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Parliamentarians from African States not party to the Biological Weapons Convention gather in support of universalisation
On 10 and 11 February, the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) welcomed parliamentary delegations from Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt and Somalia, five of the six African States not yet party to the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), to Geneva for a high-level seminar in support of universalisation. The seminar focussed on raising awareness about the importance of BWC universalisation and sought to encourage broad regional and international cooperation to that end. Delegates with His Excellency Ambassador Frederico S. Duque…
Call for Papers: The impact of the global increase in military expenditure on the achievement of the sustainable development goals
In the Pact for the Future, adopted by the General Assembly in September 2024, Member States voiced their concern about the potential impact that the global increase in military expenditures could have on investments in sustainable development and sustaining peace. To that end, the General Assembly requested the Secretary-General to “provide analysis on the impact of the global increase in military expenditure on the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals by the end of the seventy-ninth session”. With the aim of encouraging engagement and reflection on this subject by Member…
Mauritania strengthens national implementation of the Biological Weapons Convention
From 13 to 14 January 2025 in Nouakchott, the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) and the Radiation Protection, Nuclear Safety and Security Authority (ARSN) of Mauritania jointly organized a national workshop on strengthening the implementation of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC). This was the first workshop of its kind in Mauritania since it joined the BWC in 2015. Mauritania has made significant progress towards BWC implementation prior to the event including the nomination a BWC National Contact Point (NCP) in 2023 and the submission of its first…
African Amnesty Month: Djibouti launches activities to ‘Silence the Guns’
The United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa (UNREC) took part in the launch of the African Amnesty Month (AAM) in Djibouti from 29th to 31st October, along with the Regional Centre on Small Arms (RECSA), which also represented the African Union. During the three-day mission, several activities were held to raise awareness about the fight against the illicit trade and use of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW). These included planting trees at Camp Lemonnier;a march from Camp Lemonnier to the National police shooting range; the…
Nuclear Weapons Ban Monitor 2018
On 29 October 2018, the launch of Nuclear Weapons Ban Monitor 2018 took place at a side event of the General Assembly’s First Committee on Disarmament and International Security. The new publication measures progress related to signature and ratification of and compliance with the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).The launch event featured a panel organized by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) in collaboration with the Permanent Missions of Austria, Ireland and New Zealand to the United Nations. …
ODA concludes a series of regional science and technology workshops on the Biological Weapons Convention
On 22 November 2018, the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) marked the conclusion of the fifth and final workshop in a series of regional science and technology workshops under European Union (EU) Council Decision 2016/51 in support of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC). The Regional Workshop for Asia, held in Manila, Philippines, and co-organised with the University of the Philippines College of Medicine, opened on 21 November 2018 and entailed two days of comprehensive discussions on the implications of the rapid developments in the life sciences and…
The Expanding Use of Armed UAVs and the Need for International Standards
On 24 October 2018, the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) hosted a side event of the United Nations First Committee entitled “The Expanding Use of Armed UAVs and the Need for International Standards,” co-hosted by the Permanent Missions of Germany and the Netherlands with PAX and the Stimson Center. Dr. Renata Dwan, the Director of UNIDIR, opened the event by noting several areas of discussion related to the rapid spread of armed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs): the lack of transparency; the need for a common…
How to Use the Arms Trade Treaty to Address Gender-Based Violence
On 19 October 2018, a side event entitled “How to Use the Arms Trade Treaty to Address Gender-Based Violence” took place during the United Nations First Committee, offering an introduction to a recently published risk assessment guide of the same name. The Permanent Missions of Ireland and Sweden to the United Nations co-sponsored the discussion, which included participants from Control Arms, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Reaching Critical Will and the Women’s Institute for Alternative Development. Gender remains a core theme in the…
Understanding the Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons on the Dark Web
On 26 October 2018, the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) hosted a First Committee side event to present its thirty-second Occasional Paper, “The Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons on the Dark Web: A Study”. Researched and authored by Dr. Giacomo Persi Paoli of RAND Europe, the publication explores the illicit trade in firearms, ammunition and explosives on the “dark web”, a part of the Internet hidden behind anonymity software and not searchable by traditional search engines. Mr. John Ennis, Chief of UNODA’s Information and Outreach Branch and chair of the…
“Nuclear Weapons Today, from Hiroshima to Nagasaki to the Ban Treaty”: A Professional Development Workshop for High School Educators
On 6 November 2018, public high school teachers from across New York City trained and strategized at United Nations Headquarters to engage effectively with their students on nuclear weapons and disarmament-related topics. The 27 educators were part of a daylong workshop that civil society advocates have hosted every year since 2012 in partnership with the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA). Hibakusha Stories, an initiative of Youth Arts New York, seeks to inspire action for disarmament among younger generations by helping them more fully understand the firsthand…