[E-rundbrief] Info 1819 - UN-Director-General on Peace, Security, Disarmament

[Matthias Reichl]

E-Rundbrief Info 1819 - Michael Møller, Director-General of the United 
Nations Office on "Peace and Security", cyber-security challenges, and 
the existence of new weapons systems and technologies, are not being 
sufficiently addressed or reflected in current arms control regimes.

Bad Ischl, 21.1.2019

Begegnungszentrum für aktive Gewaltlosigkeit

www.begegnungszentrum.at

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https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/01/1030962

‘Compelling case’ for urgency around global disarmament, UN-led forum 
told.

Michael Møller, Director-General of the United Nations Office at 
Geneva, briefs the press at the Palais des Nations. (file)

21 January 2019

Peace and Security

Michael Møller, head of the UN in Geneva, has warned delegates to the 
Conference on Disarmament that cyber-security challenges, and the 
existence of new weapons systems and technologies, are not being 
sufficiently addressed or reflected in current arms control regimes.

Mr Møller, who acts as the Secretary-General of the Conference, was 
speaking at the opening of the first 2019 meeting of the Geneva-based 
Conference, which, although it is the only multilateral forum for 
disarmament negotiations, has been deadlocked for over 20 years: the 
last arms control agreement successfully negotiated by the body was 
the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, in 1996.

The UN Geneva chief said that the realities of today make a compelling 
case for a renewed sense of urgency, and a collective commitment and 
determination in pursuing disarmament. He warned that the nuclear 
threat remains high: nuclear programmes continue to be pursued, and 
nuclear arsenals enhanced, and that military and security expenditures 
have reached record levels. Despite these, and other risks, 
multilateralism is “under fire at the time we need it most,” and 
“meaningful dialogue on the right approach to a host of disarmament 
issues continues to elude us.

2019 marks the 40th anniversary of the Conference on Disarmament, 
described by Mr. Møller as an occasion to “recall why these 
mechanisms, with their regulations and rules of procedures and (spoken 
and unspoken) codes of conduct, were established.” They are important, 
he continued, because they provide a neutral place for dialogue, where 
different positions can be acknowledged and transcended.

Striking a positive note, Mr. Møller pointed to progress made in 2018 
– when, for the first time in several years, four reports were adopted 
by consensus, paving the way for further work including technical 
discussions – and the hope that momentum generated by these 
developments will continue in this and future Sessions of the Conference.

The Conference on Disarmament, established as the single multilateral 
disarmament negotiating forum of the international community, is not 
formally a UN body but reports annually, or more frequently as 
appropriate, to the UN General Assembly.

Currently, the consensus-based body focuses primarily on the following 
issues: 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; and  new types of weapons of mass destruction and 
new systems of such weapons including radiological weapons; 
comprehensive programme of disarmament and transparency in armaments.

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     Matthias Reichl, Pressesprecher/ press speaker,
     Begegnungszentrum fuer aktive Gewaltlosigkeit
     Center for Encounter and active Non-Violence
     Wolfgangerstr. 26, 4820 Bad Ischl, Austria,
     fon: +43 6132 24590, Informationen/ informations,
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