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ANIAC, in partnership with UNREC, strengthens chemical security and combats illegal trafficking.
Lomé, 6 November 2025: The National Authority for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (ANIAC-TOGO), in collaboration with the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa (UNREC), held a strategic capacity-building workshop dedicated to securing the management of toxic chemicals. The workshop aimed to evaluate and reinforce national mechanisms for controlling the transfer and use of hazardous substances, aligning with the implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). As a key regional partner, UNREC provided technical expertise to ensure that Togo’s…
UNREC deploys an assessment mission to Ghana for the SALIENT Fund Technical Review Meeting
Group photo of the SALIENT Fund Technical Review Meeting with UNREC Director and UNDP Ghana Deputy Resident Representative Accra, 14 August 2025: The United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa (UNREC) concluded a strategic assessment mission to Ghana. The mission aimed to evaluate the status of the “Saving Lives Entity” (SALIENT) project, a flagship initiative dedicated to addressing armed violence and the illicit proliferation of small arms and light weapons (SALW). The SALIENT Fund, a joint effort between the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs…
Burundi Validates its National Action Plan to Combat the Illicit Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons
Bujumbura, 25 November 2025: In response to the security challenges posed by the illicit proliferation of small arms and light weapons (SALW) in the Great Lakes region, Burundi continues to strengthen its national arms control framework. In this context, a National Validation Workshop of the National Action Plan (NAP) to Combat the Illicit Proliferation of SALW was held on 25 November 2025 in Bujumbura, at the Hotel Club du Lac Tanganyika. The workshop brought together 25 participants, including representatives from the National Commission on SALW, relevant line ministries, defense and…
Charting pathways to strengthen armed violence prevention in West Africa
Version française ci-dessous On 26-27 November, the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) and the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa (UNREC) and the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) convened a workshop in Lomé, Togo, to consider and chart the implementation of a study on integrating the prevention of violent extremism and illicit weapons proliferation. The event brought together over 50 West African experts from States, the UN, regional and continental organizations, civil society and academia. In recent years,…
The BWC at 50: African Conference Highlights Progress, Challenges and the Road Ahead
From 26 to 28 November 2025, the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA), in partnership with the Government of Kenya, held the first African Conference on the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) in Nairobi, Kenya. The landmark event, held in the year of the 50th anniversary of the BWC, was the largest ever gathering of African States parties to the BWC and showcased the region’s growing leadership on issues related to disarmament and biosecurity. The conference was attended by 140 delegates, including officials from 47 African States Parties, three African States not…
UNLIREC strengthens the capacity of women in El Salvador to combat illicit arms trafficking
UNLIREC armoury management course (El Salvador, Nov. 2013) – On 25 November, coinciding with the celebrations of the UN International Day on the Elimination of Violence against Women, UNLIREC organized a National Inter-Institutional Course on Combating Illicit Firearms Trafficking targeted at women working in the area of small arms control in El Salvador . This ten-day course – conducted in San Salvador, El Salvador from 25 November to 6 December – brought together 40 female officers from law enforcement institutions, judiciary and the public prosecutor’s office. Access to technical…
UNLIREC and Trinidad and Tobago train Caribbean armourers on stockpile management of small arms and light weapons
UNLIREC armoury management course From 4-15 November 2013 in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC), in collaboration with the government of Trinidad and Tobago, steered an armoury management course at the Caribbean Regional Armoury Management Training Centre located at the Police Service (TTPS) Academy at the St James Barracks. This course is the second of its kind to be held in Trinidad and Tobago by UNLIREC, having recently inaugurated the training centre…
Prominent Lawyers Debate Whether Existing International Law Prohibits Nuclear Weapons
The First Committee Side Event on the legal status of nuclear weapons was organised by the Permanent Missions of New Zealand and Switzerland to the UN. The Permanent Missions of New Zealand and Switzerland to the United Nations sponsored a First Committee side event on the legal status of nuclear weapons at the UN’s New York Headquarters on October 18, featuring three prominent international lawyers. It was the contention of the panel that existing international law prohibits nuclear weapons implicitly. But an explicit convention against nuclear weapons should be pursued, Prof.…
First Committee Side Event Calls for Humanitarian Initiative to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons
The Permanent Missions of Indonesia and Switzerland to the UN sponsored a First Committee Side Event at the UN New York Headquarters on October 17 to discuss what one of the civil society representatives described as a “dance with many simultaneous steps”: moving towards the global abolition of all nuclear weapons. The NGO speakers agreed that as long as nuclear weapons exist, they might be used. “We must not forget that nuclear warheads are still weapons,” Thomas Nash from ICAN UK said. “Use is implicit in possession,” Greg Mello, representing the Los Alamos Study Group, insisted.…
UNLIREC assists Suriname to strengthen capacity in combatting illicit firearms trafficking
UNLIREC’s IITC course From 7 to 18 October 2013, the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC) – in close collaboration with the Ministry of Defense of Suriname – conducted a 10-day training course at the Ministry of Defense in Paramaribo on combatting illicit firearms trafficking for Surinamese security and justice sector officials. This inter-institutional course – the first of its kind carried out in Suriname – resulted in the training of 44 law enforcement officers including police, customs and…