Despite recent successes, much work remains to advance disarmament – UN Assembly President

While there have been several noteworthy successes in the field of disarmament, there are still important areas where greater progress is needed, the President of the General Assembly told the United Nations committee tackling disarmament and international security issues today. John Ashe cited recent achievements such as the adoption in April of the Arms Trade Treaty, the convening last month of the first ever high-level meeting of the General Assembly on nuclear disarmament and the awarding last week of the Nobel Peace Prize to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). “These many successes are laudable and noteworthy, and we justly celebrate over them,” he said in his remarks to a high-level meeting of the Assembly’s First Committee. “However, we must acknowledge that we continue to struggle in many areas.”