S/2017/126 - Programme of work of the UN SC Committee established pursuant to resolution 1540 (2004) on the prevention of nuclear weapons proliferation for the period from 01Feb17 to 31Jan18.

United Nations
Security Council

S/2017/126

Distr.: General
10 February 2017
Original: English

Letter dated 10 February 2017 from the Chair of the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1540 (2004) addressed to the President of the Security Council

On behalf of the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1540 (2004) and in accordance with paragraph 2 of Security Council resolution 2325 (2016), I have the honour to transmit herewith the sixteenth programme of work of the Committee for the period from 1 February 2017 to 31 January 2018 (see annex).

I would appreciate it if the present letter and its annex could be brought to the attention of the members of the Security Council and issued as a document of the Council.

(Signed) Sacha Sergio Llorentty Soliz
Chair
Security Council Committee established
pursuant to resolution 1540 (2004)

Annex

Programme of work of the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1540 (2004) for the period from 1 February 2017 to 31 January 2018

I. Introduction

1. The Security Council, in paragraph 2 of its resolution 2325 (2016), decided that the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1540 (2004) would submit its programme of work to the Council before the end of January of each year. The sixteenth programme of work of the Committee covers the period from 1 February 2017 to 31 January 2018. The Committee has agreed on this programme of work to fulfil its responsibilities under Council resolutions 1540 (2004), 1673 (2006), 1810 (2008), 1977 (2011) and 2325 (2016).

2. The Security Council, in paragraph 12 of its resolution 2325 (2016), decided that the Committee should continue to intensify its efforts to promote the full implementation by all States of resolution 1540 (2004) through its programme of work. This includes the compilation and general examination of information on the status of States' implementation of resolution 1540 (2004), in addition to States' efforts at outreach, dialogue, assistance and cooperation. In its resolution 2325 (2016), the Council also noted the need for more attention to be focused on enforcement measures; measures relating to biological, chemical and nuclear weapons; proliferation finance measures; accounting for and securing related materials; and national export and trans-shipment controls.

3. The Committee will continue to work with Member States on the implementation of Security Council resolutions 1540 (2004), 1673 (2006), 1810 (2008), 1977 (2011) and 2325 (2016), guided in its approach by the principles of transparency, equal treatment, cooperation and consistency.

4. To implement the sixteenth programme of work more efficiently, the Committee will continue to operate a system of four working groups, open to all of its members. Each working group is engaged in specific tasks relating to the programme of work, which are noted within each of the main sections below. Each working group will be chaired by a member of the Committee and support will be provided by the Secretariat and the Committee's group of experts. In addition, in striving to meet its objectives efficiently and promptly, the Committee will publish a schedule for periodic meetings of all four working groups which will include their periodic feedback.

5. All working group meetings will be announced and open to all Security Council delegations. All meeting documents will be circulated to all Council delegations before the meetings. The work will be organized in such a manner as to enable all delegations, regardless of size, to participate fully in all of the activities of the working groups. The Committee will promote greater transparency by, where relevant, holding open meetings on those working group outcomes approved by the Committee and by communicating those outcomes to national contact points. The Committee, in cooperation with the Office for Disarmament Affairs, the Department of Political Affairs and the Department of Public Information of the Secretariat, will also update its website regularly on the work of those groups.

6. The final document on the 2016 comprehensive review of the implementation of Security Council resolution 1540 (2004) (S/2016/1127) was submitted to the Council on 9 December 2016. In its resolution 2325 (2016), the Council endorsed the comprehensive review and noted the findings and recommendations in its final report. The Committee will note in its work the findings and recommendations set out in the comprehensive review.

II. Tasks of the Committee and its four working groups

7. The Committee's focus of attention will be on, but not limited to, the following main areas of work: (a) monitoring and national implementation; (b) assistance; (c) cooperation with international organizations and other relevant United Nations bodies, including the Security Council Committee pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999), 1989 (2011) and 2253 (2015) concerning Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Da'esh), Al-Qaida and associated individuals, groups, undertakings and entities and the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1373 (2001) concerning counter-terrorism; and (d) transparency and media outreach. In addition, the Committee will consider issues relating to administration and resources; and ensure that its work is conducted throughout the year in an appropriate and timely manner and that there is due consideration of and action in the areas agreed below.

