EU Statement – UN General Assembly 1st Committee: General Statement

EU Statement - UN General Assembly 1st Committee: General Statement

8 October 2025, New York - Statement on behalf of the European Union and its Member States by H.E. Ambassador Hedda Samson, Delegation of the European Union to the United Nations, at the 80th Session of the UN General Assembly First Committee 2nd Plenary meeting

Full statement for publication

Mr. Chair,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The Candidate Countries North Macedonia*, Montenegro^*, Albania^*, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina^*, as well as Monaco and San Marino align themselves with this statement.

Maintaining international peace and security is a primary purpose of the UN, to which all its members have committed. Yet today, conflicts are being waged across almost all continents, marked by violations and abuses of international law, including international humanitarian law and human rights law. The EU condemns Russia's illegal and unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine and calls upon Russia to end this war which violates fundamental principles of international law and has global negative consequences. The EU deplores the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, the unacceptable number of civilian casualties and the levels of starvation. The European Union remains firmly committed to a lasting and sustainable peace based on the two-State solution. We are ready to contribute to all efforts towards this solution and call on all parties to refrain from actions that undermine its viability. We are also deeply concerned by the deteriorating situation in the Sahel and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the war in Sudan, terrorism and violent extremism, the climate emergency, cyber threats, as well as the erosion of democracy and increasing threats to human rights. All these developments risk undermining our longer-term development goals. The SDGs are intrinsically linked to peace, security and human rights. Without peace, none of these goals can be achieved. It is abhorrent and totally unacceptable that civilians and civilian objects, humanitarian workers, and journalists are targeted and increasingly so; that women, girls and children continue to suffer disproportionately; and that safe, rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access is increasingly challenged or used as a bargaining chip.

These challenges cannot be addressed by any country alone; they must be resolved collectively. The EU and its Member States will continue to advocate for such collective solutions, while upholding international law, the rule of law and multilateralism founded on the UN Charter, and while continuing to defend, promote and further strengthen the global architecture for arms control, disarmament, and non-proliferation, including export control regimes.

The EU deplores the obstructive posture of Russia, including the misuse of consensus in multilateral disarmament, non-proliferation and export control fora. The continued noncompliance by some States with their international obligations should be a matter of grave concern for all UN Member States. The viability and effectiveness of disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation agreements require that those agreements be fully implemented, complied with and enforced. Ensuring accountability and ending impunity is crucial to preserving the integrity of the established norms and a major priority for the EU.

Implementation of the Pact for the Future provides a unique opportunity to reinvigorate multilateralism, to ensure it can tackle current and future global challenges, and to help reduce the trust gap towards institutions at all levels and among UN members.

Now after more than three years, Russia's unjustified and illegal full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine continues to inflict a devastating toll primarily on the Ukrainian people, with spillover effects felt in the wider region and across the globe. We condemn Russia's actions to destabilise the global architecture for the maintenance of peace and security, including UN Security Council instruments. Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine and its repercussions for European and global security in a changing environment constitute an existential challenge for the European Union. We strongly condemn Russia's aggressive actions, irresponsible nuclear rhetoric and threats to use nuclear force in its war of aggression against Ukraine, which are provocative, dangerous and escalatory, and which further demonstrate how Russia's repeated actions undermine international commitments, peace and security. Russia continues to blatantly violate international law and the UN Charter, as well as the "Helsinki Decalogue" and its commitments under the Budapest Memorandum. The EU and its Member States will continue to uphold the principles of the UN Charter and international law and full respect for Ukraine's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders, support Ukraine, and work to ensure full accountability for crimes. A comprehensive, just and lasting peace, consistent with the UN Charter and international law, remains our priority. The EU will continue to contribute to all peace efforts, in accordance with its aim to promote just and lasting peace, including by intensifying global outreach. The EU is also seriously concerned about the growing number of reports highlighting the use of riot control agents as well as the alleged use of the choking agent chloropicrin by Russia against Ukrainian soldiers. The results of the three the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) reports point to a pattern of riot control use as a method of warfare at the frontlines in Ukraine. We call on Russia to comply with its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention. The EU also condemns the Belarusian regime's complicity in Russia's war against Ukraine, which constitutes a manifest violation of international law and the UN Charter, as well as Russia's deepening military cooperation with the DPRK and Iran. The EU condemns the announced deployment of Russian nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus.

Mr. Chair,

The EU remains strongly committed to peace, security and stability in the Middle East. The EU calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the unconditional release of all hostages, leading to a permanent end to hostilities. It profoundly deplores the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, the unacceptable number of civilian casualties and the levels of starvation. Israel must allow immediate, unimpeded access and sustained distribution of humanitarian assistance at scale into and throughout Gaza and fully comply with its obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law.

The EU has always been clear that Iran must never be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon and that it must comply with its legally binding nuclear safeguards obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty. We call on Iran to resume full cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and to allow IAEA inspectors to regain access to all Iranian nuclear sites. The EU remains committed to a diplomatic solution and will continue to contribute to all diplomatic efforts to reduce tensions and to bring about a lasting solution to the Iranian nuclear issue, which can only be achieved through negotiations.

