Disarmament Commission

Despite talk of polarization, the international community shared the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons, the Disarmament Commission heard today as it opened its 2016 session by adopting its agenda and opening its general debate.

The Disarmament Commission elected the Chair for its 2016 substantive session today, and reviewed the provisional agenda for the second year of its three-year cycle, to be held from 4 to 21 April.

Although the global disarmament and non-proliferation regime had faced a “plethora of obstacles” over a number of years, there was no reason to lose faith, the Chair of the Disarmament Commission told members today, stressing that progress was possible if each State demonstrated the requisite political will.

Nuclear disarmament was at a crossroads, with the Korean peninsula a “touch-and-go powder keg” and the oldest and newest nuclear-weapon States in sharp confrontation with each other, the representative of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea told the Disarmament Commission today, as Member States concluded the general debate of their annual substantive session.

The United Nations Disarmament Commission’s significance as a platform for dialogue and cooperation had only been heightened in light of current rising global tensions and mistrust, the 193-member subsidiary body heard today during its general debate, moving into the second day of its 2015 session.

With armed violence killing more than 740,000 people each year and the prospects of deeper nuclear arms cuts slim, the United Nations disarmament machinery must end its 15 year-long stalemate so it could tackle those twenty-first century security threats, the Disarmament Commission heard today, although it proved unable to agree on a work programme and begin its substantive debate.

The Disarmament Commission, in an organizational meeting this morning, elected the Chair for its 2015 substantive session and reviewed its agenda at the start of a new three-year cycle, which would be held from 6 to 24 April.

The Disarmament Commission concluded its 2014 session without an agreed outcome at the end of the third and final year of considering its agenda items on nuclear disarmament and conventional weapons.

Concluding two days of general debate featuring the national views of 45 nuclear-weapon and non-nuclear-weapon States, delegates in the Disarmament Commission suggested a number of fresh ways to overcome the 15-year-long deadlock impeding the forum’s work.

This year presented an opportunity to break the 14-year-long dearth of consensus outcomes in the United Nations Disarmament Commission, delegates heard today as that body opened its 2014 substantive session, the last of the current triennial cycle.