United Nations General Assembly Resolution A/69/41

Sixty-ninth session

Agenda item 96 (bb)

The General Assembly,

Recalling its resolution 68/46 of 5 December 2013 on taking forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations for the achievement and maintenance of a world without nuclear weapons,

Deeply concerned about the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons,

Recalling the Declaration of the Tenth Special Session of the General Assembly, the first special session devoted to disarmament, in which it is stated, inter alia, that all the peoples of the world have a vital interest in the success of disarmament negotiations and that all States have the right to participate in disarmament negotiations,

Reaffirming the role and functions of the Conference on Disarmament and the Disarmament Commission, as set out in the Final Document of the Tenth Special Session of the General Assembly,

Recalling the United Nations Millennium Declaration, in which it is stated, inter alia, that responsibility for managing worldwide economic and social development, as well as threats to international peace and security, must be shared among the nations of the world and should be exercised multilaterally and that, as the most universal and most representative organization in the world, the United Nations must play the central role,

Welcoming the efforts of Member States to secure progress in multilateral disarmament and the support of the Secretary-General for such efforts, and noting in this regard the Secretary-General’s five-point proposal on nuclear disarmament,

Recalling the outcome, including the action points, of the 2010 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons,

Reaffirming the absolute validity of multilateral diplomacy in the field of disarmament and non-proliferation, and determined to promote multilateralism as an essential way to develop arms regulation and disarmament negotiations,

Recognizing the absence of concrete outcomes of multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations within the United Nations framework for more than a decade,

Recognizing also the increased political attention to disarmament and non proliferation issues and that the international political climate is more conducive to the promotion of multilateral disarmament and moving towards the goal of a world without nuclear weapons,

Welcoming the high-level meeting of the General Assembly on nuclear disarmament, held on 26 September 2013 pursuant to its resolution 67/39 of 3 December 2012, which highlighted the wish of the international community for progress in this field, and noting its resolution 68/32 of 5 December 2013 as a follow-up to this meeting,

Welcoming also the report on the work of the Open-ended Working Group to develop proposals to take forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations for the achievement and maintenance of a world without nuclear weapons, which was established by the General Assembly by its resolution 67/56 of 3 December 2012 and which met during 2013, reflecting the discussions and proposals made during its deliberations to take forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations for the achievement and maintenance of a world without nuclear weapons,

Emphasizing the importance and urgency of substantive progress on priority disarmament and non-proliferation issues,

Recognizing the important contribution that civil society makes to multilateral disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control processes,

Mindful of Article 11 of the Charter of the United Nations concerning the functions and powers of the General Assembly to consider and make recommendations with regard to, inter alia, disarmament,

1. Welcomes the report of the Secretary-General containing the views of Member States on how to take forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations, including the steps that Member States have already taken to that end, and requests the Secretary-General to transmit that report to the Conference on Disarmament and the Disarmament Commission for their consideration;

2. Recognizes the value of the contribution that international organizations, civil society, academia and research make to taking forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations, as demonstrated during the work of the Open-ended Working Group to develop proposals to take forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations for the achievement and maintenance of a world without nuclear weapons;

3. Emphasizes that the universal objective of taking forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations remains the achievement and maintenance of a world without nuclear weapons, and also emphasizes the importance of addressing issues related to nuclear weapons in a comprehensive, interactive and constructive manner, for the advancement of multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations;

4. Calls upon all Member States, international organizations and civil society to continue to enrich the discussions on how to take forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations in the United Nations bodies in which disarmament and peace and security are addressed, taking into account the report of the Working Group and the proposals contained therein, as well as the report submitted by the Secretary-General pursuant to resolution 68/46;

5. Encourages Member States, international organizations and civil society to take into account the report of the Working Group and the proposals contained therein, as well as the report submitted by the Secretary-General pursuant to resolution 68/46, in the discussions in other forums in which humanitarian, health, human rights, environmental and development affairs are addressed;

6. Decides to review at its seventieth session progress made in the implementation of the present resolution, to take stock of all relevant efforts undertaken and to further explore options for taking forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations, including if necessary through the Working Group;

7. Reaffirms the urgency of securing substantive progress in multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations, and welcomes further efforts in this respect;

8. Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its seventieth session, under the item entitled “General and complete disarmament”, the sub-item entitled “Taking forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations”.

62nd plenary meeting 2 December 2014