Division 1 OBJECTIVE

There is a need for States to fully comprehend the implications of a future treaty and its relationship with regional instruments on nuclear weapons free zones, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and other instruments at an early stage in the process. Therefore the overall goal of the new Council Decision should be to provide funding to build a broad knowledge base on a treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices or a fissile material cut-off treaty (FMCT) among the international community, in order to ensure that all UN Member States are in a position to fully engage in the consultative process as well as in any future negotiations in the framework of the Conference on Disarmament on such a treaty.

Engaging UN Member States at the regional level will complement the informal consultative meetings that will be held by the Chair of the high-level FMCT expert preparatory group in New York, and thereby enhance the quantitative and qualitative participation of States, and strengthen the inclusivity of future negotiation in the framework of the Conference on Disarmament of such a treaty.

The organization of a series of (sub)regional workshops will allow the sharing of knowledge and information within regions, as well as across regions. The workshops will include a mix of technical briefings and discussions on the implications and relevance of these future treaties on existing regional arrangements. The technical briefings by relevant experts will elaborate on the substantive issues related to the FMCT while the discussions will lead the participants to considering the regional implications and relevance of an eventual treaty.

The high-level FMCT expert preparatory group will report to the UN General Assembly at its 73rd session (2018). The General Assembly may decide to take further action on this issue. In order to support participation of UN Member States in the discussion on this issue the project will continue until the end of the regular session of the 74th session of the General Assembly (December 2019).

The United Nations Office for Disarmament (UNODA), through its Geneva Branch and its Regional Disarmament Branch, which includes the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament (UNREC) in Lomé, Togo, the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Asia and the Pacific (UNRCPD) in Kathmandu, Nepal, and United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC) in Lima, Peru, all have a long experience of lending support to States and fostering dialogue in their respective region on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation issues.

Experts will be drawn from several countries, on a broad geographical basis, from governments and regional organisations, as well as from civil society organisations, such as the International Panel on Fissile Materials (IPFM), the Verification Research, Training and Information Centre (VERTIC), the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), and academia.

Target 16.8 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals recognizes the need: ‘to broaden and strengthen the participation of developing countries in the institutions of global governance’. Therefore, the activities envisaged under this project could be a contribution towards this goal.