First Committee of the United Nations General Assembly – 2018

Ambassador Luiz Filipe de Macedo Soares, Secretary-General of OPANAL, delivering his statement in the general debate of the 73rd Session of the First Committee of the United Nations General Assembly.

The Member States of OPANAL and the Secretary-General of the Agency participate in the First Committee of the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly, which deals with disarmament and other matters related to international security. The First Committee is chaired by Ambassador Ion Jinga, Permanent Representative of Romania to the United Nations. The First Committee takes place from 4 October to 9 November 2018 in New York.

On 17 October, the Secretary-General of OPANAL, Ambassador Luiz Filipe de Macedo Soares, delivered his statement at the general debate of the First Committee (read the statement), in which he recalled that on 26 September 2018:

the Member States of OPANAL issued a Declaration on the occasion of the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, as they have been doing in the last five years since the General Assembly established this commemoration.
This Declaration expresses the consensus of all the 33 Latin American and Caribbean States on the main aspects concerning non-proliferation and disarmament of nuclear weapons.
Latin America and the Caribbean is the only region in the world that regularly manifests a joint position on these central questions that concern the First Committee. This reflects a remarkable unanimity, which – we have no doubt – is noted by all the Member States of the United Nations and in particular by nuclear weapons possessors and their allies.

On 17 October, on the margins of the First Committee, the Secretary-General of OPANAL participated in the High-Level Panel: Exchange with the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs and other High-Level Officials on the «Current state of affairs in the field of arms control and disarmament», in which on this occasion were also invited to participate, representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Conference on Disarmament, the Peace Building Support Office, the High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation, and the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research.

Moreover, on 19 October, the Secretary-General of OPANAL participated in the side-event «Consolidating and Enhancing Cooperation among Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones (NWFZs)», organized by the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs and the Permanent Mission of Kazakhstan to the United Nations.

Additionally, Ambassador Luiz Filipe de Macedo Soares gave a presentation to young diplomats who participate in the United Nations Programme of Fellowships on Disarmament. He addressed topics such as the regime established by the Treaty of Tlatelolco, the activities of OPANAL and other nuclear-weapon-free zones.

Finally, the Secretary-General of OPANAL met on Friday, 19 October, with H.E. Mr. António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations.