SFA-AGR-182-08

RP ELECTED VICE CHAIR OF UN DISARMAMENT BODY

24 March 2008—The Philippines added another feather in its cap with its election as Vice Chairman of the United Nations Disarmament Commission (UNDC), the Philippine Mission to the United Nations said.

In his report to Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto G. Romulo, Ambassador Hilario G. Davide, Jr. said the Philippines was elected by acclamation on Tuesday, 18 March 2008 during the organizational meeting of the Commission.

The election comes nine years after the Philippines last occupied the position of vice chairman of the Commission—a subsidiary organ of the United Nations General Assembly that makes recommendations on various issues related to disarmament.

"The election of the Philippines to the Vice Chairmanship of this important UN body highlights the confidence that the global community places in the country's leadership on the crucial and timely issue of disarmament," Ambassador Davide said.

As Vice Chair, the Philippines is expected to help steer discussions and provide guidance so that member states will reach consensus on issues such as nuclear and conventional weapons and on their reduction and/or destruction.

Ambassador Davide said the disarmament expert of the Philippine Mission—Third Secretary Raphael Hermoso—has been designated to sit as vice chair during the 2008 UNDC Session from 7 to 24 April 2008 at the UN Headquarters here in New York.

Other countries elected to official positions for the 2008 UNDC meeting include the Netherlands as chair and Benin, Cameroon, France, Peru and Uzbekistan as vice chairmen.

The UNDC was reestablished at the First Special Session of die General Assembly devoted to Disarmament in 1978 to succeed the earlier Disarmament Commission, which ceased to convene after 1965. The UNDC is made up of all 192 Member States of the United Nations and holds its substantive yearly sessions in New York for three weeks.

Since it was reestablished, the Disarmament Commission has dealt with disarmament related questions, namely nuclear and conventional, and submitted guidelines on confidence-building measures and recommendations for regional approaches to disarmament within the context of global security and objective information on military. END

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