The UN General Assembly’s First Committee will convene at UN headquarters in New York in October 2025 to discuss a range of disarmament issues. | Credit: Nils Huenerfuerst, 2024.
The United Nations General Assembly will convene the 80th session of its First Committee on Disarmament and International Security from October 8 to November 7, 2025. Delegations need to urgently take up the task of disarmament and demilitarization, even as the world spins in the other direction.
In Reaching Critical Will’s First Committee Briefing Book 2025, activists working across a range of weapon-related issues offer recommendations to governments that urge the development of new law, implementation and protection of existing laws and norms, and the adoption of policies that pursue disarmament and demilitarization over war and violence. The coalitions and organizations working on these issues should also collaborate to advance humanitarian disarmament and global demilitarization. Pursuing our goals in siloes only undermines the broader objective of the UN Charter of “sav[ing] succeeding generations from the scourge of war.”
Since Last Year
Last year’s First Committee generated some progress toward addressing arms-inflicted harm. For example, it established a UN panel to study the effects of nuclear war and build renewed public understanding of the risks and dangers of nuclear weapons. The UN secretary-general appointed the members of the panel, and it began its work with a meeting this September. In addition, UN General Assembly consultations on autonomous weapons systems, which emerged from a First Committee resolution, met in May. The gathering helped elevate the issue among more delegations, ensure a more comprehensive assessment of the risks and challenges posed by such weapons, and build momentum for their prohibition.
Since then, outside of the UN, the situation has been bleak. Genocides and armed conflicts have intensified, some countries have violated international laws restricting the arms trade, others have withdrawn from critical humanitarian disarmament treaties, and the introduction of artificial intelligence into weapons systems is already causing grave harm.
These developments have been a boon to the military-industrial complex, arms brokers, and others who profit from death. Military expenditure last year reached US$2.718 trillion, the highest it’s ever been. In June, the members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), with the exception of Spain, committed to increase their military spending even further, to 5 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) by 2035. Meanwhile, the nine nuclear-armed states spent more than US$100 billion on their arsenals, while billions more dollars are going to tech companies to build new weapons systems. The special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories published a report in July 2025 finding that private companies are playing a key role in enabling the occupation and genocide of Palestinians. Meanwhile, financing for peace and “development” languishes.
What’s Needed Now
Immediate concrete actions are needed to protect people and the planet from weapons and war. The First Committee is a key place for this work. The United Nations, after all, was established to prevent war and demilitarize the world after the butchery of World War II. Since then, the UN has facilitated the adoption and implementation of many commitments and constraints against international violence. The UN’s current flailings and failures are not an excuse for inaction but a motivation to do better.
The First Committee, through its discussions and resolutions, can confront and dismantle the structures of power and violence that cause grave suffering around the world. Delegations need to not get trapped in the fractious dramas created by the violent, militarized states, but should instead work among the majority to generate new collective disarmament projects.
Cover of Reaching Critical Will’s First Committee Briefing Book 2025. | Credit: Reaching Critical Will, 2025.
Disarmament Demands at the First Committee
Ahead of this year’s First Committee, Reaching Critical Will edited a Briefing Book containing background information on disarmament issues, analysis of current contexts, and recommendations for governments. Each chapter is written by an organization or coalition leading the work on the topic.
Some of the recommended actions focus on adopting new or stronger international laws. New treaties should prohibit and regulate autonomous weapons systems and depleted uranium weapons, and end the trade in equipment used for torture. Rules and norms around incendiary weapons and drones must be strengthened to protect civilians and uphold international law.
Other recommendations call for states to fully implement existing treaties and instruments. Treaties highlighted include: the Mine Ban Treaty, the Convention on Cluster Munitions, the Arms Trade Treaty, the Chemical Weapons Convention, and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Other instruments discussed are: the UN Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons, the Principles on the Protection of the Environment in Relation to Armed Conflict, the Political Declaration on Protecting Civilians from the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas, and the Global Framework on Ammunition. On a specific note, several Briefing Book entries urge states and other actors to implement provisions for victim assistance and clearance or remediation of remnants of war, notably with regard to antipersonnel landmines, cluster munitions, and nuclear weapons.
The Briefing Book’s recommendations further emphasize the importance of protecting the norms of disarmament treaties from external challenges. They should condemn the development, possession, and use of antipersonnel landmines, cluster munitions, biological weapons, chemical weapons, and nuclear weapons, among others. It’s similarly imperative that states condemn unlawful arms transfers and ensure respect for international law by holding each other to account for violations.
Finally, the recommendations urge states to take action to prevent further militarization and war by halting the development and use of “malicious cyber capabilities,” stopping the weaponization of outer space, not developing or using autonomous weapons systems, and reducing military spending. Instead, states should advance and amplify perspectives that bring credibility and urgency to disarmament, including gender analysis, disability rights, disarmament education, and youth participation.
It is important to see all these recommendations in relation to one another. Rather than attempting to manage or address one weapon system or law violation at a time, states should approach these recommendations as a group in order to pursue global demilitarization. Weapons and war profiteering are part of an overarching system of capitalism, militarism, colonialism, racism, and patriarchy that are best confronted together.
How to Follow the Action
During the First Committee, the Reaching Critical Will team will coordinate and publish the weekly First Committee Monitor, which will provide reports on discussions and action on resolutions. Be sure to subscribe to Reaching Critical Will’s mailing list today!
Ahead of the First Committee, Reaching Critical Will monitored the UN General Assembly high-level general debate for references to disarmament and weapons. Check out their UNGA Disarmament Index for details.
If you want to watch the First Committee, UN Web TV should be streaming live at https://media.un.org/en.
This post expresses the views of the author and does not purport to represent the views of the Armed Conflict and Civilian Protection Initiative, Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic, or Harvard University.
