Speech

Preventing the proliferation of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons

UK explanation of vote at the Security Council adoption on the mandate of the 1540 Committee

• From: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and Fergus Eckersley, UK Political Coordinator at the UN
• Published: 30 November 2022

This was published under the 2022 to 2024 Sunak Conservative government

• Location: UN Security Council
• Delivered on: 30 November 2022 (Transcript of the speech, exactly as it was delivered)

Thank you Mr President.

We voted in favour of this resolution, as the United Kingdom is steadfast in its commitment to preventing the proliferation of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons and their means of delivery. Resolution 1540 remains a key pillar of the non-proliferation framework. We call on all states to implement their obligations under Resolution 1540 in full.

We pay tribute to the Chair of the 1540 Committee and his team in guiding us through the review process and to a new ten-year mandate for the Committee. We thank the Group of Experts and its coordinator for their support to the Committee in its work.

The obligations set out in Resolution 1540 remain as relevant as ever, but the context in which states are implementing them has changed since 2004. We are disappointed that due to the resistance of one Council Member, this resolution did not go further in strengthening the 1540 Committee’s support to Member States as they implement the resolution, including on the important issue of proliferation finance.

We look forward to continued cooperation with all Council Members through the 1540 Committee. The risks of WMD proliferation to non-state actors are grave. Collectively, we must redouble our efforts to address them.

Thank you.

Published 30 November 2022