First Committee

Efforts must be redoubled to “counter the biggest danger facing our planet today”, namely, nuclear proliferation, France’s delegate told the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) today, championing arms non-proliferation as the critical component to strengthening and safeguarding security.

The path from Prague was fast and straight, but now that path was starting to move into “uncharted terrain”, the United States Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Verification and Compliance told the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) today as it debated viable approaches and credible options for the oft-expressed goal of general and complete disarmament.

In terms of the work of the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security), it is clear that “we should not close up shop and wait for the dawning of world peace as a precondition for disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control to succeed”, High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Sergio Duarte, told Member States, opening the Committee’s general debate for the session.

The First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) approved its agenda and work programme for the sixty-sixth General Assembly session at a brief organizational meeting today.

The First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) met this morning to fill vacant positions on its Bureau for the upcoming sixty-sixth session of the General Assembly.

Noting with satisfaction the establishment of a new strategic relationship between the Russian Federation and the United States and the desire of the two to bring their nuclear postures into alignment with that new relationship, and their endeavour to reduce further the role and importance of nuclear weapons, the First Committee today approved a draft resolution welcoming the signing of the new START Treaty.

Convinced that conventional arms control needed to be pursued primarily in the regional and subregional contexts, since most threats to peace and security in the post-cold-war era arose mainly among States in the same region or subregion, militarily significant States and those with larger military capabilities had a special responsibility in promoting such agreements for regional security, according to one of 16 draft texts approved today in the Disarmament Committee.

A vigorous nuclear disarmament text recognizing that “the time is now opportune for all nuclear-weapon States to take effective disarmament measures to achieve the total elimination of these weapons at the earliest possible time” was forwarded to the General Assembly today, 1 of 12 draft resolutions approved by the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security).

Halting the production of bomb-making material, holding to non-proliferation promises and forging a united effort to eliminate nuclear weapons were among the core challenges put to nuclear-weapon States today in the provisions of 12 draft resolutions and one decision approved by the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security), as it began taking action on the 60 texts before it.

Mounting concerns that advances in ballistic missile defence technology and recognition of the inherent instability — possible arms race in space and cascading proliferation on Earth — that could result from the pursuit of space weapons for security informed the debate in the Disarmament Committee today, which heard the introduction of two draft resolutions on the domain long hoped would be preserved for peaceful purposes to the benefit of all humankind.