United Nations Security Council Resolution 2325 – Non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction
Resolution 2325 (2016)
The Security Council,
Reaffirming its resolutions 1540 (2004) of 28 April 2004, 1673 (2006) of 27 April 2006, 1810 (2008) of 25 April 2008, 1977 (2011) of 20 April 2011, and 2055 (2012) of 29 June 2012,
Reaffirming that the proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, as well as their means of delivery, constitutes a threat to international peace and security,
Reaffirming its decision that none of the obligations in resolution 1540 (2004)shall be interpreted so as to conflict with or alter the rights and obligations of State Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention or alter the responsibilities of the International Atomic Energy Agency or the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons,
Remaining gravely concerned by the threat of terrorism and the risk that non-State actors may acquire, develop, traffic in or use nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and their means of delivery, including by using the rapid advances in science, technology and international commerce to that end,
Reaffirming that prevention of proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons should not hamper international cooperation in materials, equipment and technology for peaceful purposes while goals of peaceful utilization should not be misused for proliferation purposes,
Recalling the decisions in resolution 2118 (2013) and resolution 2298 (2016)that member States shall inform immediately the Security Council of any violation of resolution 1540 (2004), and also recalling the invitation in resolution 2319 (2016) for the Joint Investigative Mechanism of the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, to brief, as appropriate, the Committee established pursuant to resolution 1540 (2004), hereafter the 1540 Committee, on relevant results of its work,
Endorsing the 2016 Comprehensive Review of the status of the implementation of resolution 1540 (2004), and noting the findings and recommendations in its final report,
Noting that not all States have presented to the 1540 Committee their national reports on implementation of resolution 1540 (2004),
Stressing the need to strengthen national measures of export control of materials related to nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and their means of delivery, consistent with resolution 1540 (2004),
Further noting that the full implementation of resolution 1540 (2004) by all States, including the adoption of national laws and measures to ensure implementation of these laws, is a long-term task that will require continuous efforts at national, regional and international levels,
Recognizing the need to enhance coordination of efforts at national, regional, subregional and international levels, as appropriate, in order to strengthen a global response to the serious challenge and threat to international peace and security posed by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery,
Stressing the importance of dialogue between the 1540 Committee and Member States, including visits to States at their invitation, and also recognizing that such a dialogue has contributed to facilitating implementation of resolution 1540 (2004), inter alia by raising awareness about the importance of presenting national reports and the utility of voluntary national implementation action plans and has helped to identify assistance needs of States,
Recognizing that many States continue to require assistance in implementing resolution 1540 (2004), and emphasizing the importance of providing States, in response to their requests, with effective assistance that meets their needs,
Stressing the need to reinforce the role of the 1540 Committee in providing and facilitating effective assistance, including, inter alia, in the field of State capacity-building, and collaboration among States, between the 1540 Committee and States, and between the 1540 Committee and relevant international, regional and subregional organizations in assisting States to implement resolution 1540 (2004),
Acknowledging the importance of voluntary contributions made in the field of assistance by Member States and international, regional and subregional organizations, including through the United Nations Trust Fund for Global and Regional Disarmament Activities,
Endorsing the valuable interaction of the Committee with relevant international, regional, and subregional organizations, and emphasizing the need for coordination, as appropriate, between the Committee and those organizations,
Acknowledging the enhanced ongoing cooperation among the 1540 Committee, the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999), 1989 (2001) and 2253 (2015) concerning ISIL (Da’esh), Al-Qaida, and associated individuals, groups, undertakings and entities, and the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1373 (2001), concerning counter-terrorism,
Acknowledging that transparency and outreach make an important contribution to enhancing confidence, fostering cooperation and raising the awareness among States, including, as appropriate, in their interaction with relevant international, regional and subregional organizations, and also acknowledging the positive role performed by civil society, inter alia industry and academia, could play in the effective implementation of resolution 1540 (2004), including by raising awareness, and that parliamentarians have a key role in enacting the necessary legislation to implement the obligations of the resolution,
