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United Nations First Committee

UN First Committee, Sombre and Divided, November 1, 2005

Back to the Main Page on the UN and Disarmament

By Rebecca Johnson

The 60th session of the UN First Committee (Disarmament and International Security), chaired by Ambassador Choi Young-Jin of South Korea, closed on November 1, 2005 after adopting some 60 resolutions and decisions (see voting summary below).

Summary

Taking place soon after the failure of both the NPT Review Conference and World Summit Outcome, at a time when the UN-related disarmament machinery such as the Conference on Disarmament (CD) and Disarmament Commission (UNDC) continue to be paralysed by the obstructive actions of a tiny minority of the more heavily-armed states, the First Committee was serious and subdued. A number of resolutions and one decision sent important signals on small arms and light weapons (SALW) in advance of the 2006 conference to review the Programme of Action, highlighting issues such as the marking and tracing of SALW, ammunition stockpiles, and the humanitarian and development impact of illicit manufacture, transfer and accumulation of such weapons. Year by year the votes in favour of the 1997 Mine Ban (Ottawa) Treaty are slowly climbing up, too, and MANPADS are now more firmly on the agenda, with adoption of another consensus resolution.

Inevitably, perhaps, the growing importance and pressure to deal with a range of issues relating to all kinds of conventional weapons have resulted in more contested votes. Though there was some dismay when consensus was broken for the first time on OP2 of the principal general SALW resolution, which called on all states to "implement the International Instrument to Enable States to Identify and Trace, in a Timely and Reliable Manner, Illicit Small Arms and Light Weapons", the abstentions were intended to register protest that this instrument had not been made legally binding. The whole resolution, co-sponsored for some years by Japan, Colombia and South Africa was again adopted without a vote.

By contrast, the major political struggle relating to nuclear disarmament was not over the substance of any of the resolutions, but centred on the politics of Iran's attempt to divert attention from international pressure over its uranium enrichment programme and sponsor a new resolution calling for implementation of the commitments undertaken by the nuclear weapon states at the 1995 and 2000 NPT review conferences. Despite persuasion from concerned friends (and foes) to withdraw this resolution, Iran instead revised it three times to remove any excuse that NAM states might have used to avoid supporting it. The revisions removed the resolution's principal operative component, which would have had the United Nations take responsibility for overseeing the implementation of a treaty (the NPT) to which not all UN member states have chosen to accede, and added much stronger language on the Middle East. Even with these revisions, the high risk strategy nearly backfired. A separate vote on the 1995 Resolution on the Middle East, understood to have been the price of a positive vote (rather than an abstention) from a number of Arab states, only just squeaked through by 58-54-22. The whole resolution was then adopted by 70-52-22, closer than Iran had expected.

Perhaps because some states wanted to underscore that opposition to the Iranian resolution should not be construed as any kind of vote against nuclear disarmament, both the traditional Japanese and the New Agenda nuclear disarmament resolutions augmented their support, receiving 166 and 144 votes in favour respectively. Japan and the NAC also buried their differences by voting in favour of each other's resolutions, though with some stated reservations.

Amidst a welter of necessary but not very exciting resolutions supporting various regional and international agreements and bodies working on disarmament and security issues, most of which were adopted without a vote (though not necessarily without controversy), only a few resolutions stood out.

In addition to the traditional resolution sponsored by Egypt and Sri Lanka on 'Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space', which received 160 votes in favour, a new resolution from Russia was also overwhelmingly adopted, by 158 votes. Titled "Transparency and confidence-building measures in outer space activities", Russia's first-time resolution takes a first step towards consideration of further developing transparency and confidence-building measures to enhance international peace and security and promote international cooperation with regard to outer space activities. In both cases, only the United States voted against, while Israel abstained.

Whether the issue under consideration was nuclear or conventional weapons, or radiological terrorism, environmental norms or the Hague Code of Conduct, the First Committee approached its work with serious intent (for the most part). Building on the carefully crafted reforms piloted through last year by Mexico's Ambassador Luis Alfredo de Alba, Ambassador Choi Young-Jin maximised the time and resources for work on resolutions and focussed debates on a wide range of pertinent disarmament and security issues.

For the first time, representatives of NGOs were treated as partners in building security, with the right to receive Committee documents and follow the proceedings in full. Following de Alba's initiative of enabling experts from UN-related organisations to make presentations on specific subjects last year, Choi went a step further and invited civil society to choose two experts - Dr Kathleen Sullivan, a New York high school educator, anti-nuclear activist, and consultant for the UN on disarmament curricula; and Peter Carey, a Columbia University professor of peace studies and expert on small arms - to address an interactive session of the First Committee on disarmament and non-proliferation education. And the sky did not fall down! Quite the contrary: governments and civil society both benefit when NGO work is facilitated. With regard to day to day engagement, it has also made a refreshing change not to be treated like potential troublemakers who have to be prevented by security guards from entering rooms or picking up documents and statements that are vital for our work. I would like to express my personal appreciation to Ambassador Choi and his Bureau, the Secretary of the First Committee, Cheryl Stoute, and her staff, and to those members of the First Committee and DDA who had the courage to support them in pushing the envelope to take forward this welcome openness and respect towards civil society. It has made a big difference and greatly improved our working environment and effectiveness. We hope it will be emulated in other fora and treaty meetings.

