Disarmament in Review
(New York and Vienna) On 11 June 2019, the Office for Disarmament Affairs released its first eLearning module as part of a new initiative to provide accessible and comprehensive training on disarmament.
This first module entitled “Introduction to Disarmament: Machinery, Processes and the Role of the United Nations” covers the operations and achievements of the United Nations Disarmament Machinery—namely, the First Committee of the General Assembly, the Disarmament Commission and the Conference on Disarmament.
It also provides an overview of disarmament processes outside of the Disarmament Machinery as undertaken by the Security Council, the Office for Disarmament Affairs, the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization Preparatory Commission.
The module begins by defining disarmament and by framing its importance within the three core pillars of the United Nations system: peace and security, human rights and sustainable development. It also outlines the major objectives of disarmament and the actions that are taken to pursue them.
The module concludes with a briefing on Secretary-General Guterres’s Agenda for Disarmament, Securing Our Common Future, as well as a summary of the increasing importance of frontier technologies to disarmament efforts.
This online, self-paced overview takes just 30 minutes and is targeted to diplomats, especially those new to disarmament matters; interested individuals from academia, think tanks, and non-governmental organizations; the media and the general public.
This module is a result of long-term work by the Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA). The content for this module was conceived by Senior Political Affairs Officer, Mr. Tsutomu Kono, with input from many other UNODA colleagues. UNODA’s intern, Mr. Jonah Glick-Unterman, spent dedicated hours in researching, editing and producing this module. This was one of the major projects of his internship with the Office.
Future eLearning modules will focus on chemical weapons, biological weapons, peace and gender and other issues of vital interest.
To access the “Introduction to Disarmament: Machinery, Processes and the Role of the United Nations,” one needs to create an account at UNODA’s Disarmament Education Dashboard.
For inquiries or additional information, contact Mr. John Ennis at ennisj@un.org.
