WORKSHOPS IN QATAR AND VANUATU ON IMPLEMENTING SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION 1`540

Workshops in Qatar and Vanuatu on Implementing Security Council Resolution 1540

As part of a series of workshops organized by UNODA, a United Nations Workshop on Implementing United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540 (2004) was held from 8 to 11 March 2009 in Qatar for Arab States and a similar one in Vanuatu from 29 April to 01 May 2009 for Pacific Island States.

The workshops aimed to enhance national capacities for the management of border and export control processes at a practical level, as well as improve information and experience-sharing between national export control and enforcement authorities. They facilitated assistance and cooperation related to the implementation of resolution 1540 (2004) and served to enhance cooperation with international regional and subregional organizations in provision of such assistance.

The Qatar Workshop, with the participation of Arab States, was organized by the Office for Disarmament Affairs in cooperation with the Government of Qatar and funded by the European Union and the Governments of Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Eighty officials and experts from Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syrian Arab Republic, United Arab Emirates and Yemen, as well as international, regional and subregional organizations participated.

The Vanuatu workshop was hosted by the Government of Vanuatu and organized by the Office for Disarmament Affairs with financial and in-kind support from the European Union and the Governments of New Zealand and Norway. Over 50 officials from the Cook Islands, Fiji, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu, as well as representatives of a number of international, regional and subregional organizations participated.

UN Security Council resolution 1540 was adopted in April 2004, and obliges all States to refrain from supporting by any means non-State actors from developing, acquiring, manufacturing, possessing, transporting, transferring or using nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and their delivery systems. It also requires all States to establish domestic controls to prevent the proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and their means of delivery, including by establishing appropriate controls over related materials. For these purposes, the resolution specifically calls upon all States to establish and develop appropriate effective border and export controls.

The 1540 Committee was established pursuant to the resolution and States were called upon to report to it on steps they had taken, or intended to take, to implement the resolution. On 25 April 2008, by its resolution 1810 (2008), the Security Council extended the mandate of the 1540 Committee for three years until 25 April 2011 and emphasized the importance for all States to implement fully resolution 1540 (2004). The Council, inter alia, requested the 1540 Committee to continue to organize and participate in outreach events at the regional and subregional level promoting States’ implementation of resolution 1540 (2004). 

http://www.un.org/disarmament/HomePage/ODAPublications/ODAUpdate/2009/June/index.html#0L

Penulis : Drs.Simon Arnold Julian Jacob