Remarks by the Chair of the 1540 Committee at a UN Security Council briefing
Ambassador Robert Wood
Deputy Commissioner for Special Political Affairs
New-York, New-York
March 23, 2023
AS DELIVERED
Thank you Mr President. And thank you, Ambassador Perez Loose, for your informative briefing. We congratulate Ecuador on chairing the 1540 Committee and thank you for the excellent leadership you have shown during your tenure.
The United States fully agrees with the Chairman’s assessment that Resolution 1540 remains an essential part of the global non-proliferation architecture to prevent non-state actors from gaining access to weapons of mass destruction.
While much progress has indeed been made, we must also highlight the findings of the 1540 Committee’s comprehensive review, completed on November 30, 2022, that there are gaps in implementation.
Accordingly, we further welcome Resolution 2663, which this Council adopted on November 30, 2022, to renew the mandate of the 1540 Committee and its Expert Group.
In Resolution 2663, the Security Council also tasked the 1540 Committee and its Group of Experts with increasing outreach to Member States and other stakeholders to fill these gaps, including by holding open consultations with all UN Member States and other stakeholders and encouraging the States to fill these gaps develop voluntary national action plans and participate in voluntary peer reviews. We look forward to actively participating in the Committee’s efforts to continue this outreach.
Another important feature of Resolution 2663 intended to promote implementation is the sharing of technical guidance that States may find useful in implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1540. The United States fully supports the provision of such information for Member States to draw on, and we look forward to their participation in forthcoming discussions on this topic.
We also look forward to enhancing transparency in the 1540 Committee by adopting much-needed updates to its internal policies to reflect and describe the activities to be undertaken by the Committee’s expert group, as required by resolution 2663.
The Expert Group is one of the most effective tools at our disposal to support the effective implementation of Resolution 1540, and it will be crucial to clarify the Group’s responsibilities so that it fully aligns with the Committee’s mandate outlined activities.
The possibility of weapons of mass destruction being acquired and used by terrorists or other non-state actors remains one of the greatest threats to international peace and security. Resolution 1540 is one of the few established, authoritative international tools to address these threats, and the 1540 Committee remains an important tool in ensuring that the resolution and its implementation are as strong and effective as possible.
Thank you Mr President.
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