On the Plenary session of the Conference on Disarmament under the Presidency of Belarus
08.09.2020On September 8, 2020, a thematic plenary session of the Conference on Disarmament was held under the Belarusian Presidency. It was dedicated to new threats and challenges in the field of international security.
The panel discussion participants included Ms. Renata Dwan, UNIDIR Director, Mr. Sergey Batsanov, Director of the Geneva office of the Pugwash Conferences, and Mr. Jean-Marc Rickli, representative of the Geneva Center for Security Policy. The invited experts in their statements assessed the role of science and technology in the emergence of new types and systems of weapons of mass destruction, analyzed the current state of affairs in the field of biological and radiological weapons, lethal autonomous weapons systems, digital threats to international security.
Speaking in a national capacity, Mr. Yury Ambrazevich, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Belarus to the UN Office in Geneva, presented the Belarusian draft resolution of the UN General Assembly on the prohibition of the development and manufacture of new types of weapons of mass destruction and new systems of such weapons, outlined the approach of the Republic of Belarus to possible areas of work of the Conference on response to the growing threat of malicious exploitation of new advances in science and technology.
The members of the Conference in their national statements expressed support for the thematic plenary session initiated by Belarus, confirmed the relevance of its topic, discussed various aspects of new threats and challenges in the field of international security.