November 1 Update

Three resolutions were taken on the final day. A resolution from the Netherlands on Transparency in Armaments (L.50/Rev.1) was adopted by 122 votes, with 21 abstentions, mostly the League of Arab States. The resolution, which endorsed the UN Register of Conventional Arms, requests that a Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) be convened in 2006. It was subjected to no fewer than 4 paragraph votes, on which the League of Arab States also abstained. The United States voted against a reference to the 2003 report of the Secretary General and made a statement raising concerns that GGEs were requested with greater and greater frequency, and without due regard for expense or usefulness. Egypt made a statement on behalf of the Arab League, endorsed by individual statements from additional countries, including Syria and Yemen. They called for the Register to be broadened to include sophisticated weapons, such as nuclear weapons, arguing regional security and referring to the need for a "more balanced and non-discriminatory" transparency that would cover all Israel's weapon systems. China abstained because it objected to the US identifying Taiwan as a recipient of US arms sales. The Chinese objection was not to the arms sales per se, but that "the Province of Taiwan" should not be mentioned in a register devoted to arms trading among states.

The report of the embattled UN Disarmament Commission (L.59/rev.1) was finally adopted without a vote, though the US stated that it would not participate in the consensus.

A Chair's resolution on "The Question of Antarctica" (L.60) was also adopted without a vote, following a short debate led by Sweden, on behalf of the 28-member Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties (ATCP), and Malaysia.

Resolutions Index

Including results of voting at the General Assembly on December 8, 2005.

Note: the name of the state that introduced the resolution is in square brackets. Where separate votes were taken on parts of a resolution, PP refers to preambular paragraph and OP refers to operative paragraph.

Votes are given as: for-against-abstention

The results of further votes will be added as we receive them.

Nuclear Weapons

Title FC Votes GA Votes

L.26/Rev.1 Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) [Mexico]

149-1-4 172-1-4

L.4 Towards a nuclear-free world: Accelerating the implementation of nuclear disarmament commitments [South Africa for New Agenda Coalition]

OP4: 148-3-9
whole res: 144-5-19

OP4: 158-2-11
whole res: 153-5-20

L.28** Renewed determination towards the total elimination of nuclear weapons [Japan]

166-2-7 168-2-7

L.36 Nuclear Disarmament (time-bound) [Myanmar (Burma)]

94-42-17 113-45-20

L.38/Rev.2 orally amended with new PP6, Follow up to nuclear disarmament obligations agreed in the 1995 and 2000 Review Conferences of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons [Iran]

PP6: 58-54-22
whole res: 70-52-22
PP6: 78-56-27
whole res: 87-56-26

L.46 Follow-up to the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on the Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons [Malaysia]

OP1: 142-3-5
whole res: 103-29-21
OP1: 165-3-4
whole res: 126-29-24

L.52 Reducing nuclear danger [India]

94-45-14 115-49-15

L.11 United Nations conference to identify ways of eliminating nuclear dangers in the context of nuclear disarmament (decision) [Mexico]

108-5-39 128-5-40

L.54 Convention on the Prohibition of the Use of Nuclear Weapons [India]

97-46-11 111-49-13

L.45 Conclusion of effective international arrangements to assure non-nuclear-weapon states against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons [Pakistan]

98-0-55 120-0-59

L.22 The Hague Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation [Philippines on behalf of HCoC members]

unamended whole res: 151-1-11 whole res: 158-1-11

L.62 Rejected amendments to the HCoC resolution from Egypt, Indonesia, Iran and Malaysia [Iran]

PP8: 26-105-7
OP1: 19-108-10
OP3: 24-106-7
 
L.5 Missiles (decision) [Iran] 101-2-50 120-2-53
L.9 Prohibition of the dumping of radioactive waste [Nigeria for the African Group] without vote without vote

Nuclear Weapon Free Zones

Title FC Votes  
L.3 Establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the region of the Middle East [Egypt] without vote without vote
L.6 The risk of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East [Egypt] PP6: 145-2-5
whole res: 149-2-4
PP6: 162-2-6
whole res: 164-5-5
L.7 Establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in Central Asia (decision) [Uzbekistan] without vote without vote
L.8 African Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty [Nigeria for the African Group] without vote without vote
L.25 Consolidation of the regime established by the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (Treaty of Tlatelolco) [Mexico] without vote without vote
L.12/Rev.1 Nuclear-weapon-free Southern Hemisphere and adjacent areas areas [New Zealand] OP5 "and South Asia": 140-2-7
OP5: 141-1-9
whole res: 144-3-6
OP5 "and South Asia": 162-2-7
OP5: 162-1-9
whole res: 167-3-8

