The United Nations and Disarmament
Presented by Dr. Sameh Aboul Enein
University of East Anglia
Dec 3, 2013
Introduction
 The United Nations is an international organization
founded in 1945 after the Second World War by 51
countries committed to maintaining international peace
and security, developing friendly relations among nations
and promoting social progress, better living standards and
human rights.
 There are currently 193 member states, including
every internationally recognized sovereign state in the
world but Vatican City. From its offices around the world,
the UN and its specialized agencies decide on substantive
and administrative issues in regular meetings held
throughout the year.
Purpose of the UN
 To keep peace throughout the world;
 To develop friendly relations among nations;
 To help nations work together to improve the lives of
poor people, to conquer hunger, disease and illiteracy,
and to encourage respect for each other’s rights and
freedoms;
 To be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations
to achieve these goals.
Main Bodies
 General Assembly
 Security Council
 Economic and Social Council
 Trusteeship Council
 International Court of Justice
 Secretariat
Quick Facts
 General Assembly: 193 Member States
 Security Council: 5 permanent members and 10 non-
permanent
 Economic and Social Council: 54 members
 International Court of Justice: 15 judges
General Assembly
 The United Nations General Assembly is one of the five
principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all
member nations have equal representation. Its powers are to oversee
the budget of the United Nations, appoint the non-permanent
members to the Security Council, receive reports from other parts of
the United Nations and make recommendations in the form of General
Assembly Resolutions. It has also established a wide number
of subsidiary organs.
 The General Assembly meets under its president or Secretary-General
in regular yearly sessions the main part of which lasts from September
to December and resumed part from January until all issues are
addressed (which often is just before the next session's start). It can
also reconvene for special and emergency special sessions. Its
composition, functions, powers, voting, and procedures are set out in
Chapter IV of the United Nations Charter.
General Assembly
 The first session was convened on 10 January 1946 in
the Westminster Central Hall in London and included
representatives of 51 nations.
 Voting in the General Assembly on important questions –
recommendations on peace and security; election of members to
organs; admission, suspension, and expulsion of members;
budgetary matters – is by a two-thirds majority of those present
and voting. Other questions are decided by majority vote. Each
member country has one vote. Apart from approval of budgetary
matters, including adoption of a scale of assessment, Assembly
resolutions are not binding on the members. The Assembly may
make recommendations on any matters within the scope of the
UN, except matters of peace and security under Security Council
consideration. The one state, one vote power structure
theoretically allows states comprising just eight percent of the
world population to pass a resolution by a two-thirds vote.
Security Council
 The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the principal organs of
the United Nations and is charged with the maintenance of international peace
and security. Its powers, outlined in the United Nations Charter, include the
establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of international
sanctions, and the authorization of military action. Its powers are exercised
through United Nations Security Council resolutions.
 The Security Council held its first session on 17 January 1946 at Church House,
Westminster, London. Since its first meeting, the Council, which exists in
continuous session, has travelled widely, holding meetings in many cities, such
as Paris and Addis Ababa, as well as at its current permanent home at the
United Nations Headquarters in New York City.
 There are 15 members of the Security Council, consisting of five veto-wielding
permanent members (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the
United States) and 10 elected non-permanent members with two-year terms.
This basic structure is set out in Chapter V of the UN Charter. Security Council
members must always be present at UN headquarters in New York so that the
Security Council can meet at any time. This requirement of the United Nations
Charter was adopted to address a weakness of the League of Nations since that
organization was often unable to respond quickly to a crisis.
Economic and Social Council
 The United Nations Economic and Social Council
(ECOSOC) constitutes one of the six principal organs (one
is not active, as of 2011) of the United Nations. It is
responsible for coordinating the economic, social and
related work of 14 UN specialized agencies, their functional
commissions and five regional commissions. ECOSOC has
54 members; it holds a four-week session each year in July.
Since 1998, it has also held a meeting each April with
finance ministers heading key committees of the World
Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The
ECOSOC serves as the central forum for discussing
international economic and social issues, and for
formulating policy recommendations addressed to
member states and the United Nations system.