Ray Acheson, Reaching Critical Will
The United Nations General Assembly will convene the 80th session of its First Committee on Disarmament and International Security from October 8 to November 7, 2025. Delegations need to urgently take up the task of disarmament and demilitarization, even as the world spins in the other direction.
In Reaching Critical Will’s First Committee Briefing Book 2025, activists working across a range of weapon-related issues offer recommendations to governments that urge the development of new law, implementation and protection of existing laws and norms, and the adoption of policies that pursue disarmament and demilitarization over war and violence. The coalitions and organizations working on these issues should also collaborate to advance humanitarian disarmament and global demilitarization. Pursuing our goals in siloes only undermines the broader objective of the UN Charter of “sav[ing] succeeding generations from the scourge of war.”
Since Last Year
Last year’s First Committee generated some progress toward addressing arms-inflicted harm. For example, it established a UN panel to study the effects of nuclear war and build renewed public understanding of the risks and dangers of nuclear weapons. The UN secretary-general appointed the members of the panel, and it began its work with a meeting this September. In addition, UN General Assembly consultations on autonomous weapons systems, which emerged from a First Committee resolution, met in May. The gathering helped elevate the issue among more delegations, ensure a more comprehensive assessment of the risks and challenges posed by such weapons, and build momentum for their prohibition.
Since then, outside of the UN, the situation has been bleak. Genocides and armed conflicts have intensified, some countries have violated international laws restricting the arms trade, others have withdrawn from critical humanitarian disarmament treaties, and the introduction of artificial intelligence into weapons systems is already causing grave harm.
These developments have been a boon to the military-industrial complex, arms brokers, and others who profit from death. Military expenditure last year reached US$2.718 trillion, the highest it’s ever been. In June, the members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), with the exception of Spain, committed to increase their military spending even further, to 5 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) by 2035. Meanwhile, the nine nuclear-armed states spent more than US$100 billion on their arsenals, while billions more dollars are going to tech companies to build new weapons systems. The special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories published a report in July 2025 finding that private companies are playing a key role in enabling the occupation and genocide of Palestinians. Meanwhile, financing for peace and “development” languishes.
What’s Needed Now
Immediate concrete actions are needed to protect people and the planet from weapons and war. The First Committee is a key place for this work. The United Nations, after all, was established to prevent war and demilitarize the world after the butchery of World War II. Since then, the UN has facilitated the adoption and implementation of many commitments and constraints against international violence. The UN’s current flailings and failures are not an excuse for inaction but a motivation to do better.
The First Committee, through its discussions and resolutions, can confront and dismantle the structures of power and violence that cause grave suffering around the world. Delegations need to not get trapped in the fractious dramas created by the violent, militarized states, but should instead work among the majority to generate new collective disarmament projects.
Disarmament Demands at the First Committee
Ahead of this year’s First Committee, Reaching Critical Will edited a Briefing Book containing background information on disarmament issues, analysis of current contexts, and recommendations for governments. Each chapter is written by an organization or coalition leading the work on the topic.
Some of the recommended actions focus on adopting new or stronger international laws. New treaties should prohibit and regulate autonomous weapons systems and depleted uranium weapons, and end the trade in equipment used for torture. Rules and norms around incendiary weapons and drones must be strengthened to protect civilians and uphold international law.
Other recommendations call for states to fully implement existing treaties and instruments. Treaties highlighted include: the Mine Ban Treaty, the Convention on Cluster Munitions, the Arms Trade Treaty, the Chemical Weapons Convention, and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Other instruments discussed are: the UN Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons, the Principles on the Protection of the Environment in Relation to Armed Conflict, the Political Declaration on Protecting Civilians from the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas, and the Global Framework on Ammunition. On a specific note, several Briefing Book entries urge states and other actors to implement provisions for victim assistance and clearance or remediation of remnants of war, notably with regard to antipersonnel landmines, cluster munitions, and nuclear weapons.
The Briefing Book’s recommendations further emphasize the importance of protecting the norms of disarmament treaties from external challenges. They should condemn the development, possession, and use of antipersonnel landmines, cluster munitions, biological weapons, chemical weapons, and nuclear weapons, among others. It’s similarly imperative that states condemn unlawful arms transfers and ensure respect for international law by holding each other to account for violations.
Finally, the recommendations urge states to take action to prevent further militarization and war by halting the development and use of “malicious cyber capabilities,” stopping the weaponization of outer space, not developing or using autonomous weapons systems, and reducing military spending. Instead, states should advance and amplify perspectives that bring credibility and urgency to disarmament, including gender analysis, disability rights, disarmament education, and youth participation.
It is important to see all these recommendations in relation to one another. Rather than attempting to manage or address one weapon system or law violation at a time, states should approach these recommendations as a group in order to pursue global demilitarization. Weapons and war profiteering are part of an overarching system of capitalism, militarism, colonialism, racism, and patriarchy that are best confronted together.
How to Follow the Action
During the First Committee, the Reaching Critical Will team will coordinate and publish the weekly First Committee Monitor, which will provide reports on discussions and action on resolutions. Be sure to subscribe to Reaching Critical Will’s mailing list today!
Ahead of the First Committee, Reaching Critical Will monitored the UN General Assembly high-level general debate for references to disarmament and weapons. Check out their UNGA Disarmament Index for details.
The Reaching Critical Will team will also coordinate civil society statements to the First Committee and post all available statements, documents, resolutions and voting results, and other information on their website.
If you want to watch the First Committee, UN Web TV should be streaming live at https://media.un.org/en.
This post expresses the views of the author and does not purport to represent the views of the Armed Conflict and Civilian Protection Initiative, Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic, or Harvard University.
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