A. Monitoring and national implementation

8. The Committee will:

(a) Brief the Security Council on its work by the end of March 2017 and submit the annual review on the implementation of Council resolution 1540 (2004) by the end of December 2017, while also continuing to brief the Council jointly with the Security Council Committee pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999), 1989 (2011) and 2253 (2015) concerning Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Da'esh), Al-Qaida and associated individuals, groups, undertakings and entities and the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1373 (2001) concerning counter-terrorism once within the present year;

(b) With the objective of achieving universal reporting as soon as possible, continue to strengthen efforts to encourage the remaining 16 Member States that have not yet submitted their first report to do so, including by engaging in dialogue with those States to highlight the importance of universal reporting and the assistance that is available and by assessing which practices have been most effective in stimulating national reporting; and continue to encourage Member States to submit additional information regarding implementation, while seeking, as appropriate, submissions that identify changes in existing information in a precise form and with supporting background information;

(c) Encourage the expansion and undertake initiatives to strengthen the capacity of national points of contact to assist in implementation of the resolution upon the request of States, including through the continuation on a regional basis of the Committee's points of contact training programme; focuses of attention in this training programme should include the reporting and information-sharing capacities of States and continued adaptation of the course syllabus for each region;

(d) Following the completed revision of all matrices in 2016, continue ongoing updates and systematic review of all matrix information and formally consider how the format of those files and the process for updating them can be improved;

(e) Hold discussions on optimal approaches to enforcing appropriate effective laws for the prohibition of activities under paragraph 2 of Security Council resolution 1540 (2004);

(f) Develop an approach to implementation and reporting that takes into account the specificity of States, inter alia, with respect to their ability to manufacture and export related materials, with a view to prioritizing efforts and resources where they are most needed without affecting the need for comprehensive implementation of Security Council resolution 1540 (2004);

(g) Take note of paragraph 14 of Security Council resolution 2325 (2016) with regard to effective national control lists;

(h) Continue to encourage States, in line with paragraphs 7 and 12 of Security Council resolution 1977 (2011) and paragraph 4 of Council resolution 2325 (2016), to identify and voluntarily report on effective national practices in implementing Council resolution 1540 (2004), and also continue the practice of sharing compilations of effective best practice periodically;

(i) Encourage States, under paragraph 8 of Security Council resolution 1977 (2011) and paragraph 5 of Council resolution 2325 (2016), to prepare, on a voluntary basis, national implementation action plans, as appropriate, mapping out their priorities and plans for implementing the key provisions of Council resolution 1540 (2004), and to submit those plans to the Committee;

(j) Continue to raise awareness of those multilateral treaties and conventions that aim at preventing the proliferation of, or eliminating, nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, and, within the context of paragraph 8 (a) of Security Council resolution 1540 (2004), to promote their universal adoption and full implementation and, where applicable, to promote their implementation by States parties to them;

(k) Also continue to raise awareness of the relevant international legal instruments whose implementation would address obligations under Security Council resolution 1540 (2004), and, within the context of paragraph 8 (a) of Council resolution 1540 (2004), to promote their universal adoption and full implementation;

(l) Take note in its work, where relevant, of the continually evolving nature of the risks of proliferation within the context of the implementation of Security Council resolution 1540 (2004);

(m) Hold a closed expert-level meeting of the Committee to consider other issues highlighted in Security Council 2325 (2016), namely, the challenge of controlling access to intangible transfers of technology and to information that could be used for proliferation, and accounting for and securing sensitive materials, with invitations to expert speakers, as appropriate.

