Reaching Critical Will

Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)

Conference on Disarmament

General Assembly First Committee

UN Disarmament Commission

Special Session on Disarmament

A16 0/42

Report of the Disarmament Commission for 2005

26 July 2005

Contents Paragraph

I. Introduction 1 - 3

II. Organization and work of the 2005 session 4 - 11

II Documentation 12

IV. Conclusions and recommendations 13 - 15

I. Introduction

1. At its fifty-ninth session, the General Assembly adopted resolution 59/105 of 3 December 2004, entitled “Report of the Disarmament Commission”, which reads as follows:

The General Assembly,

Having considered the report of the Disarmament Commission,

Recalling its resolutions 47/54 A of 9 December 1992, 47/54 G of 8 April 1993, 48/77 A of 16 December 1993, 49/77 A of 15 December 1994, 50/72 D of 12 December 1995, 51/47 B of 10 December 1996, 52/40 B of 9 December 1997, 53/79 A of 4 December 1998, 54/56 A of 1 December 1999, 55/35 C of 20 November 2000, 56/26 A of29 November2001, 57/95 of 22 November 2002 and 58/67 of 8 December 2003,

Considering the role that the Disarmament Commission has been called upon to play and the contribution that it should make in examining and submitting recommendations on various problems in the field of disarmament and in the promotion of the implementation of the relevant decisions adopted by the General Assembly at its tenth special session,

Bearing in mind its decision 52/492 of 8 September 1998,

1. Takes note of the report of the Disarmament Commission;’

2. Reaffirms the importance of further enhancing the dialogue and cooperation among the First Committee of the General Assembly, the Disarmament Commission and the Conference on Disarmament;

3. Also reaffirms the role of the Disarmament Commission as the specialized, deliberative body within the United Nations multilateral disarmament machinery that allows for in-depth deliberations on specific disarmament issues, leading to the submission of concrete recommendations on those issues;

4. Requests the Disarmament Commission to continue its work in accordance with its mandate, as set forth in paragraph 118 of the Final Document of the Tenth Special Session of the General Assembly, and with paragraph 3 of Assembly resolution 37/78 H of 9 December 1982, and to that end to make every effort to achieve specific recommendations on the items on its agenda, taking into account the adopted “Ways and means to enhance the functioning of the Disarmament Commission”;

5. Recommends that the Disarmament Commission consider the following items at its 2005 substantive session:

(a) [to be determined];

(b) [to be determinedi;

6. Requests the Disarmament Commission to meet for a period not exceeding three weeks during 2005, namely, from 18 July to 5 August, and to submit a substantive report to the General Assembly at its sixtieth session;

7. Requests the Secretary-General to transmit to the Disarmament Commission the annual report of the Conference on Disarmament, together with all the official records of the fifty-ninth session of the General Assembly relating to disarmament matters, and to render all assistance that the Commission may require for implementing the present resolution;

8. Also requests the Secretary-General to ensure full provision to the Disarmament Commission and its subsidiary bodies of interpretation and translation facilities in the official languages and to assign, as a matter of priority, all the necessary resources and services, including verbatim records, to that end;

9. Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its sixtieth session the item entitled “Report of the Disarmament Commission”.

2. The Disarmament Commission held the first part of its organizational meeting (A/CN.10/PV.266), on 22 December 2004, during which the Commission considered questions related to the organization of work and substantive agenda items for its 2005 substantive session in accordance with the adopted “Ways and means to enhance the functioning of the Disarmament Commission” (A/CN.l0/137) and in the light of General Assembly resolution 59/105. The Commission took up the question of the election of its officers, taking into account the principle of rotation of the chairmanship among the geographic regions.

3. On 22 December 2004, the Disarmament Commission decided to appoint Vice- Chairman Alisher Vohidov of Uzbekistan as Acting Chair of the Commission to perform duties of the Chair until such time when the Commission completed its consultation on the composition of the Bureau for 2005.

II. Organization and work of the 2005 session

4. The Disarmament Commission did not hold any substantive meetings in 2005.

Sergei Cherniavsky, Senior Political Affairs Officer of the Disarmament and

Decolonization Affairs Branch, Department for General Assembly and Conference

Management, served as the Secretary of the Commission.

5. During its 266 (organizational) meeting, the Bureau of the Commission was constituted as follows:

Chairman:

Sylvester Ekundayo Rowe (Sierra Leone)

Vice-Chairmen:

Representatives of the following Member States:

Bolivia, Israel, Jamaica, Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom and Uzbekistan

Rapporteur:

Maria Pavlova Tzotzorkova (Bulgaria)

6. The Commission, led by the Chair-designate for the 2005 substantive session, held five informal meetings in June and July 2005. Following additional informal consultations, the Chair-designate proposed the following two items on nuclear and conventional disarmament for inclusion in the provisional agenda of its substantive session:

i.“Recommendations for nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons in all its aspects, in particular for achieving the objective of nuclear disarmament.”

ii. “Practical confidence building measures, including verification mechanisms, in the field of conventional weapons.”

7. At its resumed 266th (organizational) meeting on 18 July 2005, the Commission continued to discuss the Chairman’s proposal for the two agenda items as listed above.

8. On 18 July 2005, the Commission agreed, ad referendum, to the inclusion of the following item on nuclear disarmament, as proposed by the Chairman, on the provisional agenda of its substantive session:

(i) “Recommendations for nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons in all its aspects, in particular for achieving the objective of nuclear disarmament.”

9. On 19 July 2005, the Commission decided to amend item (ii) above, namely the Chairman’s proposal on conventional disarmament. At the same time, it agreed, ad referendum, to the inclusion of the following item on conventional weapons on the provisional agenda of its substantive session:

(ii) “Practical confidence-building measures in the field of conventional weapons.”

10. On 20 July, the Commission also agreed, ad referendum, in addition to the two agenda items agreed to above, to include the following text in its report: “the issue of measures for improving the effectiveness of the methods of work of the Disarmament Commission will be considered in plenary meetings at its 2006 substantive session, with equitable time allocated to it.”

11. On 22 July, one delegation proposed an oral amendment to the agenda item on nuclear disarmament listed in paragraph 8 (i) above to read as follows:

“Recommendations for nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons”.

111. Documentation

12. At its 266 meeting, the Commission had before it the provisional agenda of the organizational session (AICN. 1 0/2005/L.56).

IV Conclusions and recommendations

13. On 26 July 2005, under the circumstances, the Commission decided to close its

2005 organizational session and meet at its organizational session for 2006 in November-December 2005.

14. At the same meeting also, the Disarmament Commission decided to hold the

2006 substantive session during a period of three weeks in April 2006, and in this context requested the Bureau to present to the sixtieth session of the General Assembly a relevant resolution proposing the above dates.

15. On 26 July, the Commission adopted as a whole, its report to the sixtieth session of the General Assembly.