United Nations General Assembly

10 October 2002

Original: English

Fifty-seventh session

First Committee

Agenda item 67 (g)

Review and implementation of the Concluding Document
of the Twelfth Special Session of the General Assembly:
United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament
and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean

Trinidad and Tobago: *draft resolution

United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean

The General Assembly,

Recalling its resolutions 41/60 J of 3 December 1986, 42/39 K of 30 November 1987 and 43/76 H of 7 December 1988 on the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, with headquarters in Lima,

Recalling also its resolutions 46/37 F of 9 December 1991, 48/76 E of 16 December 1993, 49/76 D of 15 December 1994, 50/71 C of 12 December 1995, 52/220 of 22 December 1997, 53/78 F of 4 December 1998, 54/55 F of 1 December 1999, 55/34 E of 20 November 2000 and 56/25 E of 29 November 2001,

Underlining the revitalization of the Regional Centre, the efforts made by the Government of Peru and other countries to that end, as well as the important work done by the Director of the Centre,

Welcoming the report of the Secretary-General, which concludes that the Regional Centre has continued to act as an instrument for the implementation of regional initiatives and intensified its contribution to the coordination of United Nations efforts towards peace and security,

Noting that security and disarmament issues have always been recognized as significant topics in Latin America and the Caribbean, the first inhabited region in the world to be declared a nuclear-weapon-free zone,

Welcoming the decision of the Government of Cuba to ratify the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (Treaty of Tlatelolco),

Welcoming also the creation of the South American Zone of Peace and Cooperation, declared by the Presidents and Heads of State of South America, in Guayaquil, Ecuador, on 27 July 2002,

Bearing in mind the important role that the Regional Centre can play in promoting confidence-building measures, arms control and limitation, disarmament and development at the regional level,

Also bearing in mind the importance of information, research, education and training for peace, disarmament and development in order to achieve understanding and cooperation among States,

Recognizing the need to provide the three United Nations regional centres for peace and disarmament with sufficient financial resources and cooperation for the planning and implementation of their programmes of activities,

1. Reiterates its strong support for the role of the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean in the promotion of United Nations activities at the regional level to strengthen peace, stability, security and development among its member States;

2. Expresses its satisfaction and congratulates the Regional Centre for the expansion of the vast range of activities carried out last year in the field of peace, disarmament and development, and requests the Regional Centre to take into account the proposals to be submitted by the countries of the region in promoting confidence-building measures, arms control and limitation, transparency, disarmament and development at the regional level;

3. Expresses its appreciation for the political support and financial contributions to the Regional Centre, which are essential for its continued operation;

4. Invites all States of the region to continue to take part in the activities of the Regional Centre, proposing items for inclusion in its agenda, making greater and better use of the Centre’s potential to meet the current challenges facing the international community and with a view to fulfilling the aims of the Charter of the United Nations in the fields of peace, disarmament and development;

5. Recognizes that the Regional Centre has an important role in the promotion and development of regional initiatives agreed upon by the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean in the field of weapons of mass destruction, in particular, nuclear weapons, conventional arms, including small arms and light weapons, as well as the relationship between disarmament and development;

6. Welcomes the report of the Secretary-General on the relationship between disarmament and development, and supports the role that the Regional Centre plays in promoting those issues in the region in pursuit of its mandate to promote economic and social development related to peace and disarmament;

7. Appeals to Member States, in particular the States of the Latin American and Caribbean region, and to international governmental and non-governmental organizations and to foundations, to make and increase voluntary contributions to strengthen the Regional Centre, its programme of activities and the implementation thereof;

8. Requests the Secretary-General to provide the Regional Centre with all necessary support, within existing resources, so that it may carry out its programme of activities in accordance with its mandate;

9. Also requests the Secretary-General to report to the General Assembly at its fifty-eighth session on the implementation of the present resolution;

10. Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its fifty-eighth session the item entitled "United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean".