France expressed its support for the creation of subsidiary bodies, including one to deal with nuclear disarmament, in 2022.
France expressed its support for the adoption of a programme of work for the Conference on Disarmament in 2024 (renewed in 2025) and the creation of subsidiary bodies, including one to deal with nuclear disarmament, in 2024 and 2025.
Statement by France. Conference on Disarmament – Statement by Ambassador Yann Hwang on subsidiary bodies (Geneva), 9 March 2022. https://cd-geneve.delegfrance.org/Conference-on-Disarmament-Statement-by-Ambassador-Yann-HWANG-on-subsidiary
Statement by France. Conference on Disarmement – Subsidiary organ 1 [disarmament] – Statement by the Ambassador M. Yann Hwang (Geneva), 15 March 2022. https://cd-geneve.delegfrance.org/Conference-on-Disarmement-Subsidiary-organ-1-disarmament-Statement-by-the
Statement by France. Conference on disarmament – Statement by Ambassador Camille Petit on the adoption of a programme of work for the Conference (Geneva), 13 June 2024. https://cd-geneve.delegfrance.org/Conference-on-disarmament-Statement-by-Ambassador-Camille-PETIT-on-the-adoption
Statement by France. Conference on Disarmament – Statement by Ambassador Camille Petit on the cessation of the nuclear arms race (Geneva), 25 June 2024. https://cd-geneve.delegfrance.org/Conference-on-Disarmament-Statement-by-Ambassador-Camille-Petit-on-the-2346
Statement by France. Conference on Disarmament – Second statement by Ambassador Camille Petit in Subsidiary Body 1 [Nuclear Disarmament] (Geneva), 11 March 2025. https://cd-geneve.delegfrance.org/Conference-on-Disarmament-Statement-by-Ambassador-Camille-Petit-in-Subsidiary
Russia expressed its support for the creation of subsidiary bodies, including one to deal with nuclear disarmament, in 2018 and in 2022.
Russia expressed its support for the creation of subsidiary bodies, including one to deal with nuclear disarmament, in 2024 and 2025.
In 2026 Russia stated that it considers it counterproductive to adopt a decision on the re-establishment of subsidiary bodies, including one to deal with nuclear disarmament, and instead called for negotiating a more focused and ambitious mandate for each subsidiary body.
Statement by the Russian Federation. Plenary meeting. Conference on Disarmament (Geneva), 28 February 2018.
https://mid.ru/de/foreign_policy/news/1564914/?lang=en
Statement by the Russian Federation. Plenary meeting. Conference on Disarmament (Geneva), 22 February 2022.
https://geneva.mid.ru/en/activities/news/28-02-2022_statement-ma_94912087a65c1a566063847165c87afb/
Statement by the Russian Federation. Plenary meeting. Conference on Disarmament (Geneva), 23 January 2024
https://docs-library.unoda.org/Conference_on_Disarmament_-_(2024)/Statement_of_the_Russian_PR_23-01-2024_ENG.pdf
Statement by the Russian Federation. Plenary meeting. Conference on Disarmament (Geneva), 23 January 2025.
https://mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/international_safety/disarmament/1992770/
Statement by the Russian Federation. Plenary meeting. Conference on Disarmament (Geneva), 3 February 2026.
https://geneva.mid.ru/en/activities/news/statement_by_a_russian_representative_at_the_plenary_session_of_the_conference_on_disarmament/
In 2016 the United Kingdom submitted a draft proposal for a programme of work and to establish an associated working group, including provisions for fissile material cut-off treaty issues. The UK stated that following the creation of five Subsidiary Bodies in 2018, four of which adopted reports by consensus, the United Kingdom, as President of the Conference on Disarmament, tabled a draft decision in March 2019 that would have taken forward this work and helped move the Conference on Disarmament closer to developing negotiating mandates on its four core agenda items. The UK stated that the decision had strong support from across the membership but was blocked by a small number of States.
