It was ironic that the weapons that propelled and sustained conflict, causing a series of regional arms races in volatile parts of the world where non-State actors wreaked havoc on civilian populations, came from areas that enjoyed peace and stability, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) heard today as it embarked on its thematic debate on conventional weapons.
Space security, safety and sustainability dominated debate today in the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) and although there was broad agreement on the need to preserve that realm for the public good, divergent views emerged on how best to achieve that, with some speakers defending a non-legally binding code of conduct that took into account the political environment while others called for a binding treaty via an inclusive and transparent process.
The world was currently witnessing the renewed use of chemical weapons, and there was no reason to think that a moral line would be drawn at the use of biological weapons, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) heard today as it concluded its thematic debate on nuclear weapons and took up its consideration of other weapons of mass destruction.
As major cross-cutting issues, outer space security and sustainability must be addressed in a holistic manner within multilateral forums, senior United Nations officials in the field of outer space affairs emphasized today as they addressed a joint ad hoc meeting of the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) and the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security).
No one should accept as valid the arguments preferred by nuclear-weapon States and those within their military alliances that there were no security conditions in place to bring about nuclear disarmament, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) heard today as it continued its thematic debate on nuclear weapons.
The immense, uncontrollable capability and indiscriminate nature of a nuclear detonation reached well beyond national borders, and leaving a trail of death and destruction in its wake, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) heard today as it continued its debate on nuclear weapons.
Any peace based on deterrence was akin to peace between two persons pointing guns at each other’s heads with their fingers on the trigger, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) heard today as it began its thematic discussion on nuclear weapons, with briefings by the heads of the relevant organizations and agencies.
“Nuclear weapons are a loaded gun pointing to the head of humankind,” the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) heard today at the conclusion of an annual debate that reflected a growing appetite for weighing the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons and the imperative of putting an end to their testing, frustration over the stand-off in the disarmament treaty-making body, and the disproportionate impact of small arms and light weapons — for which progress hinged on consistency with national interests.
The contemporary global security architecture was “fraying”, and hopes for a peace dividend generated by the end of the cold war were “increasingly giving way to the advent of a new cold war”, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) heard today as it continued its general debate.
Several speakers today in the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) called for a legally binding framework to ban nuclear weapons, with the aim of addressing the deep-seated problems of possession and proliferation.