Endorsing the work already carried out by the 1540 Committee, in accordance with its Programmes of Work, and reaffirming its continued support,
Bearing in mind the need to continue the consideration of the 1540 Committee’s ability, consistent with its mandate, to review and facilitate advancing the implementation of the resolution,
Determined to facilitate the full and effective implementation of resolution 1540 (2004),
Acting under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations,
- Reiterates its decisions in and the requirements of resolution 1540 (2004), and re-emphasizes the importance for all States to implement fully and effectively that resolution;
2. Decides that the 1540 Committee will continue to submit to the Security Council its Programme of Work, before the end of each January, and will brief the Security Council in the first quarter of each year, and welcomes the continuous submission of the Annual Review on the Implementation of Resolution 1540 (2004), prepared with the assistance of the Group of Experts, within December annually;
3. Again calls upon all States that have not yet presented a first report on steps they have taken or intend to take to implement resolution 1540 (2004) to submit such a report to the 1540 Committee without delay, and requests the Committee to make available its expertise to these States, as appropriate, to facilitate the submission of such reports;
4. Again encourages all States that have submitted such reports to provide, when appropriate or upon the request of the 1540 Committee, additional information on their implementation of resolution 1540 (2004), including, voluntarily, on their laws and regulations and on States’ effective practices;
5. Encourages also States to prepare on a voluntary basis national implementation action plans, with the assistance of the 1540 Committee as appropriate, mapping out their priorities and plans for implementing the key provisions of resolution 1540 (2004), and to submit these plans to the Committee;
6. Encourages all States that have not yet done so to provide the 1540 Committee with a Point of Contact for Resolution 1540 (2004), and urges the Committee to continue to undertake initiatives to strengthen the capacity of such Points of Contact to assist on the implementation of the resolution, upon request of States, including through the continuation on a regional basis of the Committee’s Point of Contact Training Programme;
7. Calls upon States to take into account developments on the evolving nature of risk of proliferation and rapid advances in science and technology in their implementation of resolution 1540 (2004);
8. Requests the 1540 Committee to take note in its work, where relevant, of the continually evolving nature of the risks of proliferation, including the use by non-State actors of rapid advances in science, technology and international commerce for proliferation purposes, in the context of the implementation of resolution 1540 (2004);
9. Requests that the 1540 Committee undertake additional consideration, consistent with the report of the 2016 Comprehensive Review, of the efficiency and effectiveness of the Special Political Mission that supports the Committee, and encourages the Committee to report to the Security Council on the findings of this evaluation, within 2017 as appropriate;
10. Calls upon all States to intensify their efforts to achieve full implementation of resolution 1540 (2004), focusing, when and where appropriate, on areas where measures should be taken and strengthened;
11. Urges the 1540 Committee to continue to explore and develop an approach, with regard to implementation and reporting, that takes into account the specificity of States, inter alia, with respect to their ability to manufacture and export related materials, with a view to prioritizing efforts and resources where they are most needed without affecting the need for comprehensive implementation of resolution 1540 (2004);
12. Decides that the 1540 Committee shall continue to intensify its efforts to promote the full implementation by all States of resolution 1540 (2004), through its Programme of Work, which includes the compilation and general examination of information on the status of States’ implementation of resolution 1540 (2004) and addresses all aspects of paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of that resolution, particularly noting the need for more attention on: enforcement measures; measures relating to biological, chemical and nuclear weapons; proliferation finance measures; accounting for and securing related materials; and national export and transhipment controls;
13. Encourages States, as appropriate, to control access to intangible transfers of technology and to information that could be used for weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery;
14. Recalls its decision that all States shall take and enforce effective measures to establish domestic controls to prevent the proliferation of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and their means of delivery, including by establishing appropriate control over related materials, and calls upon States that have not done so to start developing effective national control lists at the earliest opportunity for the implementation of resolution 1540 (2004);
15. Recalls its decision that all States, in accordance with their national procedures, shall adopt and enforce appropriate effective laws for the prohibition of activities under paragraph 2 of resolution 1540 (2004), and requests that the 1540 Committee hold discussions on optimal approaches on enforcement of the indicated paragraph;
