First Committee

As delegations decried the impasse in the Conference on Disarmament, Pakistan’s representative said today that its “lacklustre performance” did not derive from the “myth” of organizational or procedural issues, but was instead a reflection of the external political environment, which underpinned the deadlock in nuclear disarmament — the Conference’s raison d’être — for more than 30 years.

The world risked falling into a “globalization of indifference” and must act with one voice to ban all mass destruction weapons, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) heard today at the conclusion of its thematic debate on nuclear weapons, which over the course of four days had been characterized by a mix of frustration and cautious optimism.

No State or international body could address the immediate humanitarian emergency caused by a nuclear weapon detonation or provide adequate assistance to victims, the representative of New Zealand told the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) today, in a joint statement on behalf of 124 Member States and the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations.

Despite “high rhetoric and moralistic assertions”, the fact was that nuclear weapons remained integral to strategic doctrines of military alliances, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) was told today, while nuclear-weapon States insisted they were “working relentlessly” to live up to commitments.

Although the “special responsibility” of the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) to tackle the myriad challenges of disarmament and non-proliferation was not easy or quick, those efforts should not be allowed to “wither on the vine”, Genxin Li, Director of Legal and External Relations of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), said today as the Committee began its thematic debate on nuclear weapons.

Tackling seemingly intractable disarmament and non-proliferation problems with “virtually moribund” disarmament machinery signalled an urgent need to “breathe new life” into attempts to remove the roadblocks, said delegates today in the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security), concluding the general debate segment of the session.

Small arms and light weapons, cluster munitions, anti-personnel mines, booby traps and other explosive devices were “excessively injurious”, and the human cost of their cascading spread and use far outweighed their military significance, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) heard today.

Overwhelming support for the Arms Trade Treaty and its recent adoption meant the “will of the very few” had not been allowed to trump the interests of the vast majority, New Zealand’s representative told the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) today during the continuation of its general debate.

Until the total elimination of nuclear weapons became a reality, non-nuclear-weapon States had the “legitimate right” to negative security assurances against the use or threat of use of those weapons, Bangladesh’s representative told the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) today, as many in the debate sought to stave off that crippling potential by correcting what they saw as a serious weakness in the nuclear non-proliferation regime.

Conditions for a world free of nuclear weapons “did not yet exist,” the United States’ representative told the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) today, quick to add, however, that, together, the international community was “completely capable” of creating those conditions.