EU Statement – UN General Assembly 1st Committee: General Debate
Mr. Chair,
I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States. The Candidate Countries North Macedonia, Montenegro*, Albania*, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Bosnia and Herzegovina*, as well as Andorra, Monaco and San Marino, align themselves with this statement.
We meet at a time of profound strain for international peace and security. Armed conflicts, marked by grave violations of international law, including international humanitarian law and human rights, are proliferating across almost all continents
The rules and institutions that support international peace and security are under severe pressure. Geopolitical confrontation is deepening, military capabilities are expanding, and trust between States is eroding.
The firm commitment of the EU and its Member States to the rules-based international order is rooted in its historical experience. We are acutely aware that great power rivalry at a time of low international trust can lead to devastating consequences. This is why we have invested in institutions designed to bring stability, predictability, prosperity and peace.
The EU and its Member States will therefore continue to invest in and advance the global architecture for disarmament, arms control, non-proliferation and export controls, and peace and security. We will continue to defend and promote multilateralism, international law and the rule of law founded on the UN Charter. Our objective is clear: to preserve, implement and strengthen existing legal instruments, commitments and norms while also developing and adapting to the security challenges of today and tomorrow.
Mr. Chair,
Russia’s unjustified, full-scale and illegal war of aggression against Ukraine, continues to inflict a heavy toll on the Ukrainian people first and foremost, but with spill-over effects on the wider region and across the globe. The EU condemns Russia’s aggression in the strongest terms and calls upon Russia to end this war now. We strongly condemn Russia’s aggressive actions, including widespread use of riot control agents as a method of warfare and nuclear rhetoric and threats to use nuclear force in its unjustified and illegal full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine, which are irresponsible, provocative, dangerous and escalatory, and which further demonstrates how Russia’s repeated actions undermine international commitments, peace and security. Russia’s persistent violations of international law, including the UN Charter, and of the principles of the “Helsinki Decalogue”, and the OSCE as well as its commitments under the Budapest Memorandum continue to undermine and destabilise global peace and security. The EU also condemns the Belarusian regime’s complicity in Russia’s war against Ukraine, which constitutes a manifest violation of international law and the UN Charter, and Russia’s deepening military cooperation with the DPRK and Iran. The EU and its Member States remain committed to supporting all efforts aimed at achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace, in accordance with international law, including the UN Charter. Full respect for Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders, as well as the full accountability for international crimes committed, remain our priority.
You may ask why the EU and its Member States attach such importance to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. The answer is straight forward: Ukraine is at the heart of our collective efforts to uphold international peace and security, international law including the principles of the UN Charter, and the international frameworks governing arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation. It is a matter of upholding the rules that underpin our international order, and recognizing the consequences that follow when these commitments are broken, violated or disregarded.
The EU deplores the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza and calls on Israel to allow immediate, unimpeded access and sustained distribution of humanitarian assistance into and throughout Gaza. The EU remains firmly committed to a lasting and sustainable peace based on a two-State solution. The Comprehensive Peace Plan for Gaza and the UN Security Council resolution 2803 must be implemented urgently and in accordance with international law. The EU is also deeply concerned by the open hostilities that have erupted in regions in the Middle East, South Asia and Africa, and that entail grave non-proliferation and disarmament risks.
The EU and its Member States are profoundly concerned by the deteriorating situation in the Gulf region, which poses serious risks to both regional and global peace, security and stability. The EU condemns Iran’s unjustifiable attacks against regional states and ships in the Strait of Hormuz and supports diplomatic efforts and negotiations that bring about a lasting solution in line with international law including the UN Charter and international humanitarian law. The EU has consistently made clear that Iran must never be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon. We therefore call on Iran to fully comply with its legally binding nuclear safeguards obligations under the NPT, including by providing the IAEA with the information and access it needs to verify the non-diversion of nuclear material. We also urge Iran to return to compliance with its obligations under the relevant SC resolutions.
The EU reaffirms its full support for the establishment of a zone free of nuclear and all other weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems in the Middle East on the basis of arrangements freely arrived at by the States in the region and in accordance with the NPT 1995 resolution on the Middle East, as an essential step towards advancing and preserving both regional and international peace and security.
The EU calls on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to abandon all its weapons of mass destruction (WMD), ballistic missile programmes and existing nuclear programmes as required by multiple UN Security Council Resolutions and supports efforts towards achieving a denuclearised Korean Peninsula. The DPRK cannot and will not have the status of a nuclear weapon State under the NPT, or have any other special status in that regard.
Mr. Chair,
The NPT remains the cornerstone of the global non-proliferation and the essential foundation for the pursuit of nuclear disarmament according to its Article VI. We regret that despite intensive efforts State Parties were unable to reach consensus on a substantive final document at the 2026 NPT Review Conference. Intensive and substantive deliberations at the 2026 NPT Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty highlighted their substantive commitment to strengthening the implementation of the Treaty. The absence of consensus does not in any way diminish the significance and security benefits provided by the NPT, nor the legal obligations undertaken under the Treaty, nor does it remove the responsibility of State Parties to implement previous commitments, including concrete progress towards the implementation of Article VI, with the ultimate objective of the total elimination of nuclear weapons.
The expiry of the New START Treaty in February 2026 has resulted in an absence of agreed nuclear arsenal limits and mutual inspection and monitoring systems between the United States and Russia, diminishing predictability and risking miscalculation and arms racing. The EU calls for good faith negotiations on effective measures to prevent nuclear arms racing in order to prepare the way for a new legally binding nuclear arms control framework limiting the largest nuclear arsenals. We urge Russia to engage meaningfully and call on China to contribute and engage actively and constructively.
