The United Nations’ Open-Ended Working Group on multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations began its second round of meetings in Geneva, Switzerland this week. The working group serves as a forum for cooperative action, under the U.N. General Assembly, with the purpose to “address concrete effective legal measures, legal provisions, and norms that will need to be concluded to attain and maintain a world without nuclear weapons.” It is a supplement to the U.N. Conference on Disarmament, which began its 2016 session earlier this year.
According to a timetable for the session, participants on Monday discussed measures to reduce the risk of accidental or intentional nuclear weapon detonations; on Tuesday, transparency measures on the risks of existing nuclear weapons; and on Wednesday, measures to increase awareness of the humanitarian consequences of nuclear detonations. On May 9, the working group is scheduled to discuss legal measures toward a world without nuclear weapons; on May 11, pathways on advancing disarmament negotiations; and on May 12, “reviewing the role of nuclear weapons in the security and other contexts of the twenty-first century.”
The Conference on Disarmament, consisting of 65 member states, outlined an agenda for the year that involves nuclear disarmament, cessation of the nuclear arms race, the prevention of nuclear war, non-use of nuclear weapons, and related issues.
None of the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States – participated in the working group’s organizational meeting earlier this year, where country delegations, including Mexico, Ireland and Japan, planned on discussing legal measures toward attaining a world without nuclear weapons. The P-5 states have declined to participate overall. A State Department official previously said by email that the working group was not structured “in a way that reflects the need for wide-ranging discussion of practical ways to achieve progress on disarmament,” and that “We hope a way can be found to maintain a dialogue on nuclear disarmament issues and not cut it off through pursuit of non-inclusive and quixotic agendas.”
The working group is scheduled to meet again in Geneva in August. The second part of the Conference on Disarmament’s 2016 session is scheduled for May 16-July 1, and the body will reconvene for the final part on Aug. 2. Disarmament agreements such as the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty have been negotiated through the conference, which now faces a two-decade stalemate due to lack of consensus on a fissile material cutoff treaty.
