Conference on Disarmament to Hold First Public Plenary of its 2022 Session on Tuesday, 25 January

The Conference on Disarmament, the world's single multilateral forum for disarmament negotiations, will hold the first public plenary of its 2022 session on Tuesday, 25 January, during which it will hear a statement by 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.

The session will open 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. After China’s presidency (24 January to 18 February), the following countries will also take the presidency during 2022: Colombia (21 February to 18 March), Cuba (21 March to 1 April and 16 to 27 May), Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (30 May to 24 June), Democratic Republic of the Congo (27 June to 1 July and 1 to 19 August), and Ecuador (22 August to 16 September). The three parts of the 2022 session of the Conference will be 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.

The first plenary meeting will start at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 25 January in room XIX. Speakers will address the meeting in person, while the public can follow the meeting on listen-live.unog.ch.

In accordance with rule 27 of its Rules of Procedure, the Conference on Disarmament shall adopt its agenda for the year at the beginning of each annual session. “In doing so, the Conference shall take into account the recommendations made to it by the United Nations General Assembly, the proposals presented by Member States of the Conference, and the decisions of the Conference." The Rules of Procedure of the Conference also provide that, on the basis of its agenda, the Conference, “at the beginning of its annual session, shall establish its programme of work, which will include a schedule of its activities for that session, taking also into account the recommendations, proposals and decisions referred to in rule 27.”

The Conference on Disarmament and its predecessors have negotiated such major multilateral arms limitation and disarmament agreements as the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques, the Treaty on the Prohibition of the Emplacement of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction on the Sea-Bed and the Ocean Floor and in the Subsoil thereof, the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction, the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction, and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.

The Conference on Disarmament has not negotiated an instrument on its agenda for the past two and a half decades. 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 2022 session of 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.

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