United Nations, The League of Arab
States and Disarmament
Presented by Ambassador Dr. Sameh Aboul Enein
Permanent Representative of the League of Arab States in Geneva
Professor of International Security & Disarmament
Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement and Global Dialogue
Monday 16 November, 2015
Geneva
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 and Palestine. 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.
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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.
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Main Organs
 General Assembly
 Security Council
 Economic and Social Council
 Trusteeship Council
 International Court of Justice
 Secretariat
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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
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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.
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 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 matter within the scope of the
UN, except matters of peace and security under Security
Council’s 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.
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Security Council
 The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is the executive organ 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, 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.
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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
function is 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 and the Security Council.
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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.
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What is the Arab World ?
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LAS History
 Created in March 22, 1945
 7 founder independent Arab States
 The LAS H.Q. is in Cairo
 Last State joining the LAS was Comoros Island
(1993)
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LAS History (Secretary
Generals)
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LAS Main Role
 Fostering and promoting relations among its
member States
 Coordinating policies of its member States
 Promoting common interests of its member States
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LAS General Structure
 Secretary General of the LAS
 Deputy General Secretary
 Under Secretary General
 The Council of the League of Arab States:
 at the Summit Level (Heads of States) (1946)
 at Ministerial level
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LAS General Structure

9 General Secretariat Departments

18 missions abroad

12 Specialized Ministerial Councils:

Technical Committees
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LAS General Structure
 The Social & Economic Council (1950)
 27 Arab Specialized Organizations
 22 Arab Unions
 Joint Arab-Foreign Chambers Of Commerce
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Some New Instruments
 Regional Summit Meetings
 Forum
 Arab Charter on Human Rights (EIF 2008)
 Units:
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Unit for Combating Human Trafficking
Crisis Room Unit
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LAS International Relations
Types of International Relations:
 General Agreement Cooperation: UN - OIC - AU
 MoU: US Department of States - WHO - European
Commission – OCHA
 Observer Status: UN - OSCE
 Full member: Union for the Mediterranean
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Benefits and Strengths:
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Better understanding of member States
Avoid duplications
Creating synergy
Save resources and efforts
Exchange of expertise
Best practices and lessons learned
Etc…
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A Focus on Arms Control and Disarmament

