Japan's Submission of a Draft Resolution on Nuclear Disarmament to The United Nations General Assembly

October 2003

1. On 15 October 2003 (16 October, Japan Time), the Government of Japan submitted to the First Committee of the United Nations General Assembly a draft resolution on nuclear disarmament entitled, "A path to the total elimination of nuclear weapons." Japan has annually submitted draft resolutions on nuclear disarmament since 1994, and this year marks the 10th year.
2. Given the increasingly severe international political situation concerning nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, Japan submitted this draft resolution, that is based upon the fundamental ideas that Japan places great importance on steadily continuing practical and progressive steps toward the total elimination of unclear weapons, in order to realize a peaceful and safe world free of nuclear weapons, from the standpoint of public sentiment that strongly calls for the total elimination of nuclear weapons, as the only nation in the world to have suffered atomic bombing.
3. Japan, together with the Republic of South Africa and Columbia, submitted a draft resolution on the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in all aspects on 7 October. The draft resolution was based on the results from the UN First Biennial Meeting of States on Small Arms which was held in July 2003, chaired by Ambassador Kuniko Inoguchi, the Permanent Representative of Japan to the Conference of Disarmament.
   
   In addition, as the current chair of the Conference on Disarmament (CD) in Geneva (Chair: Ambassador Inoguchi), Japan submitted a draft resolution on the Report of the Conference on Disarmament.
4. The adoption of various draft resolutions including the abovementioned resolutions will be take place after 27 October, after a series of deliberations in the First Committee.