Brian Bradley
NS&D Monitor
11/7/2014
Concluding a historic 69th annual session, the UN First Committee this week wrapped up its annual voting on nuclear and conventional disarmament nonbinding draft resolutions, pushing through an agreement that calls for bringing nuclear disarmament under “strict and effective” international control, and another resolution that urges the UN General Assembly to call for negotiations by the Conference on Disarmament to ban the production of fissile materials. The U.S. unsuccessfully opposed Resolution L.23, “Follow-up to the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on the Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons,” which underscores an effort to bring nuclear disarmament under international control, and was approved by a vote of 109 to 24, with 18 abstentions.
The U.S. also voted against Resolution L. 31, which calls for the resumption of FMCT negotiations in the CD and also advises nuclear-weapon states to deactivate their nuclear weapons, and “immediately stop” the improvement, development, production and stocking of nuclear warheads and their delivery systems. In a more contentious vote, that resolution was approved by a vote of 102-41, with 17 abstentions. First Committee-approved resolutions will go to the UNGA, which is expected to consider them for final approval by the end of this year.
During First Committee voting from Oct. 29 to Nov. 4, the U.S. opposed 10 of 15 draft resolutions related to disarmament and/or non-proliferation, including one that aims to prevent nuclear proliferation in the Middle East, one that focuses on reducing the alert level of deployed nukes and another resolution that follows up the 2013 high-level meeting of the UNGA on nuclear disarmament in calling for “urgent and effective measures” to be taken with regard to total global nuclear disarmament. However, the U.S. ratified a draft resolution reiterating the importance of worldwide ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, and another draft urging Non-Proliferation Treaty states to unitedly carry out their disarmament obligations under the treaty. Starting Oct. 7, the committee session ended a day sooner than expected, saw a record-breaking 70 speakers during the nuclear weapons cluster thematic debate and played host to the approval of 63 drafts, the most since 2004.
In addition to striving to bring nuclear disarmament under “strict and effective” international control, Resolution L.23 calls on states to begin multilateral negotiations to prohibit the further creation of nuclear weapons. The draft also “requests” all states inform the secretary-general of their steps to implement the provisions, and calls on the secretary-general to brief the 70th UNGA about progress on the initiative.
Resolution L.31 outlines several disarmament objectives, and states that nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation are “substantively interrelated and mutually reinforcing,” calling on the CD to establish in 2015 an ad hoc committee on nuclear disarmament and on nuclear-weapon states to further reduce non-strategic nuclear weapons, “based on unilateral initiatives and as an integral part of the nuclear arms reduction and disarmament process.”
