Global Security Newswire

The U.N. General Assembly's First Committee on Friday passed a measure that calls on the international Conference on Disarmament to break a deadlock that has prevented the body from beginning negotiations on new multinational arms control measures for more than a decade, according to a U.N. press release (see GSN, Oct. 13).

The resolution states that if the 65-member body is not able to establish a "comprehensive" work program before its 2012 session is over, the General Assembly should commit itself next year to exploring alternatives for talks on a treaty to prohibit the production of fissile material for weapons purposes, the press release said.

The measure passed by a vote of 151-2-23. North Korea and Pakistan were the two dissenting votes.

The Conference on Disarmament in 2009 broke a deadlock that had lasted for more than 10 years, agreeing to a work plan that would focus on negotiating a fissile material cutoff treaty and three other issues: nuclear disarmament, a prohibition against space-based arms, and a pledge by nuclear-armed states not to use such weapons against nations without such armaments of their own. Though Pakistan gave initial support to the work plan, it subsequently reversed course and insisted on further consideration of the program. Decisions at the conference are made by consensus.

The General Assembly would also be instructed under the First Committee's resolution to promote additional measures by nuclear-armed nations to eliminate fissile material that is not needed for weapons, according to the release.

The First Committee on Friday signed off on 10 of 53 proposed resolutions it is considering during this year's session. Other approved texts called on the international community to carry out activities mandated by the final declaration of the 2010 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty review conference and for entry into force of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Resolutions are passed to the General Assembly (U.N. General Assembly release I, Oct. 28).

The committee, which focuses on disarmament and security issues, on Thursday passed by a wide margin a measure submitted by Myanmar that calls on all nations with nuclear arsenals to promptly stop developing and manufacturing new warheads and carrier systems, and to take such weapons off high-alert status, according to a U.N. press release (see GSN, Oct. 27).

Myanmar has been feared by some Western governments to have secretly established a nuclear weapons program with technical assistance from North Korea.

The draft resolution states, "Recognizing that there now existed conditions for the establishment of a world free of nuclear weapons, the General Assembly would urge nuclear-weapon states to immediately stop the qualitative improvement, development, production and stockpiling of nuclear weapons and their delivery systems, and to immediately de-alert and deactivate those weapons."

The measure was approved by a vote of 113-44-18.

The First Committee also passed 21 other resolutions on Thursday that address matters including improving the transparency of nations' arsenals and prohibiting the development and production of novel unconventional weapons (U.N. General Assembly release II, Oct. 27).