Weapons of Mass Destruction
“Atomic explosive weapons, radioactive material
weapons, lethal chemical or biological weapons, and
any weapons developed in the future which have
characteristics comparable in destructive effect to
those of the atomic bomb or other weapons mentioned
above”
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• Conventional Weapons
“Weapons that are not weapons of mass destruction.
Typically understood to include devices designed
to kill, injure, or cause damage usually, though not
exclusively, by means of the effects of high
explosives, kinetic energy or incendiaries, and
their delivery systems”
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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."
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Quick Facts:
 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.
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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, these are:
1. Non-Proliferation
2. Disarmament
3. The Right to the peaceful use of Nuclear Technology.
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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).
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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.
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Third Pillar: Peaceful use 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
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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.
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“The Middle East Free Zone: A Challenging Reality”
 In advance of the conference on the establishment of a Middle East
zone, there is substantial agreement between States on such issues as
the geographic scope of the zone, and the inclusion of substantive
agenda items such as verification and compliance. However, in view of
items raised previously, a range of additional crucial issues are still
pending for discussion by the region’s States. Key questions remain,
including:
 Which institutions will be entrusted with the responsibility of the zone?
 What are the implications of non-compliance? (The Euratom treaty may be
a useful example here as there is a process to deal with violations:
depending on the severity of the violation. There is a range of options that
the Euratom Commission can decide: from sending a warning to actually
taking all the fissile materials out of a facility).
 How can security guarantees be given to reinforce the process of the zone’s
establishment?
 What role will the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, as well as nuclear safety
and security, play in future zone discussions?
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 Moreover, technical provisions need to be considered in order to achieve
nuclear disarmament and non- proliferation in the Middle East:
 Dismantling and destroying existing or remaining nuclear weapons
capabilities, facilities, and devices under international verification
mechanisms;
 Renouncing nuclear weapons through refraining from conducting indigenous
development and activities related to nuclear weapons;
 Prohibiting the transit or stationing of any nuclear explosive devices in the
zone;
 Prohibiting nuclear explosive testing in the zone and the role of the CTBTO;
 Using nuclear materials and facilities for peaceful purposes only;
 Placing all nuclear facilities under comprehensive IAEA safeguards;
 Establishing the necessary relevant institutions and mechanisms or entities to
uphold a zone, free of nuclear and other WMDs;
 Addressing the issue of verification, including identifying the role of the IAEA
and other relevant organizations such as the OPCW and CTBTO.
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Multi-lateral Treaty-Based Regime:
The NPT will be central in the negotiation of a treaty-based
Middle East WMDFZ. Negotiators should consider IAEA
safeguards, as well as verification and inspection mechanisms.
These tools are to be implemented in a manner designed to
comply with Article IV of the NPT and to avoid the hampering of
the economic or technological development of the Parties or
international cooperation in the field of peaceful nuclear
activities.
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Potential Building Blocks and Best Practices
Middle East Nuclear Free Zone & the United Nations
Available Guidelines
The IAEA Forum
The IAEA convened a forum on “Experience of Possible Relevance to
the Creation of a Nuclear Weapon Free Zone in the Middle East,” in
Vienna, in November 2011. Forum attendees presented several
constructive proposals that should be taken into consideration, including
suggestions to:
 Take stock of the importance of declaratory policy and, in
particular, declarations of good intent, and identify specific and
practical confidence-building measures;
 Consider the lessons and context of other regions prior to the
establishment of a NWFZs;
 Review existing, multilateral principles for establishing such zones,
and review the relevant theory and practice of establishing the five
existing NWFZs;
 Discuss the experience of the representatives from the five NWFZs
in setting up and implementing such zones and discuss the region
of the Middle East in this context.
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The United Nations (UN) guidelines and principles for the establishment of nuclearweapon-free-zones are another important reference for future zones that should be
thoroughly utilized. Provisions include references to the following:
 A NWFZ should not prevent the use of nuclear science and technology for peaceful
purposes and may promote, if provided for in the treaties establishing such zones,
bilateral, regional and international cooperation for the peaceful use of nuclear
energy in the zone in support of socio-economic, scientific, and technological
development of the States parties;
 The nuclear-weapon-states (NWS) are to be consulted during the negotiations of
each treaty, including the negotiation of relevant protocol(s) establishing a NWFZ,
in order to facilitate the signature and ratification of the treaty;
 A NWFZ will help strengthen the security of States parties to such zones and will
serve as an important disarmament tool that contributes to the primary objective of
strengthening regional peace and security and, by extension, global peace and
security;
 It can also be considered an important regional confidence-building measure that
reaffirms the commitment of the States that belong to the zone to honor their legal
obligations to other international non-proliferation and disarmament instruments to
which they are parties;
 The obligations of all the States parties to a zone treaty should be clearly defined and
legally binding, and the States parties should fully abide by such agreements
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WMD Treaties
 Those vested in the establishment of a Middle East zone should
give a greater degree of attention to the CTBT, in addition to
other international treaties such as the Chemical Weapons
Convention (CWC) and Biological Weapons Convention (BWC).
 The role of the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) in any
future zone is also important. The commitment by States not to
carry out any nuclear weapon text explosion or any other nuclear
