Disarmament
UNODA Occasional Papers No. 40
The COVID-19 outbreak posed an unprecedented challenge to intergovernmental disarmament institutions and processes. This publication offers an extensive review of relevant developments at the United Nations particularly in the General Assembly and the Security Council as well as in the disarmament machinery and other disarmament bodies and processes. After comparing the varying responses to the pandemic the author considers whether the outbreak should serve as a catalyst for rethinking and changing multilateral working methods or rules of procedure.
Observations
The COVID-19 pandemic caused unprecedented disruption to the intergovernmental processes of the United Nations throwing the previous work streams of its primary organs into disarray. As an institutional arrangement anchored within the United Nations system the disarmament machinery—comprising the First Committee of the General Assembly the United Nations Disarmament Commission and the Conference on Disarmament—was not immune to such disruptions. Nor were other disarmament bodies and processes either established by United Nations organs or reliant on United Nations offices and staff to conduct their business.
Overview
On 12 December 2019 a cluster of patients in the city of Wuhan China began to experience the symptoms of an atypical pneumonia-like illness. On 31 December the World Health Organization (WHO) Country Office in China was alerted to several such cases across Wuhan with symptoms that included shortness of breath and fever. On 1 January 2020 the city’s Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market was permanently closed amid worries in China about a reprise of the 2002–2004 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-1) outbreak. Then on 2 January WHO activated its Incident Management Support Team across its three organizational levels: Country Office Regional Office and Headquarters.
Security Council
The lockdown at the United Nations premises posed an immediate challenge to the Security Council which was forced to suspend its work in March 2020 with peacekeeping and other mandates due to expire. After the shutdown of the United Nations Headquarters in March 2020 the Council promptly adjusted its programme of work scaling down its schedule of meetings postponing some events developing a video-teleconference network for all Council members and holding certain meetings virtually with technical support from the Secretariat. Within two months the Council had recreated most of its meeting formats and developed a written procedure for voting which allowed for the adoption of resolutions and presidential statements.
General Assembly
From the pandemic’s outset in early 2020 the President of the General Assembly emerged as the central figure who consulted with all Member States on how to continue the Assembly’s work. In that capacity Mr. Tijjani Muhammad-Bande of Nigeria did not just cancel or postpone a number of mandated meetings and other events scheduled to take place in the immediate future; he also facilitated agreement on a temporary “silence procedure” for the General Assembly to adopt formal consensus decisions without meeting in person.
Introduction
The COVID-19 outbreak posed an unprecedented challenge to intergovernmental disarmament institutions and processes. In 2020 New York City’s pandemic restrictions forced the United Nations—the centrepiece of multilateral diplomacy since its creation in 1945—to shut down its Headquarters prompting the General Assembly the Security Council the Economic and Social Council and the Secretariat to cancel or postpone numerous mandated meetings and events on disarmament non-proliferation and arms control. As COVID-19 swept across the world diplomatic centres in Geneva Vienna and elsewhere also closed their doors.
Other disarmament bodies and processes
The COVID-19 pandemic directly affected not only the three primary disarmament bodies that constitute the UN disarmament machinery but also other disarmament bodies and processes including those established by multilateral treaties.
Disarmament machinery
COVID-19 snarled the functioning of the multilateral disarmament machinery. As the pandemic erupted in early 2020 the General Assembly promptly postponed the annual session of the United Nations Disarmament Commission (UNDC) effectively cancelling it. Likewise physical restrictions imposed at the United Nations Office at Geneva forced the Conference on Disarmament to suspend and subsequently limit its work though the body still succeeded in taking forward its 2020 session. Timing appeared to favour the General Assembly’s First Committee whose annual session followed the reopening of the United Nations Headquarters in September 2020; nevertheless COVID restrictions required it to hold fewer formal meetings to dispense with the thematic debate and to conduct many of its deliberations and consultations virtually. The Committee’s session ultimately ran from 6 October to 10 November 2020 and included 15 in-person meetings down from the 27 originally scheduled.
UNODA Occasional Papers No. 39
The United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs is publishing this paper on the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms. It aims to provide guidance in support of Member State participation in the Register. The text includes an overview of the Register for reference by Governments and the interested public as well as original material to guide national points of contact in preparing and submitting reports for the Register. The second part of the paper contains the report of the 2022 Group of Governmental Experts on the continuing operation of the Register.
Preface
On the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms (UNROCA) the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) is pleased to provide guidance in support of Member State participation in the Register.
Firearms Trafficking in the Sahel
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