China
View country profileWhat has the NWS done so far (prior to the current Review Cycle)?
What is the NWS doing on this action in the current Review Cycle?
Sources
France
View country profileWhat has the NWS done so far (prior to the current Review Cycle)?
France expressed its support for the creation of subsidiary bodies, including one to deal with nuclear disarmament, in 2022.
What is the NWS doing on this action in the current Review Cycle?
France expressed its support for the adoption of a programme of work for the Conference on Disarmament in 2024 (renewed in 2025) and the creation of subsidiary bodies, including one to deal with nuclear disarmament, in 2024 and 2025.
Sources
Statement by France. Conference on Disarmament – Statement by Ambassador Yann Hwang on subsidiary bodies (Geneva), 9 March 2022. https://cd-geneve.delegfrance.org/Conference-on-Disarmament-Statement-by-Ambassador-Yann-HWANG-on-subsidiary
Statement by France. Conference on Disarmement – Subsidiary organ 1 [disarmament] – Statement by the Ambassador M. Yann Hwang (Geneva), 15 March 2022. https://cd-geneve.delegfrance.org/Conference-on-Disarmement-Subsidiary-organ-1-disarmament-Statement-by-the
Statement by France. Conference on disarmament – Statement by Ambassador Camille Petit on the adoption of a programme of work for the Conference (Geneva), 13 June 2024. https://cd-geneve.delegfrance.org/Conference-on-disarmament-Statement-by-Ambassador-Camille-PETIT-on-the-adoption
Statement by France. Conference on Disarmament – Statement by Ambassador Camille Petit on the cessation of the nuclear arms race (Geneva), 25 June 2024. https://cd-geneve.delegfrance.org/Conference-on-Disarmament-Statement-by-Ambassador-Camille-Petit-on-the-2346
Statement by France. Conference on Disarmament – Second statement by Ambassador Camille Petit in Subsidiary Body 1 [Nuclear Disarmament] (Geneva), 11 March 2025. https://cd-geneve.delegfrance.org/Conference-on-Disarmament-Statement-by-Ambassador-Camille-Petit-in-Subsidiary
Russia
View country profileWhat has the NWS done so far (prior to the current Review Cycle)?
What is the NWS doing on this action in the current Review Cycle?
Sources
United Kingdom
View country profileWhat has the NWS done so far (prior to the current Review Cycle)?
What is the NWS doing on this action in the current Review Cycle?
Sources
United States
View country profileWhat has the NWS done so far (prior to the current Review Cycle)?
The United States has historically resisted including nuclear disarmament as an appropriate topic for formal treaty negotiation within the Conference on Disarmament (CD). Instead, it has prioritized negotiations for a Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty (FMCT). However, the extreme application of the CD’s consensus-based rules of procedure has provided each member state with a de facto veto over the process.
In March 2018, the Conference on Disarmament decided on a substantive programme of work, and established subsidiary bodies on several core issues: (1) cessation of the arms race and nuclear disarmament; (2) prevention of nuclear war; (3) prevention of an arms race in outer space; and (4) assurances to non-nuclear-weapon states against the use and threat of use of nuclear weapons; however, the mandates for these bodies need to be renewed each year, and thus work once again stalled when that did not take place the following year.
What is the NWS doing on this action in the current Review Cycle?
During the Biden administration, the United States proposed several measures to reduce the gridlock within the Conference on Disarmament. For example, given that the necessity of renewing the subsidiary bodies’ mandates each year has historically led to a lack of progress, in 2023 the U.S. delegation to the Conference on Disarmament submitted a “food for thought” paper proposing the automatic carrying over of a Programme of Work and observer statuses on an annual basis, rather than starting from zero each successive year. These proposed reforms, however, have not yet been adopted.
Sources
U.S. Mission to International Organizations in Geneva. "United Nations General Assembly First Committee." Statement by the U.S. Delegation. October 6, 2010. https://geneva.usmission.gov/2010/10/06/unga-first-committee/.
U.S. Mission to International Organizations in Geneva. "The Obama Administration's Second Term Priorities for Arms Control and Nonproliferation." Remarks to the Conference on Disarmament. March 20, 2013. https://geneva.usmission.gov/2013/03/20/the-obama-administrations-second-term-priorities-for-arms-control-and-nonproliferation/.
Conference on Disarmament. Decision. CD/2119. February 16, 2018. https://docs.un.org/en/cd/2119.
U.S. Mission to International Organizations in Geneva. “U.S. Ambassador Bruce Turner’s Remarks to the Conference on Disarmament on Revitalization.” June 20, 2023. https://geneva.usmission.gov/2023/06/20/u-s-ambassador-bruce-turners-remarks-to-the-conference-on-disarmament-on-revitalization/.
U.S. Mission to International Organizations in Geneva. “U.S. Ambassador Bruce Turner’s Remarks to the Conference on Disarmament on the Program of Work Decision.” March 16, 2023. https://geneva.usmission.gov/2023/03/16/u-s-ambassador-bruce-turners-remarks-to-the-conference-on-disarmament-on-the-program-of-work-decision/.