AG/RES. 1966 (XXXIII-O/03)

THE AMERICAS AS A BIOLOGICAL- AND CHEMICAL-WEAPONS-FREE REGION 

(Resolution adopted at the fourth plenary session, held on June 10, 2003) 

            THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, 

            Having seen the annual report of the Permanent Council to the General Assembly (AG/doc.4156/03 add. 4), in particular the section on the Committee on Hemispheric Security; 

            BEARING IN MIND the determination of the international community to eradicate the development, production, use, stockpiling, and transfer of biological and chemical weapons; 

            RECALLING resolutions AG/RES. 1236 (XXIII-O/93), “Cooperation for Security and Development in the Hemisphere.  Regional Contributions to Global Security,” and AG/RES. 1624 (XXIX-O/99), “Inter-American Support for the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction”; 

            RECOGNIZING that the establishment of biological- and chemical-weapons-free zones is an effective and concrete mechanism which contributes to the maintenance of international peace and security; 

            TAKING INTO ACCOUNT the urgent need to address this threat to humankind in the framework of the Organization of American States and, when appropriate, by means of international cooperation; and 

            REAFFIRMING the aforementioned resolution, AG/RES. 1236 (XXIII-O/93), and the importance of preventing all forms of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems, by adopting appropriate controls on the exportation of dual-use goods and technologies, taking due account of their legitimate use for peaceful purposes, 

RESOLVES: 

            1.         To express the goal of making the Americas a biological- and chemical-weapons-free region. 

            2.         To reaffirm their commitment to the principles of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction; the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction; and the 1925 Geneva Protocol to the 1907 Hague Convention. 

            3.         To urge those member states that have not yet done so to consider acceding to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction, and the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction, as well as to consider subscribing to the International Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation (ICOC) (CP/CSH/INF. 21/03). 

            4.         To urge member states to adopt, at the national level, measures for the implementation of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction and the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction. 

            5.         To request the Secretary General to compile a report on the measures adopted by other international organizations on matters dealing with the proliferation of biological and chemical weapons and to present it to the Permanent Council prior to the thirty-fourth regular session of the General Assembly. 

            6.         To request the Secretary General to transmit this resolution to the United Nations Secretary-General. 

            7.         To request the Secretary General to report to the General Assembly at its thirty-fourth regular session on the implementation of this resolution.