The EU will continue to support a peaceful and inclusive transition in Syria, away from foreign interference, which guarantees the rights of all Syrians without distinction. In May, the EU lifted all its remaining economic sanctions, to support the country's economic recovery and stabilisation, maintaining only sanctions related to the Assad regime in line with its call for accountability, and those sanctions based on security grounds. The EU welcomes the cooperation of Syria's transitional authorities with the OPCW, and the IAEA, in view of the elimination of Syria's chemical weapons programme, as well as a full implementation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty's safeguards. From the issue of landmines and remnants of war to that of the diversion of small arms and lights weapons, the situation in Syria presents a number of challenges: tackling those will be crucial for achieving lasting peace, and the EU calls on the international community to step up and coordinate efforts. Syria's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity within secure borders should be fully respected, in accordance with international law.

Mr. Chair,

Ahead of the 2026 Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the EU remains fully committed to its full implementation along with universalisation of this treaty, which remains the cornerstone of the global nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament regime. We stress the need to implement all obligations under the NPT, and commitments from previous Review Conferences, including the need for concrete progress towards the full implementation of Article VI, with the ultimate goal of the total elimination of nuclear weapons. The EU will continue to pursue the entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, reiterates its full support for the immediate commencement and early conclusion of negotiations for a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty, and highlights its continuing support forthe work of the IAEA.

The EU will continue to promote and further strengthen multilateral instruments against chemical and biological weapons in order to uphold the international legal prohibition of such weapons, and to ensure there can be no impunity for their use. We underline the importance of the UN Secretary General's Mechanism in this regard. We remain committed to achieving concrete results within the Working Group on the strengthening of the Biological Weapons Convention.

The EU supports conventional arms control instruments, with emphasis on preventing the diversion of small arms and light weapons, and ammunition. The EU supports the implementation of the Siem Reap-Angkor Action Plan 2025-2029 of the Antipersonnel Mine Ban Convention, as well as preparations for the Review Conference of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons in 2026. We welcome as an important achievement of the international community, the creation of the Global framework on through-life conventional ammunition management, with its aim to prevent diversion and unintended explosion, and its first preparatory meeting held successfully in June last year. With the Costa Rica Conference approaching, the EU recalls the importance of the Political Declaration on Strengthening the Protection of Civilians from the Humanitarian Consequences arising from the use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas (EWIPA) with its aim to reduce harm and strengthen the protection of civilians.

The EU appreciates the role of the ATT to address the diversion, proliferation and misuse of SALW. The EU will continue to support and defend multilateral export control regimes as key elements of the global non-proliferation and disarmament architecture, against malign actions of those who want to exploit international trade and scientific peaceful cooperation for their own military build-up for aggressive or terrorist purposes.

The EU will further address the impact of new and emerging technologies including in the area of international peace and security. In particular, we emphasise the need to make urgent progress on the issue of lethal autonomous weapons systems. To that end, the EU will support efforts under the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons and is fully committed to deliver and fulfil the mandate of the GGE on LAWS as soon as possible. The EU supports the so called "two-tier" approach to such weapons systems and will remain committed to promote it in the framework of the GGE on LAWS. The EU further supports discussions on developing principles for the responsible military use of artificial intelligence (AI).

For a secure, safe, stable and sustainable outer space environment, the EU reiterates the necessity of compliance with international law, including international humanitarian law, applicable to outer space. The EU and its Member States support the universalisation of and full compliance with the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, and promote the adoption of norms of responsible behaviour to make progress on the prevention of an arms race in outer space in all its aspects. The EU supports strengthening the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs and recognises the role of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space as the principal UN body dealing with international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space.

The EU will continue to place the prevention and elimination of all forms of sexual and gender-based violence at the centre of its efforts. The EU supports full, equal, meaningful and safe participation of women and emphasises its commitment to the Women, Peace and Security agenda as a whole. It reaffirms its full commitment to the Youth, Peace and Security Agenda. The EU will continue to support disarmament and non-proliferation education, to which the EU Non-Proliferation Consortium, the European network of independent think tanks, is contributing with various activities. The EU also encourages the meaningful inclusion and participation of youth delegates in national and EU representations.

The EU and its Members States will continue to advance responsible state behaviour in cyberspace. The EU welcomes the adoption of the Global Mechanism on developments in the field of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the context of international security and advancing responsible State behaviour in the use of ICTs. The EU is determined to continue to implement the UN framework, to enhance global cyber resilience, to invest in cyber capacity building and to work with civil society, academia and the private sector in view of strengthening international security and stability in cyberspace.

Finally, the EU stands ready to engage with partners in driving forward UN reform through the "UN80 initiative", towards a more effective, cost-efficient and responsive UN, to ensure that the UN system is able to address today's challenges, including in the field of disarmament and non-proliferation.

I thank you, Mr. Chair.

* North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.