UN General Assembly draft decision on convening a ME WMDFZ is put before the First Committee

The Arab Group introduced a draft decision entitled “Convening a conference on the establishment of a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.” The decision was adopted by the First Committee on 17 October 2018 and by the UN General Assembly on 22 December 2018 with 103 voted in favour of the decision, 3 against (Israel, Micronesia and the US), and 71 abstained. Israel and the US voted against the resolution, characterizing it as an attempt to impose terms and modalities.”

The decision “entrusts the Secretary-General with the convening, no later than 2019 for the duration of one week at the UN Headquarters, of a conference on the establishment of a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction”, which is to take place annually until “until the conference concludes the elaboration of a legally binding treaty establishing a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction” and takes the 1995 Resolution on the Middle East as its terms of reference. The decision also states that “All decisions emanating from the conference shall be taken by consensus by the States of the region”.