In progress at UNHQ

First Committee

15 October 2014

GA/DIS/3503

Strategies Contemplating Nuclear Weapons Use, Acquisition by Terrorists Fortify Case for Their Elimination, Say First Committee Speakers

Speakers in the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) painted a bleak picture of the international response to the nuclear threat, as they discussed the unprecedented state of the global security environment on the penultimate day of that Committee’s general debate.

14 October 2014

GA/DIS/3502

Development of New Warfare Technologies Like ‘Killer Robots’ Raises Concerns in First Committee about Machines Taking ‘Life-and-Death’ Decisions

The development of new technologies of warfare, including autonomous weapons or ”killer robots” and cyberwarfare, raised fundamental concerns about the acceptability of allowing machines to independently take life-and-death decisions, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) heard today.

13 October 2014

GA/DIS/3501

Speakers in First Committee Signal Appetite for Accelerating Disarmament, Spotlighting Cross-Border ‘Hotbeds of Tension and Conflict’

There was “no good purpose for bad weapons”, heard the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) today as a cross-section of non-nuclear-armed States called for greater global disarmament efforts.

10 October 2014

GA/DIS/3500

Speakers in First Committee Question Rationale for Nuclear Weapons Retention, Say Thwarting Conventional Arms Flows ‘Weakest Link’ in Control Efforts

The difficult and complex conventional arms control challenge, which delegates hoped would be mitigated with the coming entry into force of the Arms Trade Treaty, dominated debate in the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) today.

9 October 2014

GA/DIS/3499

Winning ‘Battle of Ideas’ First Step in Long, Hard Fight to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons, First Committee Told during Wide-Ranging Debate

To win the battle to eliminate nuclear weapons, the international community first needed to fight long and hard at the conceptual level and win the “battle of ideas”, the Disarmament Committee heard today as it continued its general debate.

8 October 2014

GA/DIS/3498

Nuclear Weapons Not Used Since 1945, But World 'Cannot Rely on Luck Indefinitely', First Committee Hears, as Speakers Grapple with Profound Implications

Although nuclear weapons had not been engaged since 1945, the world “cannot rely on luck indefinitely”, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) heard today as it continued its general debate.

7 October 2014

GA/DIS/3497

Collective Security Can Be Assured by Finding Common Ground amid Primacy of National Positions, Members Told at Start of First Committee Session

The First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) was urged today at the start of its session to move beyond reaffirming long-term goals to concrete actions, as the absence of a results-based approach hindered the United Nations disarmament machinery and, indeed, the work of the Organization itself.

3 October 2014

BIO/4649*-GA/DIS/3496

Courtenay Rattray of Jamaica Chair of First Committee

Courtenay Rattray, Permanent Representative of Jamaica to the United Nations, was elected Chair of the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) on 18 June.

3 October 2014

GA/DIS/3495

First Committee Holds Organizational Meeting to Adopt Work Programme

The First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) met today in a brief organizational meeting to adopt its agenda and work programme for the sixty-ninth General Assembly session.

5 November 2013

GA/DIS/3494

‘Record-Breaking’ Participation Defined First Committee Session, Says Chair at Closing, as Delegations Send 53 Drafts to General Assembly

As the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) session drew to a close today, Committee Chair Ibrahim Dabbashi of Libya said that the “record-breaking” number of statements delivered during the general and thematic debates indicated an increase in international awareness on the issues of disarmament and international security, as well as more dynamic participation by the delegations.