Disarmament Commission

2012 Substantive Session

326^th Meeting (AM)

Disarmament Commission Elects Two Vice-Chairs, Rapporteur for Current Session

 

The Disarmament Commission met briefly this morning and completed the Bureau for its 2012 session with the election of two Vice-Chairs and a Rapporteur.

Elected as Vice-Chairs were Bouchaib El Oumni (Morocco) from the Group of African States and Naif Bin Bandar Al Sudairy (Saudi Arabia) from among the Asia and Pacific States.  Fikry Cassidy (Indonesia), also from the latter group, will serve as Rapporteur.

Nominating the candidates were the representatives of Nigeria on behalf of the African Group of States and Mongolia on behalf of the Asia and Pacific States.

The Commission began its session on 2 April, hearing from the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Angela Kane, who, on behalf of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, said the Commission had “only one responsible course to follow:  it must focus its deliberations on finding a common ground for addressing current and emerging global challenges”.  Those challenges ranged from the elimination of the deadliest weapons of mass destruction, to the reduction and limitation of conventional arms, she said.

On 5 April, following protracted consultations among the Member States, an agenda for the first of a three-year cycle of work was agreed.  Under the Chairmanship of Enrique Román-Morey (Peru), it was decided that the agenda, which drives the substantive deliberations in the working groups, would include two main items:  “Recommendations for achieving the objectives of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons” and “practical confidence-building measures in the field of conventional weapons”.  Other elements of the work programme include informal meetings on the Fourth Disarmament Decade and on the Commission’s methods of work.

The Commission is scheduled to deliberate behind closed doors in its Working Groups for the remainder of its session, set to conclude on 20 April.

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For information media • not an official record