Nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East – First Cttee debate – Verbatim record (excerpts)

Official Records

General Assembly

Fiftieth session

First Committee

9th meeting

Wednesday, 25 October 1995, 3 p.m.

New York

Chairman: Mr. Erdenechuluun ……………………….. (Mongolia)

In the absence of the Chairman, Mr. Hoffman (Germany), Vice-Chairman, took the Chair.

The meeting was called to order at 3.20 a.m.

Agenda items 57 to 81 (continued)

General debate on all disarmament and international security items

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Mr. Al-Thaqafi (Saudi Arabia) (interpretation from Arabic): …

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From the beginning, the position of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been one of support for all treaties and conventions that aim at eliminating all types of weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, because we in the Kingdom are eager to see the world’s inhabitants live in an atmosphere free from the threat of weapons of mass destruction and devastation. My country’s Government has always attached great importance to all efforts that aim at eliminating such weapons from all regions of the world, and in particular from the Middle East. We have, therefore, participated in all the activities of the specialized committees of the General Assembly and in the work of the technical committee established at the 101st session of the League of Arab States.

In this respect, we are pleased to convey the gratification and satisfaction of the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at the General Assembly’s consensus adoption of resolution 49/71 on the establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East. In this regard, I call on the parties concerned in the region to adopt practical measures to translate this objective into reality.

The idea of establishing a zone free of all weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East dates back to 1974, when it was first proposed to the General Assembly. Since then, the General Assembly has adopted resolutions every year calling for the establishment of such a zone. The concept was further developed in 1990 with a call to make the Middle East a zone free of weapons of mass destruction. The General Assembly annually adopts a consensus resolution in which it calls for the establishment of such a zone and urges all the countries of the region to accede to the NPT.

Though more than 20 years have passed since the first United Nations call for establishing a zone free of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East, some of the countries of the region which have a nuclear capability continue to procrastinate, have yet to heed the international calls for accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and have failed to date to submit their nuclear facilities to the safeguards regime of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

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The meeting rose at 5.45 p.m.