the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Iraq to the United Nations, Ambassador Muhammad Hussein Bahr alUloom, delivered the statement of Iraq in the First Committee (International Security and Disarmament)

On 10/19/2020, the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Iraq to the United Nations, Ambassador Muhammad Hussein Bahr Al-Uloom, delivered the statement of Iraq in the First Committee (International Security and Disarmament) in which he highlighted the established policy of the Government of the Republic of Iraq regarding disarmament, non-proliferation, and strengthening cooperation among member states and other stakeholders to eliminate the proliferation of these weapons, and to support all the efforts aimed at consolidating the rule based international order, and strengthening the principle of responsible state behavior.

The statement also affirmed Security Council Resolution 1540 (2004) on obligating member states to enforce and develop appropriate legal and regulatory measures against the proliferation of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction and to prevent the spread of those weapons to non-state actors (terrorist groups, in other words to strengthen nuclear security measures to prevent those weapons from getting into the hands of terrorists. As for regional security, the statement highlighted the importance of establishing a zone free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East, and the urgent necessity of disarming the nuclear weapons (Israel) and urging it to join the NPT as a non-nuclear party, and putting its nuclear facilities to a comprehensive safeguards system of IAEA, as well as its acceptance to participate in the 2nd Session of the conference on establishing a zone free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East. The statement also touched upon the need to adhere to the peaceful use of outer space and refrain militarization activities because the space is considered a common human heritage. Finally, the statement addressed the importance of raising the level of international cooperation to stop the cyber-attacks and to hinder any malicious activities.