UN First Committee
Back to the main page on the UN
2007 First Committee Resolutions
Summary and Explanations
Compiled on behalf of the Acronym Institute by Michael Spies, Research
Associate for the Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy and Editor of the
Arms Control Reporter; assisted by Ray Acheson, Project Associate for
the Reaching Critical Will project of the Women's International League
for Peace and Freedom.
Below is a comprehensive summary and analysis of the 49 resolutions and
3 decisions adopted by the 62nd First Committee and General Assembly compiled
on behalf of the Acronym Institute. A fuller analysis will appear in Disarmament
Diplomacy 87, due out in early 2008. Any queries or corrections should
be emailed to info@acronym.org.uk.
Voting is given as: for-against-abstention. The votes in the First
Committee took place between 30 October and 2 November 2007. The General
Assembly adopted all the resolutions and draft decisions featured here
on 5 December 2007.
The First Committee votes are shown first, followed by voting figures
from the UN General Assembly. GA numbers are given for all resolutions
and decisions. "Rev" denotes a revised version of the resolution was circulated
subsequent to its introduction as an official UN draft resolution. We
identify the state that introduced each resolution-normally this state
would have also taken the lead in drafting and negotiating with others
on the text. For lists of all co-sponsors, check the UN documents.
Vote tallies given here are from the official records. "Without a vote"
denotes that a resolution was adopted by consensus without a recorded
vote taken. Some countries state that they have not participated in the
consensus, while others prefer not to vote at all and be counted absent.
With regard to General Assembly votes, states that are in serious arrears
with their payments to the UN are recorded as absent, whether or not they
voted, which explains why even the co-sponsors of some resolutions are
not recorded in the votes. There may also be discrepancies in voting figures
due to requests by delegations for their votes to be recorded after missing
or making mistakes during the electronic voting procedure.
In some resolutions, separate votes were requested on specific paragraphs
or parts of paragraphs. In these cases, PP refers to preambular paragraph
and OP refers to operative paragraph. The preambular paragraphs generally
provide background and context on the subject of a resolution, identify
and apply general principles of international law, and can broadly indicate
the object and purpose of a resolution. Operative paragraphs contain decisions
and requests, identifying action to be taken. However, General Assembly
resolutions are non-binding on UN member states.
For all statements, resolutions and non-papers from the First Committee,
see the Reaching Critical Will website: www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/1comindex1.html#2007
For summaries of each week of the proceedings, see the First Committee
Monitor: www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/1com/FCM.html.
Index
Biennial and Triennial Resolutions not Introduced in 2007
Nuclear Weapon Free Zones
| Title |
Year last Introduced |
Year to be reintroduced |
| Mongolia's International Security and Nuclear-Weapon-Free
Status. |
2006 (UNGA 61/87) |
2008 |
Other Weapons of Mass Destruction
| Title |
Year last Introduced |
Year to be reintroduced |
| Measures to uphold the authority of the 1925 Geneva
Protocol. |
2006 (UNGA 61/61) |
2008 |
Conventional Weapons
| Title |
Year last Introduced |
Year to be reintroduced |
| Information on confidence-building measures in the field
of conventional arms |
2006 (UNGA 61/79) |
2008 |
Regional Disarmament and Security
| Title |
Year last Introduced |
Year to be reintroduced |
| Maintenance of international security-good neighbourliness,
stability and development in South-Eastern Europe. |
2006 (UNGA 61/53) |
2008 |
Other Disarmament and International Security
| Title |
Year last Introduced |
Year to be reintroduced |
| United Nations Disarmament Information Programme. |
2006 (UNGA 61/95) |
2008 |
| United Nations study on disarmament and non-proliferation
education. |
2006 (UNGA 61/73) |
2008 |
| Transparency in armaments. |
2006 (UNGA 61/77) |
2008 |
| Question of Antarctica. |
2005 (UNGA 60/47) |
2008 |
| Compliance with non-proliferation, arms limitation and
disarmament agreements. |
2005 (UNGA 60/55) |
2008 (tentative) |
Disarmament Machinery
| Title |
Year last Introduced |
Year to be reintroduced |
| Prohibition of the development and manufacture of new
types of weapons of mass destruction and new systems of such weapons:
report of the Conference on Disarmament. |
2005 (UNGA 60/46) |
2008 |
Selected Other Resolutions not Introduced in 2007
(not including resolutions not likely to be reintroduced)
Other Disarmament and International Security
| Title |
Year last Introduced |
Year to be reintroduced |
| Prohibition of the production of fissile material for
nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices. |
2006 (withdrawn) |
2008 (tentative) |
| Problems arising from the accumulation of conventional
ammunition stockpiles in surplus. |
2006 (UNGA 61/72) |
2008 |
| Towards an arms trade treaty: establishing common international
standards for the import, export and transfer of conventional arms. |
2006 (UNGA 61/89) |
2008 |
| Consolidation of peace through practical disarmament
measures. |
2006 (UNGA 61/76) |
2008 |
Back to the top of page
© 2007 The Acronym Institute.
|