explosion, and to prohibit and prevent any such nuclear
explosion at any place under its jurisdiction, is one of the critical
building blocks of any future zone.
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Successful Regional Zones
There are several successful examples for regional NWFZs, such as the Tlatelolco
Treaty, the Rarotonga Treaty and the Pelindapa Treaty.
The Pelindaba Treaty, as a recent example, contains the following provisions:
 The Treaty prohibits the research, development, manufacture, stockpiling, acquisition,
testing, possession, control, or stationing of nuclear explosive devices in the territory of
parties to the Treaty and the dumping of radioactive wastes in the African zone by Treaty
parties;
 The Treaty also prohibits any attacks against nuclear installations in the zone by Treaty
parties and requires them to maintain the highest standards of physical protection of
nuclear material, facilities and equipment, which are to be used exclusively for peaceful
purposes;
 To allow for the verification of its nuclear non-proliferation undertaking, the Treaty
requires parties to conclude comprehensive safeguards agreements with the IAEA
equivalent to the agreements required in connection with NPT;
 The Treaty provides for verification and compliance mechanisms, including the African
Commission on Nuclear Energy (AFCONE), which serves as a compliance mechanism
and encourages regional and sub-regional programs for cooperation on the peaceful uses
of nuclear science and technology;
 The establishment of AFCONE encourages African states to take responsibility for
natural resources and, in particular, nuclear material, and protects against the dumping
of toxic waste.
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Successful Institutions
The European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom)
 Important lessons for the Middle East can be drawn from the
experience of the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom).
Euratom was initially created to coordinate research programs for
the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and to pool knowledge,
infrastructure and funding.
 It ensures the security of atomic energy supply within the
framework of a centralized monitoring system and acts in several
areas connected with atomic energy, including research, safety
standards, and the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. This experience
is worth investigating to see how it might be applied to the Middle
East.
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The Brazilian-Argentine Agency for Accounting and Control of
Nuclear Weapons (ABACC)
 It is a Regional organization that also has relevance to the
establishment of a Middle East zone. The Middle East requires a
similar bold vision to rid the region of nuclear and other WMDs and
reposition it on a non-nuclear course. The relationship attained by
Brazil and Argentina through ABACC, in addition to the signature in
July 1991 of the Agreement for the Exclusively Peaceful Use of Nuclear
Energy is significant. While recognizing the sovereign right of each
nation to access nuclear technology for scientific, technological,
economic and social development, both Brazil and Argentina created a
Common System for Accounting and Control of Nuclear Materials
(SCCC).
 Moreover, the Agreement implied a clear and definite compromise for
the use of all peaceful-use materials and nuclear facilities submitted to
Brazil and Argentina’s jurisdiction and control. It was within this
context that ABACC was created to manage and apply the Common
System of Accounting and Control (SCCC).
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Selected Country Success
South Africa’s Example of the dismantlement of its nuclear program
 The example of South Africa—the first country to voluntarily abandon a fully developed
nuclear weapons program—should serve as a standard model for relevant disarmament and
dismantlement strategies. It took South Africa five years to build the country’s first nuclear
device and a total of sixteen years to construct its six-weapon arsenal. South Africa terminated
and fully dismantled its program and all related facilities it less than twenty-four months,
wherein it:
 Dismantled the six completed gun-type devices at Armaments Corporation of South Africa Ltd.
(ARMSCOR) under controlled and secure conditions;
 Melted and recast the highly-enriched uranium (HEU) from the six devices, including a
partially complete seventh device, and returned it to the Atomic Energy Corporation (AEC) for
safe-keeping;
 Fully decontaminated ARMSCOR facilities and returned severely contaminated equipment to
the AEC, including a melting furnace;
 Converted the ARMSCOR facilities to conventional weapon and non-weapon commercial
activities and destroyed all hardware components of the devices, technical design, and
manufacturing information;
 Joined the NPT, signed the Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement with the IAEA, and
submitted a full and complete national initial inventory of nuclear material and facilities as
required by the Safeguards Agreement. The first IAEA team arrived in South Africa in
November 1991.
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Kazakhstan’s example of dismantling its nuclear site Semipalatinsk
 Kazakhstan decided to renounce all nuclear weapons it inherited from
the USSR (the fourth largest nuclear arsenal in the world).
 Kazakhstan completed the dismantlement of the nuclear testing
infrastructure at Semipalatinsk in 2000.
 The Low-Enriched-Uranium Bank between Kazakhstan and the IAEA
is an example of a pro-active diplomacy that works for encouraging the
states to pursue nuclear projects for peaceful purposes. It also allows
Kazakhstan to make use of its abundant Uranium deposits.
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Key Points Summary
Finally, I would like to leave you with the following points:
 The establishment of a zone free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass
destruction (WMD) in the Middle East remains crucial despite the failure to convene a
conference on this initiative as mandated within the Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT)
Review Cycle.
 This project has taken a new dimension after the Arab Spring because, as a result, civil
society and parliaments are likely to play an increasing role in foreign and security policy
issues and may press their governments for more progress in this field.
 The experience of other regions in establishing nuclear-weapon-free zones will be useful
to set up a similar zone in the Middle East, including in its technical dimensions and
verification mechanisms.
 In order to make progress towards a such zone in the Middle East, the conveners of the
planned conference should engage Israel, Iran and the Arab League in substantive and
procedural preparations to launch a negotiating zonal conference cycle.
 Progress towards this goal would be reported to the NPT Review Cycle conferences, and
would require the contribution of international organizations such as the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization
(CTBTO) or the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
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Thank you for your attention
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