The United Nations Disarmament Commission (UNDC) is a

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

commission under the

United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; , AGNU or AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as its main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ. Currently in its Seventy-ninth session of th ...

which primarily deals with issues relating to

Disarmament Disarmament is the act of reducing, limiting, or abolishing Weapon, weapons. Disarmament generally refers to a country's military or specific type of weaponry. Disarmament is often taken to mean total elimination of weapons of mass destruction, ...

.The UNDC is serviced substantively by the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs and technically by the Department of General Assembly Affairs and Conference Services.

History

The United Nations Disarmament Commission was first established on 11 January 1952 by

Resolution 502 (VI). This commission was put under the jurisdiction of the

United Nations Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...

and its mandate included: preparing proposals for a treaty for the regulation, limitation and balanced reduction of all armed forces and all armaments, including the elimination of all

weapons of mass destruction A weapon of mass destruction (WMD) is a Biological agent, biological, chemical weapon, chemical, Radiological weapon, radiological, nuclear weapon, nuclear, or any other weapon that can kill or significantly harm many people or cause great dam ...

. However, this commission only met a few times, and was followed by a succession of other disarmament-focused bodies: the Ten-Nation Disarmament Committee (1960), the

Eighteen Nation Committee on Disarmament The Eighteen Nation Committee on Disarmament (ENDC) was sponsored by the United Nations in 1961. The ENDC considered disarmament, confidence-building measures and nuclear test controls.Conference of the Committee on Disarmament The Conference of the Committee on Disarmament was a United Nations disarmament committee authorized by a General Assembly resolution. It began work in 1969 as the successor to the Eighteen Nation Committee on Disarmament. History The Conference ...

(1969) and, finally, the

Conference on Disarmament The Conference on Disarmament (CD) is a multilateral disarmament forum established by the international community to negotiate arms control and disarmament agreements based at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. The Conference meets annually in ...

(1979), which still meets to this day. The second iteration of the commission was formed on 30 June 1978 by the General Assembly as a subsidiary organ of the Assembly. This commissions includes all members states of the United Nations and meets yearly in New York for approximately three weeks. It is a deliberative body, whose mandate is considering and making recommendations on various issues in the field of disarmament. Due to the fact that disarmament is a substantial topic, the UNDC has traditionally focused on a limited number of agenda items at each session, typically three or four. In 1998, this tendency was made official by the General assembly, who through decision 52/492, limited the work of the UNDC to "two agenda items per year from the whole range of disarmament issues, including one on nuclear disarmament." Additionally, each topic is considered in the UNDC for a three-year period. Each session, working groups are created, the number of which is dependent on the number of agenda items being discussed by the body.

References

External links

UNGA Res. 502 (VI)UNGA A/RES/S-10/2A/INF/52/4/Add.1
{{authority control United Nations organizations based in North America Arms control

History

See also

References

External links