International Efforts Crucial to Keeping Weapons of Mass Destruction from Falling into Non-State Actors’ Hands, 1540 Committee Chair Tells Security Council

International efforts to keep weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of non-State actors must be continually strengthened through stepped‑up engagement by Member States, the outgoing head of the Security Council’s subsidiary body on the issued, known as the 1540 Committee, said this afternoon. “The value of direct interaction with States has once again been demonstrated,” Ambassador Oh Joon of the Republic of Korea, told the Council in the semi-annual briefing on implementation of Council resolution 1540 (2004), which aims to keep access to nuclear, chemical and biological weapons away from terrorists and other non-State groups.