16. Encourages the 1540 Committee to continue to engage actively in dialogue with States, including in the context of ongoing updating of the implementation data it holds, and through visits to States, at their invitation, by the Committee;
17. Encourages the 1540 Committee to continue to identify and compile effective implementation best practices and, upon request by a State, to share appropriate effective best practices for implementing resolution 1540 (2004) with that State;
18. Encourages States that have requests for assistance to provide the 1540 Committee, as appropriate, with specific details of the assistance needed, directs the Committee, when possible, to provide States, upon their request, with assistance in the formulation of such requests, and further directs the Committee to revise its assistance template;
19. Urges States as well as relevant international, regional and subregional organizations to inform the 1540 Committee, as appropriate, of areas in which they are able to provide assistance, and calls upon States as well as such organizations, if they have not done so previously, to provide the Committee with information on their ongoing assistance programmes relevant to resolution 1540 (2004);
20. Urges the Committee to continue strengthening its role in facilitating technical assistance for implementation of resolution 1540 (2004), in particular by engaging actively in matching offers and requests for assistance, inter alia through a regional approach, where appropriate, as well as the holding of regional assistance conferences, which bring together States that request assistance with those offering assistance;
21. Encourages States to contribute funds, on a voluntary basis, to finance projects and activities, including through the United Nations Trust Fund for Global and Regional Disarmament Activities, to assist States in implementing their obligations under resolution 1540 (2004), including for implementing projects in response to assistance requests submitted directly by States to the Committee;
22. Encourages the Committee to develop, in collaboration with international, regional and subregional organizations, assistance projects to support States in implementing resolution 1540 (2004) in order to facilitate the prompt and direct response to assistance requests;
23. Encourages relevant international, regional and subregional organizations to enhance cooperation and information-sharing with the 1540 Committee, on the issues related to the implementation of resolution 1540 (2004);
24. Calls upon relevant international, regional and subregional organizations that have not yet done so to provide the Committee with a Point of Contact or Coordinator for Resolution 1540 (2004);
25. Encourages also relevant international, regional and subregional organizations, to highlight the obligations of resolution 1540 (2004) in their model legislation and/or guidelines, where appropriate, pertaining to instruments under their mandate relevant to the resolution;
26. Requests the 1540 Committee to convene regular meetings, inter alia on the margins of the relevant sessions of the General Assembly, with relevant international, regional and subregional organizations to share information and experiences on their efforts to facilitate implementation of resolution 1540 (2004), thereby contributing to promoting coordination of such efforts, as appropriate;
27. Reiterates the need to continue to enhance ongoing cooperation among the 1540 Committee, the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999) 1989 (2001) and 2253 (2015) concerning ISIL (Da’esh), Al-Qaida, and associated individuals, groups, undertakings and entities, and the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1373 (2001), concerning counter-terrorism, including through, as appropriate, enhanced information sharing, coordination on visits to States, within their respective mandates, technical assistance and other issues of relevance to all three committees, and again expresses its intention to provide guidance to the committees on areas of common interest in order to better coordinate their efforts, and decides the three Committees will jointly brief once per year the Security Council on their cooperation;
28. Requests the 1540 Committee to continue to institute transparency measures and activities, inter alia by making the fullest possible use of the Committee’s website and other agreed means of communication, and further requests the Committee to conduct regular meetings open to all Member States on the Committee’s and Group’s activities related to facilitating implementation of resolution 1540 (2004);
29. Requests the 1540 Committee to continue to organize and participate in outreach events on the implementation of resolution 1540 (2004) at the international, regional, subregional, and, as appropriate, national level, including, as appropriate, inviting parliamentarians, as well as representatives of civil society, including industry and academia and promote the refinement of these outrea ch efforts to focus on specific thematic and regional issues related to implementation;
30. Encourages the 1540 Committee to continue drawing on relevant expertise, including industry, scientific and academic communities, with, as appropriate, their States’ consent, which can assist States in their implementation of resolution 1540 (2004);
31. Decides to remain seized of the matter
Adopted by the Security Council at its 7837th meeting, on 15 December 2016.
