DISEC - An overview

Hello everyone, for the next two weeks, we here at Delegate Snapshots are going to focus on the United Nations General Assembly First Committee, also called the Disarmament and International Security Committee, or, in it's easier to say manner, DISEC. DISEC is the first of the six committees that make up the General Assembly at the United Nations and it generally tackles matters relating to, naturally, disarmament and international security (yes, yes, I know, you already know that from its name, don't judge me too much for feeling the need to say it again).

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A page in history

Before we go any further in our discussion, we need to first understand how DISEC came to be. The Disarmament and International Security Committee was first established in the United Nations Charter, under Chapter IV, with the purpose of advocating, debating, and solving matters of international disarmament and security. Being the first committee formed under the General Assembly, DISEC has gotten the formal naming of the United Nations General Assembly First Committee. Under Article 9 of the UN Charter, all the member states of the United Nations are eligible as representatives in DISEC's body and each has an equal vote.

It is important to note that, like all other committees that form the General Assembly, DISEC cannot specifically impose certain actions from individual states, sanctions or military interventions. This committee can only make recommendations through its resolutions, however, it can also suggest the implementation of the adopted resolutions through the Security Council, the only UN body of whose resolutions are legally binding, therefore they demand, not only suggest, specific actions.

The very first General Assembly resolution that has adopted, back in 1946, was entitled “Establishment of a Commission to Deal with the Problems Raised by the Discovery of Atomic Energy” and it was recommended by the Disarmament and International Security Committee, showcasing that ever since the beginning of the United Nations one of its top concerns have been related to the matters addressed in DISEC.

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Current activity

In the more recent years, the United Nations General Assembly First Committee has focused on a variety of issues relating to its area of activity, which, as the times have evolved, have also started to branch out beyond physical international security and disarmament. The most notable topics that have been discussed over the past decade have been related to security in the cyberspace, non-proliferation acts, weapon-free zones and the developments made in the field of information and telecommunications in the context of international security.

For the 75th mandate, which marked an important milestone for the United Nations, DISEC has focused on a larger variety of global issues, such as, but certainly not limited to, the reduction of military budgets, the implementation of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in Africa, the prevention of an arms race in outer space, security and cooperation in the Mediterranean region and measures to prevent terrorists from acquiring weapons of mass destruction. All of these issues, and the other mentioned in the "Agenda of the seventy-fifth session of the General Assembly" are of utmost importance nowadays and, even though some of them may appear as to have been overly discussed in the past on the international plane, oftentimes the member states of DISEC cannot reach a mutual agreement, despite the non-binding nature of the resolutions it submits in the General Assembly.

Moreover, since the beginning of 2016, when the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development - adopted by world leaders in September 2015 at a historic UN Summit - officially came into force, the Disarmament and International Security Committee has taken an important role in promoting and helping achieve them, with a particular focus on the 16th goal - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions. Without peace in the international system, the 2030 SDGs remain out of reach, therefore DISEC has a unique role in the attainment of not only one, but all the proposed SDGs that form now a major part of the agenda of the United Nations.

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Conferences & Topics

Over the past couple of years, the MUN conferences in Romania have oftentimes included the DISEC committee, which has posed a variety of topics relating, naturally, to international disarmament and security. Here are just a couple of the MUN conferences that have hosted the DISEC committee and the topics they have debated upon:

• ICHBMUN 2020 - Preventing the Use and Development of Chemical and Biological Weapons

• LazarMUN 2020 - Establishing a Weapon Free Zone in the Middle East

• YouthMUN 2019 - Foreign Intervention in Civil Wars

Moreover, there are also future conferences that are going to feature the Disarmament and International Security Committee, such as :

• CosbucMUN 2021 - Establishing a Permanent Demilitarized Zone at the Turkish-Syrian Border; The Question of Subterranean Warfare

Now that you have become more familiar with DISEC, keep an eye out for our next article, which is going to showcase an analysis into one of the topics that this particular committee has taken upon discussing. Until then, be sure to tell us how you've liked this article, if there are any article topics you'd like us to tackle and to subscribe to our mailing list to be sure you never miss another article from your favourite MUN magazine.

The 'Non-violence' sculpture, also known as 'The Knotted Gun', a monument showcased at the headquarters of the United Nations, New York City.