By paragraph 2 of its resolution 67/53 (A/RES/67/53) the General Assembly of the United Nations requested the Secretary-General to seek the views of Member States on a treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices, including possible aspects thereof, and to submit a report on the subject to the General Assembly at its sixty-eighth session.

A note verbale requesting the views of States has been sent to all Member States on 31 January 2013.
As specified in that note verbale, the Office for Disarmament Affairs would greatly appreciate if Member States could provide an executive summary of their views in their submission. Such an executive summary would allow compliance with the page-limit requirement for UN documents and would facilitate the timely processing of relevant documentation in all UN official languages. The executive summary will be included in the report of the Secretary-General, while the submission in extenso will be posted on the website of the Office for Disarmament Affairs, if so requested and agreed by the Governments of the Permanent Missions.

By the same resolution, the General Assembly also requested the Secretary-General to establish a group of governmental experts with a membership of twenty-five States chosen on the basis of equitable geographical representation, which, taking into account the report containing the views of Member States, will make recommendations on possible aspects that could contribute to but not negotiate a treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices on the basis of document CD/1299 and the mandate contained therein, which will operate on the basis of consensus, without prejudice to national positions in future negotiations and which will meet in Geneva for two sessions of two weeks in 2014 and in 2015. The General Assembly also called upon the Secretary-General to transmit the report of the group of governmental experts to the General Assembly at its seventieth session and to the Conference on Disarmament. [...]

The General Assembly also decided that should the Conference on Disarmament agree upon and implement a balanced and comprehensive programme of work that includes
negotiation of a treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices, the group of governmental experts shall conclude and its work shall be submitted to the Secretary-General for onward transmission to the Conference on Disarmament.


Last Updated March 2013