U.N. Disarmament Committee Approves Draft Text Calling on Countries to Join Hague Code of Conduct

The U.N. General Assembly’s disarmament committee last week approved a draft resolution calling on all countries to join the Hague Code of Conduct Against Ballistic Missile Proliferation (see GSN, April 26).

The code requests that subscribers exercise “maximum possible restraint” in developing and deploying ballistic missiles and avoid aiding the ballistic missile programs of any countries that might be developing weapons of mass destruction. To increase transparency, it calls on members to implement several confidence-building measures.

The draft text was approved by a vote of 137-2, with 16 abstentions, according to a U.N. release. Egypt and Iran opposed the resolution.

Several of the countries that abstained expressed concerns that the code of conduct had not been negotiated within a U.N. framework (U.N. release, Oct. 27). 

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