Disarmament in Review
25-27 February 2025 (Palasamudram, India) With a view to strengthening implementation of UNSCR 1540 (2004) – which aims to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction to and by non-State actors, including terrorists – the Government of India collaborated with the United Nations Office for Disarmament (UNODA) to carry out the first ‘India-UNODA Capacity-building Program on Implementation of UNSCR 1540 and Strategic Trade Controls for Asia-Pacific States’. This event took place in Palasamudram, India, and was co-funded by the Government of India and UNODA (through a financial contribution from the Government of Japan). The programme aimed to bolster implementation of UNSCR 1540 throughout the region, as well as to strengthen the export control regimes in each of the target States.
Participants included over 20 officials from customs and/or border trade control, licensing officers and/or other relevant regulatory bodies working in the field of chemical, biological and/or nuclear control from 8 different States throughout the region (Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Iraq, Lao PDR, Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Thailand).
ODA delivered a presentation on WMD threats and challenges posed by non-State actors (NSAs), which served as an ideal thematic introduction to the presentation made by a Member of the Group of Experts for the UNSCR 1540 Committee, on the main obligations of UNSCR 1540 with a focus on export controls. Subsequent presentations delivered by national experts ranged from an overview of India’s system and international mechanisms on export controls and non-proliferation to India’s dual use export control regime, and from India’s national system of certification of high containment facilities to its bio-chemical safety and security infrastructure.
The theoretical sessions were complemented by an interactive site tour of India’s National Academy of Customs, Indirect Taxes and Narcotics (NACIN), which is a state-of-the-art training centre where the present training was conducted.
Due to the success of this three-day program, the Government of India and UNODA will once again join forces for the second reiteration of this program albeit targeting different countries in February 2026.
