24.01.2020 |

Conference on the Establishment of a Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction

Miroslav Tůma, Senior Associate of the Centre of International Law, elaborated on the question of establishment of a Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear Weapons and the Other Weapons of Mass Destruction. The conference was held at the Headquarters of the United Nations in New York at the end of November 2019. What are the positions of the session attending sides? Is it possible to persuade USA and Israel to participate at this negotiations with diplomatic means?

The historically first session of the Conference on the Establishment of a Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction was held on 18–22 November 2019 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, pursuant to General Assembly decision 73/546. Twenty three Middle Eastern states, four observer states (China, France, Russia, and the United Kingdom), three relevant international organizations (the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the Biological Weapons Convention Implementation Support Unit) and some other international organizations e.g. the LAS, the OIC and the EU, participated in the session, which was presided over by Jordanian Ambassador Sima Bahous. At the open sessions, non-governmental organizations took part as well. The United States and Israel declined the invitation to take part. In the conclusion of the conference, the participating states consensually approved the seven-point Political Declaration, which has a general and proclamatory character, and is an appendix to the Final Report (A/CONF.236/6).

You can read the reflection by Miroslav Tůma here.




Nahoru