United Nations

NEW YORK, 31 July (Department of Disarmament Affairs) -- The 1999 United Nations Disarmament Yearbook has been released.  This reference work focuses on the actions and reactions of the world community to the entire range of disarmament issues.  In addition, it provides an overview of regional developments as they reflect concerns at the global level.

The Yearbook, which is a publication of the Department of Disarmament Affairs, includes information on the following: 

-- steps that Member States have taken to confront the dangerous proliferation of small arms and light weapons, leading to their decision in the General Assembly to convene the United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms in 2001;

-- how different approaches to nuclear disarmament played themselves out in the Conference on Disarmament and the Third Preparatory Committee for the 2000 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference, effectively thwarting substantive progress in those two crucial forums during the year; and

-- guidelines agreed upon by all Member States of the United Nations Disarmament Commission on the establishment of nuclear-weapon-free zones and on conventional arms control/limitation and disarmament, with emphasis on the consolidation of peace. 

The Yearbook is designed as a handy reference work for diplomats, researchers and the interested public.  It comprises a succinct narrative account of the above-mentioned subjects and others, a brief account of all explanations of vote in the First Committee, an index and extensive appendices. 

The appendices provide data on the status of multilateral and regional disarmament agreements and the text of the Convention on Transparency in Conventional Weapons Acquisitions concluded by the Organization of American States.  They also reproduce the texts of all United Nations General Assembly resolutions and decisions on disarmament, list their sponsors and indicate the overall voting results and the positions of each Member State on each resolution.