Conference on Disarmament Concludes 2022 Session
The Conference on Disarmament, the world's single multilateral forum for disarmament negotiations, today concluded its 2022 session after adopting an annual report to the General Assembly.
The 2022 session opened under the presidency of China. The presidency of the Conference rotates among its Member States according to the English alphabetical order, with each President holding office for four working weeks. China, Colombia, Cuba, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Ecuador held the presidency in 2022. The three parts of the 2022 session of the Conference were held from 24 January to 1 April for the first part, from 16 May to 1 July for the second part, and from 1 August to 16 September for the third part.
Tatiana Valovaya, Secretary-General of the Conference on Disarmament and Personal Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General to the Conference, and Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, addressed the Conference on 25 January. She urged all Conference on Disarmament members to engage in good faith in constructive dialogue that would lead the Conference forward in the consideration of its core agenda items. Political will on the part of all members was fundamental to agreement on a programme of work, and eventual negotiations on disarmament instruments, which remained the raison d’être of the Conference.
During the high-level segment from 28 February to 2 March, the Conference on Disarmament heard statements from dignitaries from Colombia, Peru, Indonesia, Argentina, United Kingdom, Greece, Sweden, Pakistan, Spain, Finland, Canada, Qatar, Zimbabwe, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia, United States, Brazil, Ecuador, France, Nigeria, Iraq, India, Chile, Belarus, Venezuela, Belgium, Yemen, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Russian Federation, Egypt, Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Romania, Italy, Bulgaria, South Africa, Netherlands, European Union, Ghana, Slovakia, Malaysia, Syrian Arab Republic, New Zealand, Morocco, Ireland, Poland, Latvia, Japan, Cyprus, Estonia, Australia, Turkey, Germany, Norway, Islamic Republic of Iran, Mexico, and Viet Nam.
The dates for the Conference’s 2023 session will be: 23 January to 31 March for the first part; 15 May to 30 June for the second part; and 31 July to 15 September for the third part. During 2023, the following countries will hold the presidency: Egypt, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, and Hungary.
Despite efforts by successive Presidents of the Conference, no agreement was reached on a programme of work, an issue which has stalemated the Conference for more than two decades. On 22 February 2022, the Conference adopted a decision on its work for 2022 and established five subsidiary bodies in order to advance its substantive work on all agenda items in a comprehensive and balanced manner.
Algeria was the coordinator of subsidiary body one on the cessation of the arms race and nuclear disarmament. Spain was the coordinator of subsidiary body two on the prevention of nuclear war, including all related matters. Chile was the coordinator of subsidiary body three on the prevention of an arms race in outer space. Indonesia was the coordinator of subsidiary body four on effective international arrangements to assure non-nuclear-weapon States against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons. Belarus was the coordinator of subsidiary body five on new types of weapons of mass destruction and new systems of such weapons, radiological weapons, a comprehensive programme of disarmament and transparency in armaments.
The Conference adopted the reports of subsidiary bodies three and five. The President said there was no consensus on the reports of subsidiary bodies one, two and four.
Currently, the agenda of the Conference contains the following items: cessation of the nuclear arms race and nuclear disarmament; prevention of nuclear war, including all related matters; prevention of an arms race in outer space; effective international arrangements to assure non-nuclear-weapon States against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons; new types of weapons of mass destruction and new systems of such weapons, radiological weapons; comprehensive programme of disarmament; and transparency in armaments.
Documentation related to the Conference on Disarmament can be found here. The public meetings of the Conference on Disarmament can be listened to in real time here. They are also recorded and can be found here.
Member States of the Conference
The 65 members of the Conference are Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Cuba, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Myanmar, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian Federation, Senegal, Slovakia, Spain, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela, Viet Nam and Zimbabwe.
Produced by the United Nations Information Service in Geneva for use of the information media;
not an official record. English and French versions of our releases are different as they are the product of two separate coverage teams that work independently.
DC22.034E