New UN General Assembly Resolution in support of the HCoC

5 December 2018

On 5 December 2018, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted resolution A/RES/73/49 in support of the HCoC, with 171 votes in favour, 1 vote against and 12 abstentions. This text was adopted with the highest number of votes in favour since the first such resolution, in 2004.

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Through this text, the General Assembly:

  1. Welcomes the fact that 139 States have so far subscribed to the Hague Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation1 as a practical step against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery;
  2. Also welcomes the advancement of the universalization process of the Code of Conduct, and underscores the importance of further advancing, at both the regional and the international levels, the universalization of the Code;
  3. Invites all States that have not yet subscribed to the Code of Conduct, in particular those possessing space launch vehicle and ballistic missile capabilities and those developing corresponding national programmes, to do so, bearing in mind the right to use space for peaceful purposes;
  4. Encourages States that have already subscribed to the Code of Conduct to make efforts to increase participation in the Code and to further improve its implementation;
  5. Notes progress in the implementation of the Code of Conduct, which contributes to enhancing transparency and building confidence among States through the submission of pre-launch notifications and annual declarations on space launch vehicle and ballistic missile policies, and underlines the importance of further steps in this direction;

 

6. Encourages the exploration of further ways and means to deal effectively with the problem of the proliferation of ballistic missiles capable of delivering weapons of mass destruction, to take the measures necessary to avoid contributing to such delivery systems, and to continue to deepen the relationship between the Code of Conduct and the United Nations;

7. Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its seventy-fifth session, under the item entitled “General and complete disarmament”, the sub-item entitled “The Hague Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation”.

Texts of previous resolutions adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in support of the HCoC are available here.