B. Assistance

9. The Committee will:

(a) Maintain an up-to-date list of requests for assistance by States and offers of assistance by States and international, regional and subregional organizations; create a public list of possible forms of assistance, including actual examples to illustrate methods of assistance; and maintain a regularly updated database of requests for and offers of assistance, indicating where they have been matched;

(b) Review requests, offers and related assistance programmes as regards developing more effective matching strategies, and, in particular, seek ways to improve the flow of information among all parties involved;

(c) Revise its assistance template by March 2017, including the seeking of input from Member States and relevant international assistance providers, in order to support States in developing more detailed and effective assistance requests;

(d) Consider ways to better provide assistance, especially as a real-time response to requests made during dialogue with States, such as through securing and using additional resources, including, potentially, the use of the Trust Fund for Global and Regional Disarmament Activities;

(e) Continue to organize and participate in outreach activities of the Committee, as will its group of experts, at the international, regional and subregional levels, while being prepared to emphasize and engage with regard to assistance programmes, and to promote the sharing of experience through peer reviews and other means, table-top exercises for evaluating and reinforcing effective practices, and lessons learned, while being ready to facilitate offers of or requests for assistance;

(f) Work with Member States and international, regional and subregional organizations to help them develop assistance projects designed to support States in implementing Security Council resolution 1540 (2004) and make more effective offers of or, for States (or groups of States), more effective requests for assistance, including in relation to how the requests fit into their implementation plans, and when possible, assist States, upon their request, in the formulation of assistance requests;

(g) Engage actively in matching offers and requests for assistance and continue, where appropriate, to develop regional approaches to assistance needs and efforts to meet them, including through the holding of regional assistance conferences;

(h) Provide an update on the status of assistance requests and offers to the Committee on a regular basis, and no less frequently than every quarter.

C. Cooperation with international organizations and other relevant United Nations bodies

10. The Committee will:

(a) Continue to enhance its cooperation with international, regional and subregional organizations and other relevant United Nations bodies, and develop ways of operating with those organizations on a case-by-case basis, and, where appropriate, reflecting programmatically the variation in each organization's capacity and mandate, including through exchanges at the working level, briefings to and from the Committee and enhanced information-sharing arrangements on issues such as networks of points of contact, effective practices and assistance;

(b) Under paragraph 18 of Security Council resolution 1977 (2011), continue to encourage international, regional and subregional organizations to designate and provide a point of contact or coordinator for the implementation of Council resolution 1540 (2004) and maintain up-to-date information on such contacts;

(c) Maintain dialogue and information exchange with designated points of contact or coordinators on issues relating to their contribution to the implementation of Security Council resolution 1540 (2004);

(d) Convene a meeting with relevant international, regional and subregional organizations on the margins of the General Assembly for sharing information and experiences related to their efforts to facilitate implementation of Security Council resolution 1540 (2004);

(e) Where directly relevant to the goals of the Committee's programme of work, continue to participate in major events organized by international, regional and subregional organizations as offering an opportunity for dialogue with them and their points of contact or coordinators;

(f) Continue to explore opportunities to enhance ongoing cooperation with the related sanctions committees identified in paragraph 8 (a) above concerning counter-terrorism, including through, as appropriate, enhanced information-sharing and coordination on visits to States, within their respective mandates, and technical assistance, and other issues of relevance to all three committees;

(g) As appropriate, expand both formal and informal working relationships with international non-proliferation mechanisms, including zones free of nuclear weapons or weapons of mass destruction, and work streams to implement decisions of the Nuclear Security Summits, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the International Conference on Nuclear Security: Commitments and Actions, which was held in 2016, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the Implementation Support Unit under the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction and the non-proliferation facet of the Global Health Security Agenda and other United Nations bodies and international, regional and subregional organizations, where applicable:

(i) To facilitate the sharing of information on effective practices and lessons learned, in addition to templates and guidance, including with a view to their incorporation into the compilation envisaged in paragraph 9 (e) above;

(ii) To identify assistance requirements and programmes through which its work with international, regional and subregional organizations and other relevant United Nations bodies can focus on facilitating the activity of those organizations with respect to remedying national implementation challenges, such as reconciling priorities, harmonizing approaches, facilitating advisory and drafting services and matching requests for and offers of assistance, and to promote regional cooperation and communication on the implementation of the resolution;

(iii) To enhance information-sharing, coordination on visits to countries, within their respective mandates, technical assistance and other issues of relevance to the Committee and the Security Council Committee pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999), 1989 (2011) and 2253 (2015) concerning Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Da'esh), Al-Qaida and associated individuals, groups, undertakings and entities and the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1373 (2001) concerning counter-terrorism, as appropriate.

