First Committee

Removing nuclear weapons from a state of high-alert, halting the threat of a renewed nuclear arms race and cementing commitments and efforts to do both reflected the positive progress in the field of disarmament, according to one of 13 draft texts approved today by the Disarmament Committee, as it began taking action on the more than 50 draft resolutions and decisions before it.

The barriers blocking disarmament negotiations were beginning to come down, a clear sign of which had been the agreement last May in the Geneva Conference on Disarmament of a programme of work, after a decade-long impasse, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) heard today.

Peace and security could only be achieved with strong regional action and strict compliance with existing arms agreements, otherwise the present arms races would erect stumbling blocks along the road to stability around the world, the Disarmament Committee heard today, concluding its thematic debate on regional disarmament and security, with the introduction of eight related draft resolutions, and opening its discussion on the disarmament machinery.

It was the widespread view of the United Nations community that the time for general discussion on an arms trade treaty was over and the international community must move forward and consider the practical details of such a treaty, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) was told this morning, in connection with the introduction of a draft resolution on the treaty.

Paths diverged today over how to address the issue of conventional weapons as the quest unfolded to find a delicate balance between security and humanitarian concerns in the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security), which continued its thematic debate on conventional weapons and heard the introduction of two resolutions dealing with arms stockpiles and military spending.

Rounding up its thematic debate on the disarmament aspects of outer space today, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) heard the introduction of two draft resolutions, on transparency and confidence-building measures in outer space, and on the prevention of an outer space arms race.

The strides made to ban chemical weapons was a “living example” of success when global efforts joined forces with clear goals, constructive dialogue, good will and a spirit of consensus, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) heard today during its thematic debate on weapons of mass destruction.

Concluding its thematic debate this afternoon on nuclear weapons, the Disarmament Committee heard the introduction of related draft texts on a convention banning nuclear weapons use, reducing nuclear danger, preventing terrorists from acquiring weapons of mass destruction, the Bangkok Treaty, and on the follow-up to nuclear disarmament obligations flowing from the 1995 and 2000 Review Conferences of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

Establishing an international day to raise awareness of the deadly dangers of nuclear weapons would be a step towards the noble goal of the complete elimination of those weapons, the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) heard today, as two related draft resolutions were introduced and a decision was announced to hold back a third.

Efforts to stem the spread of violence and armed conflict had found intergovernmental allies from areas as diverse as agricultural development to global financing, greatly boosting the chances of eventually achieving disarmament goals, the United Nations High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Sergio Duarte, told the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) today.