Disarmament

The easy availability of firearms multiplied the probability of death or grave violations of human rights in communities around the world and, as in warding off a disease, in preventing armed violence these communities must build up resistance and reduce their exposure to the vector of injury — the gun, delegates were told today, as the Fourth Biennial Meeting on combating the illicit small arms and light weapons trade reached the halfway mark of its week-long session.

Fine-tuning existing tools to stem the flow of the nefarious illicit arms trade topped a volley of suggestions that were the focus of debate today as the Fourth Biennial Meeting of States on combating the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons continued.

“The global scourge from the illicit trade in small arms and ammunition continues to wreak havoc” and was highly destabilizing, impacting upon security and development in literally all regions of the world, Sergio Duarte, the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, said today at the opening of the Fourth Biennial Meeting of States on combating the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons.

A regional United Nations workshop on implementing United Nations Security Council resolution 1540 (2004) will be held from 14 to 17 June in Split, Croatia.

After intense negotiations and, at times, heated controversy, States parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) today concluded the 2010 Conference to review and advance the landmark 1968 accord with the unanimous adoption of an outcome document that contained steps to speed progress on nuclear disarmament, advance non-proliferation and work towards a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East.

Amid high stakes and intense negotiations to bring the 2010 Review Conference for the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to a successful conclusion, delegations of States parties to the landmark 1968 accord began pouring over the details of a draft final document distributed early this evening, with a view to adopting it by consensus on 28 May, the last day of the Conference.

With a text of the President’s Draft Final Declaration circulating, the Chairman of the 2010 Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty established the parameters for a closed negotiating plenary session to review that document section-by-section during a brief plenary meeting this morning.

Announcing that differences still remained within the three Main Committees of the 2010 Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the Chairman said this afternoon that one more day would be needed to forge agreement on the separate areas of the Treaty, before the plenary could meet to produce a single consensus outcome document by the event’s conclusion on 28 May.

The Chairmen of the three Main Committees of the 2010 Review Conference updated delegations today on progress made to advance the three pillars of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty — non-proliferation, disarmament and the right to peaceful use of nuclear technology — and to forge a consensus on the outcome document for the Conference, which will conclude on 28 May.

Chairmen of the three main committees of the 2010 Review Conference on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty presented draft interim reports today, describing substantive work done thus far on issues ranging from the strengthening of nuclear securityto the creation of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East, with a view to their inclusion in a final document, expected to be adopted next week at the close of the Review session.