D. Transparency and media outreach

11. The Committee will:

(a) Increase interaction on a regular basis with all States Members of the United Nations, including, where appropriate, through open meetings, as noted in paragraph 20 of Security Council resolution 1977 (2011) and paragraph 28 of Council resolution 2325 (2016), and by regularly updating its website;

(b) With input from the working group on monitoring and national implementation, post updated matrices approved by the Committee on the website, as appropriate, after allowing States to comment;

(c) Maintain the website as the main source of information and resources relating to Security Council resolution 1540 (2004), while modernizing it in order to facilitate its use, inter alia, by Member States, Committee members, civil society and industry, and regularly updating it with information that includes, but is not limited to:

(i) A calendar of outreach events and workshops already conducted and confirmed upcoming events, including information notes on such activities;

(ii) A similar list of relevant activities, where available, of States, international, regional and subregional organizations, the Security Council Committee pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999), 1989 (2011) and 2253 (2015) concerning Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Da'esh), Al-Qaida and associated individuals, groups, undertakings and entities, and the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1373 (2001) concerning counter-terrorism and other United Nations bodies;

(iii) A list of frequently asked questions;

(d) Encourage States to promote dialogue and cooperation, including, where appropriate, with civil society and academia, to address the threat posed by illicit trafficking in nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and their means of delivery, and related materials;

(e) Also encourage States to develop appropriate ways to work with and inform industry regarding its obligations under national laws, in line with paragraph 8 (d) of Security Council resolution 1540 (2004), including to support the conduct of regional meetings with industry;

(f) Consider and seize opportunities, as appropriate, for direct interaction, with the consent of the States concerned, with relevant industries and industry groups, academia and civil society;

(g) Continue to increase efforts to raise awareness among parliamentarians and other high-level decision makers, for example, by participating in and supporting activities directly related to the implementation of Security Council resolution 1540 (2004) by the Inter-Parliamentary Union;

(h) In line with paragraphs 5 (b) and 22 (d) of Security Council resolution 1977 (2011), consider ways to better utilize and maintain expertise, including, in particular, that of former members of the group of experts, which could be made available for specific missions and assistance needs regarding the implementation of Council resolution 1540 (2004);

(i) Continue to brief Member States and international, regional and subregional organizations, formally and informally, on the work of the Committee and the obligations and requirements under Security Council resolution 1540 (2004).

III. Administration and resources

12. The Committee will also consider issues relating to administration and resources. It will, inter alia:

(a) Undertake additional consideration of the efficiency and effectiveness of the special political mission that supports the Committee and report to the Security Council on the findings arising from its evaluation, within 2017, as appropriate;

(b) Continue its good cooperation with the Office for Disarmament Affairs in order to strengthen the regional capacity of the Office to provide support for the implementation of Security Council resolution 1540 (2004);

(c) Also continue to conduct regular meetings of the Committee and its working groups, and, as necessary, additional meetings with relevant parties so as to further the mandate under Security Council resolution 1540 (2004), including meetings that may require participation from capitals on topics of high priority;

(d) Encourage States and international, regional and subregional organizations, as appropriate, to support the work of the Committee and its programmes;

(e) Continue to encourage and take full advantage of voluntary financial contributions provided to assist States in identifying and addressing their needs with regard to the implementation of Security Council resolution 1540 (2004), and, at the Committee's discretion, promote the efficient and effective use of the existing funding mechanisms within the United Nations system;

(f) Also continue to make efficient use of the expertise of its group of experts and consider ways of strengthening capabilities and effectiveness with regard to support for the Committee's work;

(g) Further continue its efforts to ease the transition of new non-permanent members into the Committee, including by making relevant documentation available and providing appropriate briefings, and maintain the network of non-permanent members leaving the Committee, to provide support for the implementation of Security Council resolution 1540 (2004);

(h) Regarding all aspects of the Committee's work, consider what methodologies may be appropriate for producing quantitative measures of success within the terms of Security Council resolutions 1540 (2004), 1673 (2006), 1810 (2008) and 1977 (2011), including by examining options for technical support so as to enable better acquisition, storage, retrieval, analysis and display of data and facilitate reporting through electronic tools.

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10Feb17