The United Nations has decided to hold a High Level Conference on Nuclear Disarmament in 2018 in order to enhance progress toward the achievement of a nuclear weapons convention – a global treaty to prohibit and eliminate nuclear weapons.
Similar UN High Level Conferences held over the past few years have been very successful, including the conference on Sustainable Development (2015) which achieved agreement on 17 Sustainable Development Goals; Climate Change (2015) which achieved the Paris Agreement; and Refugees and Migrants (2016) which achieved the New York Declaration.
The aim of this working group is to build civil society, parliamentary and government support for the 2018 UN High Level Conference on Nuclear Disarmament, and to influence the agenda and ensure success.
Ideas proposed for the agenda of the 2018 UN Conference:
- Encouraging states to ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons;
- Calling on the nuclear-armed States (and allied states) to adopt measures at the conference on nuclear-risk reduction and transparency, including lowering the operational readiness to use nuclear weapons, and adopting no-first-use policies;
- Moving the nuclear-armed States to announce, at the conference, an end the modernisation of nuclear weapons, and new agreed cuts in their stockpiles;
- Renewing the UN process an establishing a Middle East Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone;
- Supporting the establishment of a North East Asian NWFZ.
Developments:
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe – which includes the parliaments of France, Russia, UK, USA, all NATO countries and other European Countries – has called ‘on all participating OSCE States to participate in the 2018 UN international conference on nuclear disarmament at the highest level, to include parliamentarians in their delegations to the conference and to pursue the adoption of nuclear risk reduction, transparency and disarmament measures at the conference.’ See OSCE Parliamentary Assembly calls for nuclear weapons stand-down.
On Oct 12, 2017, the Non-Aligned Movement, representing 120 countries, submitted a draft resolution to the United Nations General Assembly laying out the general mandate and dates for the UNHLC. The resolution proposes that the conference take place at the United Nations in New York from May 14-16, 2018.
Documents:
- UN Resolution 71/71 (2016), re-affirming the decision to hold the UN High Level Conference on Nuclear Disarmament;
- UNFOLD ZERO working paper to the 2017 NPT prep com on the 2018 UN High Level Conference
- The Ban treaty and the UN High Level Conference on Nuclear Disarmament
Events:
- Consultation meetings on the UN HLC, January – March 2017
- Side-event at the 2017 NPT Prep Com in Vienna
- Side event during the Ban treaty negotiations, June 29
- Round-table with government and civil society representatives at GCSP, Geneva, Sep 13, 2017
- International webinar conference, Oct 11-12, 2017
Join the working group:
Working group convenors: Basel Peace Office and UNFOLD ZERO. To join the working group contact info@baselpeaceoffice.org
List of working group members as at Oct 20, 2017