From 5 to 11 October 2025, the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs organized a Basic Training ‘Refresher’ course for the United Nations Secretary-General’s Mechanism for Investigations of Alleged Use of Chemical and Biological Weapons (UNSGM) in Cha Am, Thailand.
Basic training courses for the UNSGM are aimed at providing experts nominated by UN Member States to the UNSGM roster with a better understanding of their role in carrying out investigations of alleged use of biological weapons should they be deployed as part of a UNSGM mission. This includes key information about the UNSGM, including the background, mandate, Guidelines and Procedures, and other elements of the mechanism. Since 2022, UNODA has coordinated with training partners to develop and implement a standardized curriculum for UNSGM Basic Training Courses, given the importance of ensuring that nominated experts receive a common foundation to progress through further training and field exercises.
For the first time, a ‘Refresher’ course was organized for a select group of qualified experts on the UNSGM roster who have previously completed a UNSGM basic training more than five years ago and/or other relevant activities for the UNSGM. The aim of the course was to provide these experts with an opportunity to renew their knowledge and skills regarding their role as qualified experts. It also helped to foster a shared understanding among participating experts of relevant United Nations principles, guidelines and policies, should they be deployed as part of a UNSGM investigation team.
A training programme for the course was developed by UNODA to complement the curriculum from the standard basic training courses. During the course, representatives from UNODA provided briefings on the UNSGM Guidelines and Procedures, documentation and report writing for the investigation, and support to the mission that may be provided by the United Nations. These modules were supplemented with theoretical and practical sessions on investigative interviews and sampling by training partners from the Institute for International Criminal Investigations (IICI) and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC). Practical sessions included working through elements of a UNSGM investigation within a scenario, which was developed with the generous support of the National Institute of Communicable Diseases of South Africa (NICD). Additional presentations were also delivered by representatives from INTERPOL’s Bioterrorism Prevention Unit, the United Nations Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS), and the Portuguese Army (Military Laboratory Unit for Biological and Chemical Defense – UMLDBQ).
In addition to the support provided by the training partners, financial support for the workshop was generously provided by the Governments of Canada and the United Kingdom.
For more information, please contact the UNODA team in support of the UNSGM at UNSGM@un.org.
