The Disarmament and International Security Committee, or First Committee, will hold its seventy-ninth session from 7 October to 8 November 2024.

The United Nations General Assembly First Committee addresses issues related to disarmament, global challenges and threats to peace that affect the international community, working to find solutions to challenges in the international security regime.

It reviews matters of disarmament and international security under the UN Charter or other relevant UN bodies, the general principles of cooperation in maintaining global peace, as well as principles of disarmament and the regulation of armaments. The First Committee also promotes cooperative arrangements and measures to strengthen stability through lower levels of armaments.

During this year’s First Committee session, UNIDIR will convene key discussions on emerging challenges in international security. These include a number of events on the challenges and opportunities of AI for international peace and security, a seminar on synthetic data and a space security session exploring next steps to strengthen international cooperation.

Together, these events will explore approaches to AI governance, reveal insights from UNIDIR’s Women in AI Fellows, examine the governance and security implications of synthetic data in AI-enabled military capabilities, and review recent outcomes of the Group of Governmental Experts and the recently adopted Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space report.