The third session of the Conference on the establishment of a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction was held between 14-18 November 2022 at the UN Headquarters in New York, under the presidency of the Deputy Permanent Representative of Lebanon to the United Nations, Ms Jeanne Mrad. The session was attended by all Arab states (except for Comoros and Somalia), and Iran. China, France, Russian Federation, and the UK attended as observers. As with previous sessions, Israel and the US did not attend. The session was concluded with the adoption of a report , which included a summary of the thematic debate and set the topics for the work of the working committee in 2023.

The thematic debate was organized based on four agreed topics: (1) Core obligations; (2) Issues identified in paragraph 51 of the report of the second session of the Conference ; (3) Glossary of terminologies, and (4) Other related issues, with one meeting allocated to each topic. Discussion papers on core obligations and the glossary of terminologies were circulated by the President. Several states, such as Egypt , Iran , Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Syria, delivered statements on the different thematic topics. The debate also further refined language on core obligations related to nuclear, biological and chemical weapons based on agreements from the second session, although states continued to view these discussions as an exchange of views rather than permanent positions or agreed text.

New items discussed and reflected in the report were obligations related to unilateral coercive measures (UCM). The Conference agreed to review proposals on language for this item before further discussing it in future sessions.

As states felt more in-depth discussion is required as well as briefings by experts, it was agreed that the 2023 Working Committee would address the following topics “glossary of terminologies”, and “general principles and obligations for a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.”

Photo credit: Tomisha Bino

Group Photo of the participants of the Third session of the Conference on the Establishment of a Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear Weapons and Other WMD.