The EU strongly encourages nuclear-weapon states to pursue discussions on confidence building, transparency, risk reduction and verification. These may contribute to lay the ground for the negotiations of robust future disarmament and arms control agreements and reporting. While not a substitute for nuclear disarmament, risk reduction contributes to the prevention of nuclear war, can play a major role in creating trust, confidence and predictability, and complements disarmament and arms control efforts. Concrete risk reduction measures, including measures to reduce the risk of nuclear conflict, should therefore be pursued.
On its 30th anniversary, we will also continue to reaffirm the importance, redouble our efforts to ensure the entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and continue to engage for the early conclusion of negotiations for a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT). To bring the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty into Force, the EU calls on all States that have not yet done so, in particular those listed in Annex II, to sign and ratify the Treaty without any preconditions or delay. In this context, the EU deplores the de-ratification of the CTBT by Russia in 2023, representing a serious setback with regard to universalisation and undermining ongoing non-proliferation efforts. The EU also calls for the immediate commencement and early conclusion of negotiations for a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT) and continue our support for the work of the IAEA.
The EU and its Member States remain strongly committed to the prevention of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems, including towards non-State actors. We support the Hague Code of Conduct against ballistic missile proliferation (HCOC) and actively advocate for its universalisation and complete implementation.
The EU will continue supporting and strengthening international instruments aimed at combating chemical and biological weapons, including the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention. It is our goal to maintain and strengthen the international legal prohibition on these weapons and to ensure that their use does not go unpunished. In this context, the EU highlights the important role of the UN Secretary-General’s Mechanism for investigation of the alleged use of chemical and biological weapons. The EU strongly condemns Russia’s uses of chemical weapons, including the systematic use of riot control agents on the frontline in Ukraine. Furthermore, we are seriously concerned by the recent conclusion of the Governments of the UK, Sweden, France, Germany and the Netherlands that poisoning with a lethal neurotoxin was highly likely the cause of Alexey Navalny’s sudden death on 16 February 2024 in a Russian penal colony. This followed the poisoning of Mr. Navalny with Novichok by Russian operatives in August 2020. The EU welcomes important progress made by Syria in cooperation with the OPCW, including the destruction of Category 3 chemical weapons in August 2026.
The EU reaffirms its unwavering support for the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) and its core objectives: to establish the highest possible common international standards for regulating the trade in conventional arms, to eradicate the illicit trade, and to prevent diversion of arms. The EU is fully committed to the universalisation and effective implementation of the ATT, the centrepiece of both the EU Common Position on arms exports and the relevant national legal frameworks of EU Member States. The EU continues to encourage and fund its universalisation and implementation through the program EU ATT Outreach and support to the ATT Secretariat.
The EU firmly supports conventional arms control instruments, such as those designed to prevent the diversion of small arms and light weapons (SALW) and their ammunition.
The EU is resolute in its support for advancing the humanitarian objectives of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, which remains an important, effective and successful multilateral humanitarian disarmament instrument. The contributions of the EU to both the APMBC and CCM have helped to prevent casualties and injuries, and to bring back economic development to affected communities. The EU recalls the importance of the Political Declaration on Strengthening the Protection of Civilians from the Humanitarian Consequences arising from the use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas (EWIPA) with its aim to reduce harm and strengthen the protection of civilians.
The EU will also continue to address the implications of new and emerging technologies for international peace and security. The set of elements of an instrument, without prejudging its nature, and other possible measures to address emerging technologies in the area of lethal autonomous weapons systems, agreed by consensus in the GGE on LAWS, represents an important milestone. The EU and its member states remain fully committed to building on this positive outcome and expect the 2026 Review Conference to adopt an ambitious negotiating mandate for the GGE to take forward the work on an instrument, without prejudging its nature, building on the set of elements of an instrument and other possible measures formulated in the latest GGE LAWS report and other outcomes of the GGE process. The EU will support further efforts within the framework of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), at its Seventh Review Conference in November this year and beyond. Outside the CCW, the EU supports ongoing discussions aimed at developing voluntary guidelines for the use of AI in the military domain.
With regard to outer space, the EU reaffirms the importance of preserving a secure, safe, stable and sustainable space environment, including through responsible behaviour. It underlines the necessity of full compliance with international law, including international humanitarian law. In particular, the EU emphasizes the obligations under Article IV of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which obliges State Parties not to place in orbit around the Earth any object carrying nuclear weapons or any other kind of weapon of mass destruction. The EU and its Member States support the universalisation and full implementation of the Outer Space Treaty, while promoting norms of responsible behaviour as a means of preventing an arms race in outer space in all its aspects.
The EU will continue to place the prevention and elimination of all forms of sexual and gender-based violence at the heart of its efforts. It supports the full, equal, meaningful and safe participation of women and reiterates its strong commitment to the Women, Peace and Security agenda in its entirety. The EU also reaffirms its full commitment to the Youth, Peace and Security agenda and supports advancing the Children in Armed Conflict Agenda.
The EU and its Member States will continue to promote responsible state behaviour in cyberspace. In this context, the EU welcomes the launch of the Global Mechanism on developments in the field of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the context of international security, as well as continued efforts to advance and uphold responsible state behaviour in the use of ICTs.
Finally, the EU stands ready to engage with partners in driving forward UN reform through the “UN80 initiative”, towards a more effective, cost-efficient and responsive UN, to ensure that the UN system is able to address today’s challenges, including in the field of arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation. In this context, the EU will also continue to promote cooperation and the full, effective and active participation of the multi-stakeholder community, including youth, private actors, academia and civil society in the UN, in discussions and processes in disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control architecture.
I thank you, Mr. Chair.
- North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.