Press Release
GA/DIS/3154
DRAFT RESOLUTION CALLING FOR REVIEW OF NUCLEAR DOCTRINES ONE OF THIRTEEN TEXTS INTRODUCTED IN FIRST COMMITTEE
19991027Among Others, Texts Also Address South-Eastern Europe, Indian Ocean, Disarmament and Development, Environmental Norms
The General Assembly would call for a review of nuclear doctrines and in that context, immediate and urgent steps to reduce the risks of unintentional and accidental use of nuclear weapons, according to one of 12 draft resolutions and one draft decision introduced this afternoon in the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security).
Introducing the text entitled "Reducing Nuclear Danger", by which the Secretary-General would be requested to report to the Assembly at its next session on specific measures to significantly reduce the risk of nuclear war, the representative of India said that the elimination of nuclear weapons would require complex negotiations, but there was no justification for having thousands of those weapons on hair-trigger alert, creating an unacceptable risk with catastrophic consequences. The international community must recognize the need for urgent and practical steps to diminish the prospects for such a catastrophe.
The other texts introduced dealt with: the stability and development of South-Eastern Europe; the prohibition of new types of weapons of mass destruction; the Declaration of the Indian Ocean as a zone of peace; consolidation of peace through practical disarmament measures; the relationship between disarmament and development; environmental norms in disarmament agreements; the Conference on Disarmament; transparency in armaments; the fourth special session on disarmament; the United Nations Regional Centres for Peace and Disarmament; and strengthening international security.
The Assembly would reaffirm that effective measures should be taken to prevent the emergence of new types of weapons of mass destruction, according to a draft resolution introduced by the representative of Belarus. The Assembly would request the Conference on Disarmament to keep the matter under review, with a view to recommending specific negotiations on identified types of such weapons and, in that context, call upon all States, immediately following any recommendations of the Conference on Disarmament, to give those favourable consideration.
First Committee - 1a - Press Release GA/DIS/3154 17th Meeting (PM) 27 October 1999
According to a new draft resolution introduced by the representative of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia on the stability and development of South-Eastern Europe, the Assembly would call upon all participants of the Stability Pact for South-Eastern Europe, adopted on 10 June in Cologne, Germany, and all concerned international organizations, to support the efforts of South-Eastern European States to overcome the negative effects of the Kosovo crisis and enable them to pursue sustainable development and integration of their economies in the European and global economy.
By the terms of a 93-Power text on transparency in armaments, introduced by the representative of the Netherlands, the Assembly would call upon Member States, with a view to achieving universal participation, to provide the Secretary-General by 31 May, annually, the requested data and information for the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms, including nil reports, if appropriate. The Assembly would reaffirm its decision, with a view to the further development of the Register, to keep the scope of and participation in the Register under review. Towards that goal, it would recall its request to Member States to provide the Secretary-General with their views on the continuing operation of the Register and its further development and on transparency measures related to weapons of mass destruction.
Another text on transparency in armaments, introduced by the representative of Egypt, would have the Assembly recognize the importance of achieving greater progress in the development of the United Register of Conventional Arms in order that it might truly enhance confidence-building and security among States and accelerate efforts towards attainment of general and complete disarmament. In that connection, the Assembly would request the Secretary-General to report to the next Assembly session on: the expansion of the Register to include military holdings, procurement through national production, delivery systems and transfers of armaments technology; and the elaboration of practical means for the development of the Register in order to increase transparency related to weapons of mass destruction, in particular nuclear weapons, and to transfers of equipment and technology directly related to the development and manufacture of such weapons.
According to a draft text introduced by the representative of Australia, the Assembly would urge the Conference on Disarmament to fulfil its role as the single multilateral disarmament negotiating forum of the international community in the light of the evolving international situation, with a view to making early substantive progress on priority agenda items. It would welcome the decision of the Conference on 5 August to admit five new members, and note that the Conference recognized the importance of continuing consultations on the question of expansion of its membership. It would also welcome the Conference's strong collective interest in commencing substantive work as soon as possible during its 2000 session. The Conference would be encouraged to continue the ongoing review of its agenda and methods.
Under a draft text introduced by the representative of Germany on practical disarmament measures, the Assembly would welcome the adoption by
First Committee - 1b - Press Release GA/DIS/3154 17th Meeting (PM) 27 October 1999
consensus of the guidelines on conventional arms control, limitation and disarmament, with particular emphasis on the consolidation of peace, at the 1999 substantive session of the Disarmament Commission, and stress their particular relevance in the context of the present text. Also, it would welcome the activities undertaken by the Group of Interested States that was formed in New York in March 1998, and invite the Group to continue to analyze lessons learned from previous disarmament and peace-building projects, as well as to promote new practical disarmament measures to consolidate peace, especially as undertaken or designed by affected States themselves.
According to three draft resolutions sponsored by South Africa on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement, the Assembly would: decide, subject to the emergence of a consensus on its objectives and agenda, to convene the fourth special session devoted to disarmament; urge the international community to devote part of the resources gained from disarmament and arms limitation agreements to economic and social development, with a view to reducing the ever widening gap between developed and developing countries; call upon States to adopt unilateral, bilateral, regional and multilateral measures so as to contribute to ensuring the application of scientific and technological progress in the framework of international security, disarmament and other related spheres, without detriment to the environment or to its effective contribution to attaining sustainable development.
By the terms of two other texts introduced by South Africa on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement, the Assembly would: reiterate its conviction that the participation of all the permanent members of the Security Council and the major maritime users of the Indian Ocean in the work of the ad hoc committee was important and would greatly facilitate the development of a mutually beneficial dialogue to advance peace, security and stability in the Indian Ocean region; and reiterate the importance of the United Nations activities at the regional level to increase the stability and security of its Member States, which could be promoted in a substantive manner by the maintenance and revitalization of the three regional centres for peace and disarmament.
