UN Panel Working To Keep Chemical, Germ And Nuclear Arms Out Of Terrorist Hands
The ability of countries to prevent terrorists, black marketers and other private interests from acquiring weapons of
mass destruction (WMDs) will soon get needed help from a Security Council committee set up to monitor the problem, the
panel's chairman said today.
The so-called 1540 Committee, named after the Security Council resolution which established the body in April, has
already received reports from Turkmenistan and Malta and would soon be fully functional, Ambassador Mihnea Ioan Motoc of
Romania told reporters at UN Headquarters in New York.
Numerous national leaders addressing the General Assembly during its annual high-level debate have been warning that the
risk of WMDs reaching terrorists is the most ominous current security threat, he said.
Resolution 1540 calls on States to adopt legislative and administrative regulations to deal with WMD proliferation and
to report within six months on their efforts to execute the measure's requirements. The deadline for the first reports
is 28 October.
Because the text was adopted under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, in theory the 15-member Council has the power to
enforce decisions relating to it through tribunals, embargoes or military force after all peaceful means of persuading
delinquent Member States have been exhausted.
As chairman of the WMD committee, Ambassador Motoc has contacted the Directors-General of the Organization for the
Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in a bid to coordinate their
work on non-proliferation.