On 24th May, United Nations Secretary General António Guterres released his new agenda for general and complete disarmament at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, which included a plan to control and eliminate weapons of mass destruction, conventional weapons and new battlefield technologies. 

The report includes a commitment by the Secretary-General to boost nuclear disarmament discussions together with Member States in three specific areas: resuming dialogue and negotiations for nuclear arms control and disarmament, extending norms against nuclear weapons and their proliferation and preparing for a world without nuclear weapons, including by encouraging states to sign and ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty, enhancing nuclear-weapons free zones. 

The report also promises to work to ensure the norm against the use of chemical and biological weapons remains, including by creating a new, impartial mechanism to identify those responsible for the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic. 

In the field of conventional weapons, planned actions include: establishing a facility to support governments in tackling small arms and light weapons, as part of a comprehensive approach to addressing armed violence and the diversion of weapons, and promoting more effective State and regional action on excessive and poorly maintained stockpiles. 

The report also includes actions to prevent the emergence of new weapons technologies, including through ensuring the security and sustainability of activities in outer space, reigning in destabilizing strategic weapons. 

Read the Report – Securing our Common Future: An Agenda for Disarmament