A draft decision, also sponsored by South Africa on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement would have the Assembly decide to include in the provisional agenda of its fifty-sixth session the item entitled "Review of the implementation of the Declaration on the Strengthening of International Security".
Statements were also made by the representatives of Chile, Mexico, Nepal and Portugal.
The Committee will meet again at 10 a.m. Thursday, 28 October, to continue its thematic discussion on all disarmament and security-related items, as well as its introduction and consideration of all draft resolutions.
Committee Work Programme
The First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) met this afternoon to continue its thematic discussion and consideration of all disarmament- and security-related draft resolutions. It is expected to hear the introduction of draft resolutions concerning the stability and development of South-Eastern Europe; reducing nuclear danger; the prohibition of new types of weapons of mass destruction; the Declaration of the Indian Ocean as a Zone of Peace; consolidation of peace through practical disarmament measures; the relationship between disarmament and development; environmental norms in disarmament agreements; the report of the Conference on Disarmament; and transparency in armaments.
The Committee was also expected to hear an introduction of a draft decision on strengthening international security.
The current phase of the Committee's work will extend through Friday, 29 October. It combines the thematic discussion with consideration of drafts, as part of a reform to streamline the Committee's work. The third and final stage of its work, which is scheduled to begin on Monday, 1 November, will be action on all disarmament draft resolutions.
According to a draft text sponsored by Australia on the Conference on Disarmament (document A/C.1/54/L.16), the General Assembly would urge the Conference to fulfil its role as the single multilateral disarmament negotiating forum of the international community, in the light of the evolving international situation, with a view to making early substantive progress on priority agenda items. It would welcome the decision of the Conference on 5 August to admit five new members, and notes that the Conference recognized the importance of continuing consultations on the question of expansion of its membership. It would also welcome the Conference's strong collective interest in commencing substantive work as soon as possible during its 2000 session. The Conference would be encouraged to continue the ongoing review of its agenda and methods.
Under a draft text on the consolidation of peace through practical disarmament measures (document A/C.1/54/L.20), the Assembly would welcome the adoption by consensus of the guidelines on conventional arms control, limitation and disarmament, with particular emphasis on the consolidation of peace, at the 1999 substantive session of the Disarmament Commission. The Assembly would stress the particular relevance of those guidelines in the context of the present draft resolution.
The Assembly would take note of the report of the Secretary-General on the consolidation of peace through practical disarmament measures and, once again, encourage Member States, as well as regional arrangements and agencies, to lend their support to the implementation of his recommendations. It would welcome the activities undertaken by the Group of Interested States that was formed in New York in March 1998, and invite the Group to continue to analyse lessons learned from previous disarmament and peace-building projects, as well as to promote new practical disarmament measures to consolidate peace, especially as undertaken or designed by affected States themselves.
In a related provision, the Assembly would encourage Member States, including the Group of Interested States, to support the Secretary-General in responding to requests by Member States to collect and destroy small arms and light weapons in post-conflict situations. The draft resolution is sponsored by Albania, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada, Chad, Chile, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liberia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malawi, Mali, Malta, Monaco, Mozambique, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, San Marino, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Swaziland, Sweden, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay and Venezuela.
A draft text sponsored by Egypt, Nigeria and Swaziland, on transparency in armaments (document A/C.1/54/L.21), would have the Assembly recognize the importance of achieving greater progress in the development of the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms in order that it might truly enhance confidence- building and security among States and accelerate efforts towards attainment of general and complete disarmament.
In that connection, the Assembly would request the Secretary-General, with the assistance of the Group of Governmental Experts on the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms to be convened in the year 2000, to report to the fifty-fifth session on: the expansion of the Register to include military holdings, procurement through national production, delivery systems and transfers of armaments technology; the elaboration of practical means for the development of the Register in order to increase transparency related to weapons of mass destruction, in particular, nuclear weapons; and transfers of equipment and technology directly related to the development and manufacture of such weapons.
By the terms of a draft resolution on the prohibition of the development and manufacture of new types of weapons of mass destruction and new systems (document A/C.1/54/L.26), the Assembly would reaffirm that effective measure should be taken to prevent the emergence of new types of weapons of mass destruction. The Assembly would request the Conference on Disarmament to keep the matter under review, with a view to making, when necessary, recommendations on undertaking specific negotiations on identified types of such weapons.
In that context, the Assembly would call upon all States, immediately following any recommendations of the Conference on Disarmament, to give favourable consideration to those recommendations. It would request the Secretary-General to transmit to the Conference all documents relating to the consideration of the item by the Assembly at its current session, and it would request the Conference to report the results of any consideration of the matter in its annual report.
The text is sponsored by Armenia, Belarus, Chile, Costa Rica, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Viet Nam.
Under a draft resolution sponsored by India, on reducing nuclear danger (document A/C.1/54/L.31), the Assembly would call for a review of nuclear doctrines and, in that context, immediate and urgent steps to reduce the risks of unintentional and accidental use of nuclear weapons. It would request the five nuclear-weapon States to undertake measures towards implementation of that provision.
In a related provision, the Assembly would call upon Member States to take the necessary measures to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons in all its aspects and to promote nuclear disarmament, with the ultimate objective of eliminating nuclear weapons. It would request the Secretary-General, within existing resources, to report to the General Assembly at its fifty-fifth session on information with regard to specific measures that significantly reduced the risk of nuclear war.
A draft text on transparency in armaments (document A/C.1/54/L.39) would have the Assembly call upon Member States, with a view to achieving universal par... *** Conversion terminated at this point (TRIAL version of software).
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