In January 2025, the UK joined a consensus decision (CD/2443) to re-establish Subsidiary Body 1, which is specifically mandated to address the ‘Cessation of the nuclear arms race and nuclear disarmament’. In high-level statements, the UK has urged all members to "re-establish the subsidiary bodies as soon as possible" to break long-standing deadlocks in the Conference. In its national report to the 2026 NPT Review Conference the UK said it “continues to advocate for an agreed, comprehensive and balanced Programme of Work within the Conference on Disarmament. Absent this, we have consistently called for the establishment of Subsidiary Bodies to advance substantive work on all agenda items of the Conference, including nuclear disarmament.”
The UK states in its statements to te CD that it supports progress through consensus-based programmes of work and that nuclear disarmament should be addressed alongside other agenda items.
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (2021). UK national report pursuant to Actions 5, 20 and 21 of the NPT Review Conference 2010, for the 10th NPT Review Conference. 1 November. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/treaty-on-the-non-proliferation-of-nuclear-weapons-uk-national-report-for-the-10th-review-conference
Conference on Disarmament (2025). Decision on the Work of the Conference on Disarmament for 2025. Adopted at the 1740th plenary meeting on 30 January. <https://docs-library.unoda.org/Conference_on_Disarmament_-_%282025%29/CD.2443_%28Advance_copy%29.pdf>
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (2026). National report of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland pursuant to actions 5, 20 and 21 of the action plan of the 2010 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons for the tenth Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty. <https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69df600a53469bbcdf408e8b/UK-National-Report-11th-Treaty-on-the-Non-Proliferation-of-Nuclear-Weapons-NPT-Review-Conference.pdf>
Foreign and Commonwealth Office (2021). UK Permanent Representative to the Conference on Disarmament, statement at the Conference on Disarmament, 21 January. <https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/conference-on-disarmament-2021-session-uk-statement>.
The United States has historically resisted including nuclear disarmament as an appropriate topic for formal treaty negotiation within the Conference on Disarmament (CD). Instead, it has prioritized negotiations for a Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty (FMCT). However, the extreme application of the CD’s consensus-based rules of procedure has provided each member state with a de facto veto over the process.
In March 2018, the Conference on Disarmament decided on a substantive programme of work, and established subsidiary bodies on several core issues: (1) cessation of the arms race and nuclear disarmament; (2) prevention of nuclear war; (3) prevention of an arms race in outer space; and (4) assurances to non-nuclear-weapon states against the use and threat of use of nuclear weapons; however, the mandates for these bodies need to be renewed each year, and thus work once again stalled when that did not take place the following year.
During the Biden administration, the United States proposed several measures to reduce the gridlock within the Conference on Disarmament. For example, given that the necessity of renewing the subsidiary bodies’ mandates each year has historically led to a lack of progress, in 2023 the U.S. delegation to the Conference on Disarmament submitted a “food for thought” paper proposing the automatic carrying over of a Programme of Work and observer statuses on an annual basis, rather than starting from zero each successive year. These proposed reforms, however, have not yet been adopted.
U.S. Mission to International Organizations in Geneva. "United Nations General Assembly First Committee." Statement by the U.S. Delegation. October 6, 2010. https://geneva.usmission.gov/2010/10/06/unga-first-committee/.
U.S. Mission to International Organizations in Geneva. "The Obama Administration's Second Term Priorities for Arms Control and Nonproliferation." Remarks to the Conference on Disarmament. March 20, 2013. https://geneva.usmission.gov/2013/03/20/the-obama-administrations-second-term-priorities-for-arms-control-and-nonproliferation/.
Conference on Disarmament. Decision. CD/2119. February 16, 2018. https://docs.un.org/en/cd/2119.
U.S. Mission to International Organizations in Geneva. “U.S. Ambassador Bruce Turner’s Remarks to the Conference on Disarmament on Revitalization.” June 20, 2023. https://geneva.usmission.gov/2023/06/20/u-s-ambassador-bruce-turners-remarks-to-the-conference-on-disarmament-on-revitalization/.
U.S. Mission to International Organizations in Geneva. “U.S. Ambassador Bruce Turner’s Remarks to the Conference on Disarmament on the Program of Work Decision.” March 16, 2023. https://geneva.usmission.gov/2023/03/16/u-s-ambassador-bruce-turners-remarks-to-the-conference-on-disarmament-on-the-program-of-work-decision/.