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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…
Experts reflect on the origin, relevance, and future of CCW Protocol IV on Blinding Laser Weapons
On 17 November 2022, UNODA Geneva hosted a webinar on the genesis, history and relevance of Protocol IV on Blinding Laser Weapons of the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW). The webinar was organized on the margins of the Meeting of High Contracting Parties to the CCW, as part of the EU Council decision (CFSP) 2021/1694 in support of the universalization, implementation and strengthening of the CCW. Growing humanitarian concern over the development of blinding laser weapons reached the international arena in the late 1980s.…
What’s next for disarmament education? UNODA Vienna Office launches new strategy as it celebrates 10-year anniversary
In a “soft launch” event held in Vienna on 5 December 2022, the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) announced the publication of its first ever Disarmament Education Strategy. The audience included members of the local diplomatic community and the United Nations family, representatives of regional and civil society organizations, as well as past and present staff of the UNODA Vienna Office. The strategy aims to adopt a more strategic approach and develop a common framework for UNODA’s disarmament education work. Disarmament education has long been a key…
It’s a wrap! A year of responsible innovation in AI for disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation
Thanks to a generous contribution from the Republic of Korea, in 2022 the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) carried out their first global project on the responsible innovation of AI for disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation. Responsible AI is a young and evolving field of research and practice. While it is widely being discussed as a fitting approach to AI governance, more work needs to be done to understand how it can be put into practice across critical sectors, how to coordinate the many…
French-speaking African parliamentarians convene to discuss regional security and civil-military relations during Disarmament Week
During this year’s Disarmament Week, the United Nations Regional Center for Peace, and Disarmament in Africa (UNREC) organized a workshop with parliamentarians from French-speaking African countries on their contributions to establishing effective defense and security policies in Africa. Co-funded by the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), the event linked the parliamentarians with expert panelists from the Institute for Security Studies (ISS Africa) and the Parliamentarian Forum on Small Arms and Light Weapons (PFSALW), with a view to discussing ways to …
Estudio Regional Presenta Medidas Para el Fortalecimento de la No Proliferación de Armas Biológicas en América Latina y el Caribe
En el marco de la Novena Conferencia de Revisión de la Convención sobre las Armas Biológicas (CABT), el Centro Regional de las Naciones Unidas para la Paz, el Desarme y el Desarrollo en América Latina y el Caribe (UNLIREC) presentó el Estudio regional “La no proliferación de armas biológicas: desafíos y oportunidades para la América Latina y el Caribe”. El nuevo estudio brinda un panorama general sobre los avances que los Estados de dicha región hicieron en la adopción de marcos legales nacionales y medidas prácticas para implementar sus compromisos internacionales contra la…
Regional Study Outlines Steps to Strengthen the Non-Proliferation of Biological Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean
In the framework of the Ninth Review Conference of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC) launched a regional study entitled ‘Non-proliferation of biological weapons: Challenges and Opportunities for Latin America and the Caribbean’. The new study provides an overview of the progress that States in the region have made in adopting national legal frameworks and practical measures to implement their international commitments against the proliferation of…