Insights for the crucial next step as UN prepares to review resolution 1540
ISS' latest monograph critically assesses implementation of resolution 1540 and recommends better ways to curb the spread of weapons of mass destruction.
New York, USA – The Institute for Security Studies (ISS) was invited by the Chair of the United Nations Security Council’s 1540 Committee, a subsidiary body of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), to participate in a closed informal meeting and present its newly released monograph on United Nations (UN) Security Council Resolution 1540. The meeting was attended by members of the 1540 Committee, which oversees the implementation of the resolution, and by the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs.
The monograph titled Towards the 2016 Comprehensive Review: Former experts assess UNSC Resolution 1540, is a compilation of papers authored by former 1540 Committee experts. These papers were originally presented and discussed at an ISS meeting that took place in Cape Town, South Africa in May this year. Covering a broad spectrum of topics, the monograph critically assesses implementation of resolution 1540 thus far and recommends better ways to combat the spread of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons to non-state actors.
‘The former experts are, to an extent, depositories of the institutional memory of resolution 1540, together with other members of the 1540 community,’ says ISS consultant, Nicolas Kasprzyk. With the eye on the comprehensive review of the resolution, which is due by the end of 2016, this monograph is a timely and useful contribution that draws on the experience that former experts gained at the core of the 1540 machinery.
The monograph was well received by members of the 1540 Committee, and triggered active and fruitful discussions. Javier Gutiérrez, Counsellor at the Mission of Spain to the UN, highlighted that ‘the monograph is a valuable contribution to the Comprehensive Review of the resolution’.
‘The accumulated knowledge and experience of the former experts are extremely valuable tools that we need to take advantage of while we conduct the review,’ says Román Oyarzun Marchesi, current chair of the 1540 Committee. ‘Their perspectives will certainly enrich our deliberations during the review.’
Marchesi added: ‘I applaud the work of the ISS, which has undertaken several initiatives in support of the implementation of the resolution.’
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