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General Assembly First Committee
on Disarmament and International Security
Be sure to check out the First
Committee Monitor.
What
Is The General Assembly First Committee?
[This
backgrounder is also available as a two-page
PDF fact sheet]
Introduction
The United Nations General Assembly is consensus-building
body, where issues of international peace and security are
collectively discussed among all UN member states. Its regular
session convenes in September of each year, and after two
weeks of General Debate, it breaks up into six specialized
committees. Every member state is entitled to participate
in each of the committees, where they consider proposals relevant
to the substantive topics covered by the committee, and recommend
resolutions for adoption by the General Assembly. While these
resolutions are not legally binding, they can be normative—that
is, they can indicate the establishment of customs, standards,
and guidelines for appropriate behavior. Resolutions adopted
by consensus also indicate substantive areas of agreement
that are ripe for negotiation and can enable the creation
of new treaties and the emergence of international legal norms.
Furthermore, they demonstrate global governmental opinion,
showing which governments support peace and security, and
which choose to remain outside of or even impede the development
of international cooperative security.
Why is the General Assembly important for disarmament?
Among many other things, the General Assembly discusses and
makes recommendations on principles of cooperation for maintaining
peace and security, including disarmament. Article 11 of the
UN Charter authorizes the General Assembly to consider “the
principles governing disarmament and the regulation of armaments,”
and empowers it to make recommendations based on these principles
to member states and the Security Council. The very first
resolution adopted by the General Assembly in 1946 called
for “the elimination from national armaments of atomic
weapons and of all other major weapons adaptable to mass destruction.”
Every year, the General Assembly adopts 40-50 resolutions
on disarmament and non-proliferation by a majority vote or
by consensus.
The General Assembly's work on disarmament is conducted through
one of its main committees, the First Committee on Disarmament
and International Security. The First Committee provides space
for each state to discuss their positions on disarmament-related
matters, and to work together to come up with compromises
or to propose language or tools to better understand and approach
the issues. It offers the opportunity for states to build
consensus on the issues, to reach common understandings and
principles and to agree on norms of behavior. Thus rather
than ensuring “security” through the size of their
arsenals, governments can discuss how to best arrive at cooperative
security arrangements that minimize spending on weapons, reduce
arms production, trade, and stockpiles, and increase global
security. This consensus can subsequently be used in other
disarmament fora, such as the Conference on Disarmament, where
disarmament treaties are negotiated.
What are some of the challenges facing the General Assembly?
While the First Committee offers many opportunities in principle,
it often fails to make good use of its potential. There is
a discord of perceptions between member states—the way
one state perceives elements of and challenges to its security
often differ widely from the way other states perceive their
own situations, or the global situation. Thus discussion in
the First Committee is largely static—there is limited
acknowledgment of other states' perspectives, and a lack of
flexibility in re-examining one's own perspective. The rigidity
of this process is mostly determined by the capitals—delegates
to the General Assembly are generally required to “toe
the party line”, and reflect the beliefs, values, and
doctrines of their governments.
Statements delivered in First Committee reveal important
fault lines in the disarmament debate that impede progress
in disarmament, non-proliferation, peace, and security. Some
states have become entrenched in their positions, and do not
listen to the arguments or suggestions of others. They reject
the norms of the majority—who have arrived at a common
understanding through discussion, debate, and compromise—and
oppose resolutions that would otherwise demonstrate consensus
on many disarmament-related issues. In turn, these time-hardened
positions have given rise to a number of static annual resolutions.
Rather than a political forum for debate on key issues, the
First Committee has turned into a resolution-generating machine,
from which repetitive, redundant resolutions are tabled and
voted on year after year.
Reaching Critical
Will and the General Assembly First Committee
During the first weeks of the General
Assembly, Reaching Critical Will closely monitors the high-level
statements given during the General Debate. We produce a Disarmament
Index of all statements that refer to issues
of disarmament and non-proliferation, which is published online
at the start of the First Committee.
Reaching Critical Will also coordinates
NGO reporting on the First Committee, and publishes a weekly
newsletter, The
First Committee Monitor. If you would like
to receive this weekly newsletter by email, please
subscribe to the list, with "First Committee subscribe"
in the subject heading. The Monitor is available
in PDF and HTML; please indicate which you would prefer.
Reaching Critical Will also maintains
a Calendar
of Events during the First Committee.
If you would like to have your event posted on the calendar,
contact the Project
Associate.
What
Can NGOs Do Around the First Committee?
The First Committee is one of the best
opportunities for outreach, education, and advocacy efforts
on disarmament and non-proliferation issues. All of the disarmament-focused
diplomats, who are normally based in Geneva, will be working
in New York throughout the five weeks of the Committee, and
much of the groundwork for the spring's NPT Review Conference
will be laid out at this time.
Organize an event in New York
RCW will be able to provide your organization
with a conference room at the United Nations for any educational,
networking, or advocacy event that you would like to hold
during the First Committee. These events will be held during
the lunch session (normally 1-3 PM) so as to enable more delegates'
participation.
If you would like to organize an event,
contact RCW immediately
to book your event and have it posted on the First
Committee Calendar.
Monitor the First Committee
Stay updated with what your country does or does not say
on the important disarmament and international security issues
facing us today. You can see what your head of state or foreign
minister says at the General Debate through our Disarmament
Index.
You can also stay updated with the
First Committee by subscribing to the First
Committee Monitor, a weekly publication reporting
on a dozen of the most pressing, controversial issues discussed
in the First Committee. Read archived issues and subscribe
today.
Media Outreach
While decisions taken on matters of disarmament and non-proliferation
are some of the most critical issues to the world, there remains
a lack of adequate coverage of these issues by the mainstream
media. Many mainstream media agencies are subsidiaries of military
corporations. These agencies are never going to give positive
media coverage to groups and messages that challenge their power.
Notice the correspondents in the print, radio, and TV media
covering nuclear or foreign policy matters. Build a data base
of media contacts and keep a select group of journalists,
or your entire list, informed of your activities and analysis
of events and developments in this field.
Create your own media: newsletters, radio shows, video documentaries,
email lists, webpages. To find out how to get involved with
local independent media near you, see: www.indymedia.org.
Organize an event at home
With the First Committee
in session, it is a prime teachable moment to continue your
own education, outreach, and advocacy efforts at home.
Reach out to your representatives
Contact your representatives
in New York and in your capital. Fax or email them letters
urging them to support disarmament-focused resolutions. Offer
them resources for more information and demand a response.
For more information on writing a letter, click
here.
Organize a meeting with your representatives
Listen to their opinion on nuclear issues- share yours. Find
out who represents you at our
database of governmental decision-makers.
777 UN Plaza - 6th Floor - New York, NY - 10017 - Ph: 212.682.1265 - Fax: 212.286.8211 - info@reachingcriticalwill.org
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