U.N. UNITED ON WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION

Security Council highlights terrorist threat and presses countries to keep nuclear, chemical and biological arms out of clutches of non-state actors

The UN Security Council has voted unanimously to keep pressing all countries to implement a resolution aimed at keeping nuclear, chemical and biological weapons out of the hands of terrorists, black marketeers and others.

The council resolution, approved by a 15-0 vote, extends the mandate of the committee monitoring implementation of the 2004 resolution on the threat of “non-state actors” obtaining or trafficking weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) for 10 years until November 30, 2032. It also continues support for the committee’s group of experts.

The resolution calls on the committee and the 193 UN member nations to take into account the use by non-government groups and individuals of rapid advances in science and technology to spread the use of these banned weapons.

The council says in the resolution that it is “gravely concerned at the threat of terrorism and the risk that non-state actors may acquire, develop, traffic in or use” nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, including by relying on advances in science and technology.

The April 2004 resolution was adopted in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States to close what then US President George W. Bush called a loophole that could allow terror groups to gain WMDs.

International treaties had targeted weapons proliferation by governments, but at the time there were no laws to prevent “non-state actors” such as terrorists, corrupt scientists, black market actors and others from obtaining WMDs.

The resolution requires all UN member states to adopt laws to prevent “non-state actors” from manufacturing, acquiring or trafficking in nuclear, biological or chemical weapons, the materials to make them, and the missiles and other systems to deliver them.

It also requires all countries to take measures to account for and secure all banned weapons, missiles and weapons material, and to develop border controls and step up efforts “to detect, deter, prevent and combat … the illicit trafficking and brokering in such items”.

US deputy ambassador Robert Wood told the Security Council after Wednesday’s vote that the committee monitoring and helping countries implement the resolution “remains a critical tool” to help address “the existential threat of non-state actors potentially acquiring and using weapons of mass destruction”.

He said the US welcomed the council’s vote in favour of “a more effective, more transparent, and more accountable” committee that would continue supporting UN members in their efforts to combat WMD proliferation.

The resolution calls for the committee to conduct comprehensive reviews on implementation, including holding open sessions in five years and before it needs to be renewed in 10 years.

And it calls on countries that have not submitted a report on steps they have taken or intend to take to implement the resolution to submit one “without delay”.

Mexican ambassador Juan Ramon De La Fuente Ramirez, who chairs the committee and sponsored the resolution, said negotiations were not easy, which was why “we very much welcome” the unanimous extension of the committee’s mandate.

It would not only support efforts by countries to prevent non-state actors from getting access to weapons of mass destruction but also “will make it possible to continue to strengthen the assistance which states require in order to meet their obligations”.

Russian ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said the 2004 resolution “fully retains its relevance today”, and he welcomed the extension, calling it the result of “major efforts, a constructive attitude, and the flexibility of all the members of the council”.