Trusteeship Council
 The United Nations Trusteeship Council, one of the
principal organs of the United Nations, was established to
help ensure that trust territories were administered in the
best interests of their inhabitants and of international
peace and security. The trust territories—most of them
former mandates of the League of Nations or territories
taken from nations defeated at the end of World War II—
have all now attained self-government or independence,
either as separate nations or by joining neighboring
independent countries. The last was Palau, formerly part of
the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, which became a
member state of the United Nations in December 1994.
International court of Justice
 The International Court of Justice is the primary
judicial organ of the United Nations. It is based in the
Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands. Its main
functions are to settle legal disputes submitted to it by
states and to provide advisory opinions on legal
questions submitted to it by duly authorized
international organs, agencies, and the UN General
Assembly.
Secretariat
 The United Nations Secretariat is one of the six principal organs
of the United Nations and it is headed by the United Nations
Secretary-General, assisted by a staff of international civil
servants worldwide. It provides studies, information, and
facilities needed by United Nations bodies for their meetings. It
also carries out tasks as directed by the UN Security Council, the
UN General Assembly, the UN Economic and Social Council,
and other U.N. bodies. The United Nations Charter provides that
the staff be chosen by application of the "highest standards of
efficiency, competence, and integrity," with due regard for the
importance of recruiting on a wide geographical basis.
 The Charter provides that the staff shall not seek or receive
instructions from any authority other than the UN. Each UN
member country is enjoined to respect the international
character of the Secretariat and not seek to influence its staff.
The Secretary-General alone is responsible for staff selection.
NPT Background
 Date of Adoption: 12 June 1968
 Date of Signature: 1 July 1968
 Place of Adoption: United Nations, New York
 Date of Entry into Force: 5 March 1970
 Depositary Governments: Russian Federation, United
Kingdom, United States
 Parties: 190 States Parties
 Non-Parties: India, Israel, DPRK (Withdrew) and
Pakistan.
Background
 The NPT is an international treaty whose objective is to prevent
the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to
promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and
to further the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament and
general and complete disarmament.
 At the 1995 NPT Review and Extension Conference held in New
York at the United Nations, States Parties agreed without a vote
"that the Treaty shall continue in force indefinitely."
structure
 The NPT consists of a preamble and eleven articles.
 the treaty is interpreted as a three-pillar system, with an
implicit balance among them:
 Non-Proliferation
 Disarmament
 The right to the peaceful use of Nuclear Technology.
First Pillar: Non-Proliferation
 Five states are recognized as nuclear weapon states
(NWS): China , France, the Soviet Union (obligations and rights now
assumed by the Russian Federation), the United Kingdom , and
the United States.
 These five NWS agree not to transfer "nuclear weapons or
other nuclear explosive devices" and "not in any way to assist,
encourage, or induce" a non-nuclear weapon state (NNWS) to
acquire nuclear weapons (Article I).
 NNWS parties to the NPT agree not to "receive," "manufacture" or
"acquire" nuclear weapons or to "seek or receive any assistance in the
manufacture of nuclear weapons" (Article II).
 NNWS parties also agree to accept safeguards by the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to verify that they are not diverting
nuclear energy from peaceful uses to nuclear weapons or
other nuclear explosive devices (Article III).
Second Pillar: Disarmament
 Article VI of the NPT represents the only binding commitment
in a multilateral treaty to the goal of disarmament by the
nuclear-weapon States. The NPT's preamble contains language
affirming the desire of treaty signatories to ease international
tension and strengthen international trust so as to create
someday the conditions for a halt to the production of nuclear
weapons, and treaty on general and complete disarmament that
liquidates, in particular, nuclear weapons and their delivery
vehicles from national arsenals.
Third Pillar: Peaceful us of Nuclear
Energy
 Since very few of the states with nuclear energy programs are
willing to abandon the use of nuclear energy, the third pillar of
the NPT under Article IV provides other states with the
possibility to do the same, but under conditions intended to
make it difficult to develop nuclear weapons.
