CADU - UN First Committee Passes DU Resolution in Landslide Vote

UN First Committee Passes DU Resolution in Landslide Vote

On November 1st, the UN First Committee passed, by an overwhelming majority, a resolution highlighting concerns over the military use of uranium.

The resolution entitled 'Effects of the use of armaments and ammunitions containing depleted uranium' was passed by 122 votes to six at the UN First Committee in New York; with 35 abstentions. The resolution urges UN member states to re-examine the health hazards posed by the use of uranium weapons.

The resolution was drafted by the Movement of Non Aligned States and submitted by Indonesia. It requests that states and international bodies submit a report on DU to the UN General Assembly during next year's session; depleted uranium weapons will also feature on the Assembly's agenda. A second vote confirming the resolution will take place early next year.

“This is a good result for our campaign,” said ICBUW Coordinator Doug Weir. “States around the world are no longer content to accept the claims by the users of these weapon systems that exposure to uranium dust is not linked to ill health. The last few years have seen great advances in our understanding of the health hazards posed by depleted uranium and it's high time that the international standards caught up with this research.”

The vote comes after a year of intense campaigning by ICBUW and its member organisations, and follows calls by the European Parliament for a ban. In March this year, Belgium became the first country in the world to introduce a domestic ban on the use of uranium in all conventional weapon systems. The decision by Brussels to take this step sent a clear message to all NATO members and users of uranium weapons that the continued use of chemically toxic and radioactive weapon systems is incompatible with international humanitarian legal standards.

How the voting went:
For: 122 countries
Against: 6 countries (US, UK, France, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Israel)
Abstentions: 35 countries

'Effects of the use of armaments and ammunitions containing depleted uranium' A/C.1/62/L.18/Rev.1

Full text (select your language of choice):
http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=A/C.1/62/L.18/rev.1

Full list of voters:

The draft resolution on the effects of the use of armaments and
ammunition containing depleted uranium (document A/C.1/62/L.18/Rev.1)
was approved by a recorded vote of 122 in favour to 6 against, with 35
abstentions, as follows:

In favour: Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Chile, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, Cyprus, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El
Salvador, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Germany, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea,
Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Italy,
Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lao People’s Democratic Republic,
Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Madagascar, Malawi,
Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius,
Mexico, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia,
Nauru, Nepal, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan,
Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Qatar, Saint
Lucia, Samoa, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone,
Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname,
Swaziland, Switzerland, Syria, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tunisia,
Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, United Republic of Tanzania,
Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Against: Czech Republic, France, Israel, Netherlands, United Kingdom, United States.

Abstain: Albania, Andorra, Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cambodia,
Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Greece, Hungary,
Iceland, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova,
Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian
Federation, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, The former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, Ukraine.

Absent: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, China, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominica, Equatorial
Guinea, Fiji, Gambia, Grenada, Guinea-Bissau, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan,
Micronesia (Federated States of), Monaco, Palau, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and
Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sao Tome and Principe,
Seychelles, Somalia, Tajikistan, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu,
Uganda, Vanuatu.

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Page last updated: 6th December 2002