The United Nations and the Conference on Disarmament

The Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy focuses principally on the UN First Committee, and any significant developments in the Geneva-based Conference on Disarmament (CD). Where appropriate, and within the limits of our resources, we also include some coverage of disarmament questions and developments relating to weapons of mass destruction that come before the UN General Assembly.

United Nations First Committee

The United Nations First Committee is a subcommittee of the UN General Assembly that deals with disarmament and international security. First Committee meets each autumn comprising all UN member states.

UN First Committee and General Assembly, 63rd Sessions, September - December 2008

• Between Irrelevance and a New Era: Report on the 2008 UN First Committee, by Michael Spies, Disarmament Diplomacy, No.89, Winter 2008, including:

  • 2008 First Committee Resolutions: Summary and Explanations

Acronym Institute director Rebecca Johnson attended the UN First Committee in New York. For week-by-week reporting and analysis on the First Committee, see the First Committee Monitor, produced by Reaching Critical Will and supported by Acronym Institute and other NGOs:

• Preview
• First Week, October 6-10
• Second Week, October 13-17
• Third week, October 20-24
• Final Edition

See also Acronym coverage of the 2007 First Committee:

• Stagnation and Redundancy: Report on the 2007 UN First Committee, by Michael Spies, Disarmament Diplomacy, No.87, Spring 2008, including:

  • 2007 First Committee Resolutions, Summary and Explanations
  First Committee Monitor from Reaching Critical Will

The UN's official website on the General Assembly is at: http://www.un.org/ga/ and the site for the First Committee is at: http://www.un.org/ga/first/index.shtml. In addition UN press releases covering the First Committee can be viewed at http://disarmament.un.org.

An index of all references made to issues of disarmament, peace and security during the General Assembly debates is available from Reaching Critical Will at:

www.reachingcriticalwill.org/
political/1com/1com08/disarmindextopic.html

Details of speeches from the First Committee are available from Reaching Critical Will at: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org.

See also: Acronym Institute coverage of previous sessions of the UN First Committee.

Conference on Disarmament (CD)

The Conference on Disarmament is the successor to various Geneva-based arms control bodies dating back to 1960. The CD is regarded as an autonomous body, although it has a close relationship with the United Nations. In March 1995, the CD adopted a mandate to negotiate a ban on the production of fissile materials for nuclear weapons - fissban, aka fissile materials treaty (FMT), aka fissile materials cut-off treaty (FMCT), however, negotiations have not started as CD members have struggled to adopt a work programme.

In his speech on nuclear disarmament, President Obama said that the US would "seek a new treaty that verifiably ends the production of fissile materials intended for use in state nuclear weapons".

Updates on the CD

• President Obama speech on Nuclear Disarmament, 5 April 2009
• The Conference on Disarmament in 2008: Still in Denial, Disarmament Diplomacy, Issue No. 88, Summer 2008
• Conference on Disarmament fails to adopt 2008 programme of work, tries new P-6 presidential draft decision, March 13, 2008
• Draft Text on eliminating intermediate and shorter range missiles, proposed by Russia, 13 February 2008
• Draft Text on the Placement of Weapons in Outer Space submitted by Russia and China, 13 February 2008
• Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov speech to the CD, 12 February 2008
• Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, press conference, Geneva, 12 February 2008
• Russian Foreign Ministry statement on initiatives in the CD, 12 February 2008
• UK Secretary of State for Defence Des Browne speech to the Conference on Disarmament, 5 February 2008
• New Impetus, Old Excuses - Report on the Conference on Disarmament in 2007, by Michael Hamel-Green, Disarmament Diplomacy, No.86, Autumn 2007
• CD ends 2007 session with no work programme, Disarmament Diplomacy No. 85, Summer 2007
• CD edges closer to a Work Programme, In the News, Disarmament Diplomacy No.84, Spring 2007
• Time for a Fissban - or Farewell?
  by Jenni Rissanen
  The IAEA's former representative in Geneva provides an in-depth analysis of past efforts and current prospects for negotiating a fissile material production ban in the Conference on Disarmament. Includes verbatim texts of the US no-verification mandate, draft and explanation tabled in May 2006.
  See also:
  • US Draft Fissban Mandate, Text and Explanation
• The Fissban: Time for Renewed Commitment or a New Approach? by Jean du Preez, Disarmament Diplomacy, Issue No.79, April/May 2005
• US proposes "no-verification" Fissban to be negotiated at the Conference on Disarmament, Disarmament Diplomacy, Issue No.78, July/August 2004
• Cooperation and Defection in the Conference on Disarmament
  by John Borrie
  An unusual and thought-provoking analysis of the causes and dynamics of the impasse in the CD, Disarmament Diplomacy, Issue No.82, Spring 2006.
• Overcoming Deadlock in the CD, By Rakesh Sood, Disarmament Diplomacy, Issue No. 73, October - November 2003.

See also:

• Acronym Institute coverage of previous sessions of the Conference on Disarmament.
• Acronym Institute coverage on Fissile Materials talks.

Relevant Links

• The United Nations & Disarmament
• UN First Committee
• Conference on Disarmament
• United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research
• Reaching Critical Will

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