Other Weapons of Mass Destruction

Title FC Votes  
L.10* 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 [Belarus] 150-1-1 180-1-1
L.31 Implementation of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction (CWC) [Poland] without vote without vote
L.33/Rev.1 Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological Biological and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction (BTWC) [Hungary] without vote without vote
L.51 Measures to Prevent Terrorists from Acquiring Weapons of Mass Destruction [India] without vote without vote

Outer Space (Disarmament Aspects)

Title FC Votes  
L.27 Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space (PAROS) [Sri Lanka] 160-1-1 180-2-0
L.30/Rev.1 Transparency and confidence-building measures in outer space [Russia] 158-1-1 178-1-1

Conventional Weapons

Title FC Votes  

L.57* The Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in all its aspects (SALW) [Japan]

OP2: 162-0-2
whole res: without vote
whole res: without vote

L.55 International Instrument to enable States to identify and trace, in a timely and reliable manner, illicit small arms and light weapons (decision) [Switzerland]

145-0-25 151-0-25

L.34/Rev.1 Addressing the negative humanitarian and development impact of the illicit manufacture, transer and circulation of small arms and light weapons and their excessive accumulation [Netherlands]

160-1-0 177-1-0

L.37/Rev.1 and orally amended Assistance to States for Curbing the Illicit Traffic in Small Arms and Collecting Them [Mali for ECOWAS]

without vote without vote

L.40/Rev.1 orally amended Problems arising from the accumulation of conventional ammunition stockpiles in surplus [France]

without vote without vote

L.56 Implementation of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction (Mine Ban Treaty) [Austria]

147-0-15 158-0-17

L.48 Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects (CCW) [Sweden]

without vote without vote

L.49/Rev.1 Prevention of the Illicit Transfer and Unauthorised Access to and Use of Man-Portable Air Defence Systems (MANPADS) [Australia]

without vote without vote

L.58 Information on Confidence-Building Measures in the field of Conventional Arms [Argentina]

without vote without vote

Regional Disarmament & Security

Title FC Votes  
L.23 Regional Disarmament [Pakistan] without vote without vote
L.43/rev.1 Regional Confidence-building Measures: Activities of the United Nations Standing Advisory Committee on Security Questions in Central Africa [Congo] without vote without vote
L.44 Conventional Arms Control at the Regional and Subregional Levels [Pakistan] 147-1-1 174-1-1
L.19 Implementation of the Declaration of the Indian Ocean as a Zone of Peace [Indonesia for NAM] 121-3-44 132-3-46
L.47 Strengthening of security and cooperation in the Mediterranean region [Algeria] without vote without vote
L.60 Question of Antarctica [Chair's resolution] without vote without vote

Other Disarmament Measures and International Security

Title FC Votes  
L.1/Rev.1* Compliance with non-proliferation, arms limitation and disarmament agreements [United States] 137-0-11 163-0-10
L.13 Review of the implementation of the Declaration on the Strengthening of International Security (decision) [Indonesia for NAM] without vote without vote
L.14* Promotion of Multilateralism in the area of disarmament and non-proliferation [Indonesia for NAM] 116-6-48 122-8-50
L.15 Observance of Environmental Norms in the Drafting and Implementation of Agreements on Disarmament and Arms Control [Indonesia for NAM] 167-1-3 176-1-4
L.39/Rev.1 as orally amended Preventing the risk of radiological terrorism [France] 162-0-0
(GA resolution likely to be without a vote)
without vote
L.16 Relationship between Disarmament and Development [Indonesia for NAM] 164-1-2 177-1-2
L.24 Confidence-building measures in the regional and sub-regional context [Pakistan] without vote without vote
L.29** Developments in the field of information and telecommunications in the context of international security [Russia] 163-1-0 177-1-0
L.53 Role of science and technology in the context of international security and disarmament [India] 88-49-13 110-53-17

L.50/Rev.1 Transparency in armaments [Netherlands]

See also:
L.61 Programme budget implications of draft resolution A/C.1/60/L.50/Rev.1, Statement submitted by the Secretary-General

OP2 (last 17 words): 108-1-16
OP3: 115-0-18
OP4: 118-0-16
OP6: 116-0-19
whole res: 122-0-21
vote postponed on December 8, pending a review of its programme budget implications by the Fifth Committee
L.42 Objective information on military matters, including transparency of military expenditures [Germany] without vote without vote
L.35 National legislation on transfer of arms, military equipment and dual-use good and technology [The Netherlands] without vote without vote

Disarmament Machinery

Title FC Votes  
L.2* Twenty-fifth anniversary of the United Nations Institutute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) [France] without vote without vote
L.17 Convening of the Fourth Special Session of the General Assembly Devoted to Disarmament (UNSSOD IV) (Decision) [Indonesia for NAM] without vote without vote
L.18 United Nations Regional Centres for Peace and Disarmament [Indonesia for NAM] without vote without vote
L.20 Report of the Conference on Disarmament [Peru] without vote without vote
L.21 United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin American and the Caribbean [Argentina] without vote without vote
L.32/Rev.1 United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific [Nepal] without vote without vote
L.41 United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa [Nigeria] without vote without vote
L.59/Rev.1 Report of the Disarmament Commission [Sierra Leone] without vote without vote

Sources:

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