geneva, to the fifth Review Conference of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, in Geneva today:

The “International Conference in Nagasaki — Towards a World Free of Nuclear Weapons” will take place in Nagasaki, Japan, from 11 to 14 December.