By Judy Aita
Washington File United Nations Correspondent

United Nations -- The U.N. Security Council April 28 unanimously adopted a resolution on weapons of mass destruction in an effort to prevent chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons from falling into the hands of terrorists and black marketeers.

The resolution requires nations to adopt and enforce effective domestic laws to prevent the components and technology for weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and their delivery systems from falling into the hands of "non-state actors." It asks states with the capacity to do so to help other states develop their laws and regulatory structures.

The resolution also establishes a Security Council committee for a two-year period to monitor the implementation of the resolution, but it does not authorize enforcement action. The committee must make its first report to the council in six months.
 
President Bush first proposed the resolution in his address to the U.N. General Assembly in September 2003. In that speech, the president called for the resolution to meet three major goals: to criminalize the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, to ensure that all countries have strong export controls, and to ensure sensitive materials are secure within each country's borders.

The resolution, which took six months to negotiate, meets the president's criteria.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said "today's unanimous United Nations Security Council vote is clear affirmation for the initiative the president launched to stop the spread of weapons of mass destruction. This is a high priority and it is important to winning the war on terrorism."

"Today's vote was an important step to move forward on these international efforts. This will help make the world safer and better," McClellan said.

Adopted under Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter, which makes compliance mandatory for all 191 U.N. member states, the resolution "decides that all states shall refrain from providing any form of support to non-state actors that attempt to develop, acquire, manufacture, possess, transport, transfer or use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and their means of delivery."

The resolution also requires states to "establish, develop, review and maintain appropriate effective national export and trans-shipment controls over such items" and establish and enforce "appropriate criminal or civil penalties for violations of such export control laws and regulations."

The four-page resolution first proposed by the United States was initially negotiated and agreed upon by the five permanent members of the Security Council -- China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, and the United States -- that have veto power before it was passed on to the 10 nonpermanent members of the council and the U.N. membership. A public meeting on the resolution April 22 gave all U.N. members an opportunity to comment on the draft of the resolution before the final text was voted upon.

In their remarks after the vote, Security Council members said that their governments supported the resolution because they see the threat of the spread of WMD as real and imminent. The resolution, they said, enhances the effectiveness of the current nonproliferation treaties and efforts.

U.S. Ambassador James Cunningham said that "the Security Council today is responding unanimously to a threat to international peace and security -- the uncontrolled spread of nuclear, chemical, biological weapons; their means of delivery; and related materials by non-state actors, including terrorists, seeking to exploit weak export control laws and security measures in a variety of countries."

"The international community now has a solid basis for moving ahead -- working together to deal with this important security issue," the ambassador said.

"We urge all countries to work bilaterally, regionally and internationally to take cooperative action to stop, impede, intercept and otherwise prevent the illicit trafficking in these weapons, related materials and their means of delivery," Cunningham said.

"No one nation can meet this challenge alone," the ambassador said. He added that the United States is ready to help countries that need technical assistance to meet the resolution's requirements.