RP elected vice chair of UN disarmament body

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines was elected vice chairman of the United Nations Disarmament Commission (UNDC), the Philippine Mission to the United Nations reported Monday.

Philippine ambassador to the UN Hilario Davide Jr said the Philippines was elected by acclamation last March 18 during the organizational meeting of the Commission.

"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," Davide said in a statement posted Monday night on the Department of Foreign Affairs website.

Also, 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 April 7 to 24 at the UN Headquarters in New York.

Davide said the election comes nine years after the Philippines last occupied the position of vice chairman of the Commission, a subsidiary of the UN General Assembly that makes recommendations on issues related to disarmament.

He said the Philippines as vice chairman will help steer discussions and provide guidance for member states to reach consensus on issues such as nuclear and conventional weapons and on their reduction and/or destruction.

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.

It 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.