10/12/2004
Security Council Committee Urges Greater Effort On Weapons Of Mass Destruction

Seven months after the Security Council set up a committee to help implement a resolution that aims to prevent “the ultimate nightmare” - weapons of mass destruction (WMD) falling into the hands of terrorists and dealers on the black market - only 86 countries have submitted their first reports explaining what they have done or plan to do to meet the requirements set out in the measure.

Committee Chairman Ambassador Mihnea Ioan Motoc of Romania told the Council today that he has sent two notes to the relevant Member States reminding of their requirements since the Council adopted the resolution on 28 April.

That resolution aims to prevent WMD being acquired, manufactured or used by “non-State actors,” such as terrorists and dealers on the black market. Nations are obliged to make sure they have effective laws prohibiting the practices and the means to enforce such laws.

Mr. Motoc said the committee had recently started examining the reports from Member States after spending its first months becoming fully operational.

During an open debate in the Council, speakers from 12 nations stressed the urgency and importance of the committee’s work. Emyr Jones Parry, Ambassador of the United Kingdom, said the prospect that WMD might reach the hands of terrorists was “the ultimate nightmare.”