First Committee Briefing Book 2023
Published ahead of the 2023 UN General Assembly First Committee, this briefing book highlights a number of critical disarmament topics and suggests how governments can achieve progress on them.
The General Assembly's work on disarmament is conducted through its First Committee. This briefing book provides a quick overview of the state of play on some of the most pressing issues that will be addressed at this year’s First Committee session. It also outlines recommendations for governments from some of the key civil society groups working on these topics. The civil society organisations, coalitions, and campaigns participating most actively at the First Committee have argued consistently that we can and must replace watered-down outcomes with real results that advance human security and social and economic justice.
Edited by Ray Acheson and Emma Bjertén • Published September 2023 by Reaching Critical Will, a programme of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
Download the briefing book in PDF
- Introduction, Reaching Critical Will (www.reachingcriticalwill.org)
- Nuclear weapons, International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (www.icanw.org)
- Biological weapons, Kings College London (www.kcl.ac.uk)
- Chemical weapons, CBW Events (https://www.cbw-events.org.uk/)
- Armed drones, PAX (www.paxforpeace.nl)
- Autonomous weapons, Stop Killer Robots (www.stopkillerrobots.org)
- Explosive weapons in populated areas, International Network on Explosive Weapons (www.inew.org)
- Landmines, International Campaign to Ban Landmines (www.icbl.org)
- Cluster munitions, Cluster Munition Coalition (www.stopclustermunitions.org)
- Depleted uranium weapons, International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons (www.icbuw.eu)
- Incendiary weapons, Human Rights Watch (www.hrw.org)
- Small arms and light weapons, International Action Network on Small Arms (www.iansa.org)
- International arms trade, Control Arms (www.controlarms.org)
- Outer space, Project Ploughshares (www.ploughshares.ca)
- Cyber, Stimson Center (https://www.stimson.org)
- Gender, intersectionality, and disarmament, Reaching Critical Will (www.reachingcriticalwill.org)
- Disarmament and socioeconomic justice, Reaching Critical Will (www.reachingcriticalwill.org)
- Protection of the environment in relation to armed conflicts, Conflict and Environment Observatory (www.ceobs.org) and PAX (www.paxforpeace.nl)
- Youth and disarmament education, International Disarmament Institute, Pace University (www.pace.edu/dyson/centers/international-disarmament-institute)
We are delighted to offer the online version of this publication for free, but please consider making a donation to Reaching Critical Will to help us cover the costs of producing this book and the other materials and information services that Reaching Critical Will provides.