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International maritime operation to facilitate the removal and transport of Syrian chemical materials
The final report of the exercise is available here. Britain’s HMS Diamond escorts MV Ark Futura (top) transporting chemicals from Syria. Photo: UK Ministry of Defence. In order to successfully achieve the objectives of Security Council resolution 2118 (2013) on the elimination of the chemical weapons programme of the Syrian Arab Republic, close cooperation between the United Nations and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) was crucial. This cooperation was manifested in the establishment of the OPCW-UN Joint Mission for the Elimination of the Chemical…
UNLIREC provided training to Costa Rica on small arms control
UNLIREC provided training to Costa Rican officials using its Specialized Course on Evidence Management of Small Arms and Ammunition, in cooperation with the Judicial Investigation Body of Costa Rica, from 25 to 27 March 2015, in San José. The course is part of the regional project “Preventing Gun Violence in Central America through combatting the illicit trade in small arms”, which is funded by the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany. Twenty-eight officials from different law enforcement institutions, including eleven female officers, received training on…
UNLIREC assists Trinidad and Tobago in implementing resolution 1540 (2004)
As part of its technical assistance to Trinidad and Tobago to strengthen the national implementation of resolution 1540 (2004), UNLIREC cooperated with INTERPOL and FBI experts to train law enforcement officials in the detection and handling of sensitive dual-use chemical materials and improvised explosives from 3-5 March 2015 in Port of Spain. Four instructors provided theoretical and practical training on the identification of sensitive dual-use chemicals and detailed the threat that these could pose if non-state actors would get access. The training included detailed explanation…
SIPRI Launches 2014 Military Expenditures Data at UN Headquarters
At a side event of the 2015 session of the UN Disarmament Commission on Monday, 13 April at the UN Headquarters in New York, , the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)) launched its 2014 data on global military expenditures, which was followed by a discussion with a panel of experts. Hosted by SIPRI and the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (ODA) with the sponsorship of the Permanent Mission of Japan, the event aimed not only to provide an overview of trends in global arms spending, but to connect these to recent developments in international peace and…
2013 Future Policy Award Follow-Up: Arms Control Exchange Between Argentina And Bosnia And Herzegovina
On March 6-7, UNDP Bosnia and Herzegovina and the World Future Council (WFC) organized a conference and weapons destruction event for representatives of government, police authorities and civil society from Argentina and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) to exchange their experiences in addressing small arms issues. The events came in follow-up to the 2013 Future Policy Award (FPA), which WFC in partnership with UNODA and the Inter-Parliamentary Union held on the theme of disarmament. The FPA recognized Argentina’s National Program for the Voluntary Surrender of Firearms for its…
Assistance to Liberia in Marking Small Arms
The United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa (UNREC) and the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) cooperated to provide technical assistance and training to Liberia on marking and registering small arms and light weapons. This assistance, undertaken in cooperation with the National Commission on Small Arms of Liberia and its Ghanaian counterpart, aimed to assist Liberia in implementing the provisions of Security Council resolution 2190 (2014) by which Liberia is to assume complete security responsibilities by June 2016, including on small arms, and is to…
The Importance of Civil Society in United Nations and Intergovernmental Processes: Views from Four Delegates to the United Nations
The Office for Disarmament Affairs (ODA) is pleased to announce the release the fourth annual edition of Civil Society and Disarmament. In the previous editions of this publication, the contents were either articles written by civil society representatives or statements delivered by non-governmental organizations at disarmament forums. ODA decided to take a different approach with this edition, encouraging a select group of official delegates posted to their United Nations missions in New York to consider the ever more important role played by civil society groups in…
UNREC training to MINUSMA on combatting arms trafficking in Mali
In January 2015, UNREC carried out a four-day training course on combatting illicit arms trafficking for the staff of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), in cooperation with the Integrated Mission Training Centre and other United Nations partners. The purpose of the course was to enhance the capacities of MINUSMA peacekeepers to combat the illicit trafficking in small arms and light weapons in Mali. The course covered the following key topics: identifying and tracing arms and ammunitions; West African and global small arms and…
High Representative briefs member States on the lessons-learned exercise on the UN Mission in Syria
The High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Ms. Angela Kane, provided a briefing to Member States on 10 March 2015 offering a comprehensive review of the lessons-learned exercise for the United Nations Mission to Investigate Allegations of the Use of Chemical Weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic (hereinafter “UN Mission in Syria”) underscoring both the challenges faced and the assets that contributed to its success. The High Representative reviewed the chronology of the exercise and the related workshops that took place in both Glion, Switzerland and New York to…
Linking the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) and Arms Control Agendas
Daniël Prins joins Natasha Stott Despoja, Cora Weiss, Jasmin Nario-Galace and Ray Acheson in a panel discussion. Photo credit: Catriona MacGregor Panellists called for more effective, gender-specific arms control policies at a discussion hosted by the Australian Government in association with the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) Women’s Network, the Global Alliance on Armed Violent (GAAV), and UNODA. The 12 March event, titled ‘Linking the Women Peace and Security (WPS) and Arms Control Agendas’, was held in the margins of this year’s Commission on the Status of Women…