 The treaty recognizes the inalienable right of sovereign states
to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, but restricts this
right for NPT parties to be exercised "in conformity with
Articles I and II
Obligations
 Nuclear weapon states (NWS) are not to transfer to any
recipient whatsoever nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive
devices and not to assist, encourage, or induce any non-nuclear
weapon states (NNWS) to manufacture or otherwise acquire
them.
 NNWS are not to receive nuclear weapons or other nuclear
explosive devices from any transferor, and not to manufacture or
acquire them.
 NNWS must place all nuclear materials in all peaceful nuclear
activities under IAEA safeguards.
Obligations
 All Parties are obligated to facilitate and participate in the
exchange of equipment, materials, and scientific and
technological information for the peaceful uses of nuclear
energy.
 All Parties must pursue negotiations in good faith on effective
measures relating to the cessation of the nuclear arms race and
to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and
complete disarmament under strict and effective international
control.
Verification and Compliance
 NNWS are to conclude agreements with the IAEA for
safeguards to be applied on all source or special fissionable
materials in all peaceful nuclear activities within the territory
of such States. Such agreements are to be concluded with the
IAEA, individually or together with other States, and enter
into force within 18 months after their accession to the
Treaty.
Verification and Compliance
 the NPT does not have a built-in mechanism for non-
compliance. In case of non-compliance with IAEA safeguards,
the IAEA Board is to call upon the violator to remedy such noncompliance and should report the non-compliance to the UN
Security Council and General Assembly. The UN bodies may
impose specific penalties, such as curtailment or suspension of
assistance, return of materials, or suspension of privileges and
rights. An incentive to comply is peaceful nuclear assistance.
Review Conference
 NPT states parties meet every five years to “review the progress of
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the Treaty”.
In 1995, the Review Conference also addressed the question of
extending the Treaty past its initial 25 years. States parties at the
1995 Review and Extension Conference agreed to a package of
decisions:
1. Strengthening the review process and providing for
intercessional Preparatory Committees;
2. Adopting principles and objectives for achieving nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament;
3. Extending the Treaty indefinitely;
4. Adopting a resolution on the Middle East.
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Review
Conference
In 2000, states parties at the Review Conference adopted thirteen
progressive and systematic steps to implement the nuclear disarmament
obligation in the Treaty and the decisions reached at the 1995
conference.
 In 2005, states parties failed to agree on an outcome document, largely
because of disagreement between NWS and NNWS, with the former
emphasizing the importance of strengthening nonproliferation efforts
and focusing on specific cases of actual and suspected non-compliance
with the Treaty, and the latter emphasizing the importance of
compliance with and implementation of past disarmament obligations.
Developments outside the review process also prevented progress,
including the failure to bring into force the Comprehensive Test Ban
Treaty, the United States’ withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile
Treaty, and the failure of states to commence negotiations on a treaty
banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons.
2010 Review Conference
 The 2010 Review Conference took place at the United Nations
Headquarters in New York City from 3-28 May.
 The section of the Final Document titled "Conclusions and
recommendations for follow-on actions," which includes 64
specific actions items, was adopted by consensus. It is divided into
four broad subsections dealing with nuclear disarmament, nuclear
nonproliferation, peaceful uses of nuclear energy, and the Middle
East.
2010 Review Conference
 1995 Resolution on the Middle East: The RevCon called on Israel to accede to the
NPT as a NNWS and to place all its nuclear facilities under comprehensive
safeguards. All States in the Middle East region were urged to take the relevant
steps and confidence-building measures to contribute to the objectives of the 1995
Resolution on the Middle East. The RevCon established that a conference should
be convened by the UN Secretary-General and three cosponsors of the 1995
Resolution (the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Russian Federation)
in 2012 on the establishment of a zone free of weapons of mass destruction in the
Middle East. It further decided that the UN Secretary-General and the cosponsors,
in consultation with the States of the region, should appoint a facilitator, with a
mandate to support implementation of the 1995 Resolution by conducting
consultations with the States of the region in that regard and undertaking
preparations for the convening of the 2012 Conference, as well as assisting in
implementation of follow-on steps. The IAEA, Organization for the Prohibition of
Chemical Weapons (OCPW) and other relevant international organizations were
requested to prepare background documents for the conference.