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UNSGM experts join basic training course in South Africa
From 9 to 20 June 2025, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), a division of the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) of South Africa, in cooperation with the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs, organized another basic training course for the United Nations Secretary-General’s Mechanism for Investigations of Alleged Use of Chemical and Biological Weapons (UNSGM) in Johannesburg, South Africa. The basic training course for the UNSGM was aimed at providing experts nominated by UN Member States to the UNSGM roster with a better understanding of their role…
UNODA & IICI organize training course on ‘Investigative Interview Skills’ for UNSGM experts
The United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA), in cooperation with the Institute for International Criminal Investigations (IICI), organized a training course on ‘Investigative Interview Skills’ for the United Nations Secretary-General’s Mechanism for Investigation of Alleged Use of Chemical and Biological Weapons (UNSGM), from 26-30 May in Brindisi, Italy. The objective of the course was to provide a group of qualified experts nominated by Member States to the UNSGM roster with a better understanding of interview management techniques in the context of a…
Government officials from over 30 countries join workshops about reporting on conventional arms transfers
On 8 and 9 May 2025, the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) partnered with the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) to organize virtual training workshops for Permanent Missions and national focal points on preparing reports to the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms (UNROCA). Workshops were offered in French and Spanish in addition to English for the first time this year to better serve and engage with Member States. Following the adoption of UN General Assembly resolution 46/36 L the UNROCA was established in 1991.…
UNODA reinforces implementation of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) in Cameroon
On 22 and 23 April 2025 in Yaoundé, Cameroon, the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) and the Ministry of External Relations of Cameroon organized a national workshop on strengthening the implementation of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC). Since it joined the BWC in January 2013, Cameroon has been at the forefront of promoting the Convention in Central Africa, including its universalization and effective implementation. In May 2023 in Douala, Cameroon hosted a Sub-regional Workshop for Central Africa on the Universalization and Effective Implementation of…
Regional Workshop for Southeast Asian and Pacific Island States on ‘Strengthening Regional Support for the Global Norm against Biological Weapons in the Context of the BWC, UNSCR 1540, and UNSGM’
From 6-8 May 2025, the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) convened a joint regional workshop at the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) Conference Centre in Bangkok, Thailand for Southeast Asian and Pacific Island States on “Strengthening Regional Support for the Global Norm against Biological Weapons in the Context of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540 (2004), and the United Nations Secretary-General’s Mechanism for Investigation of Alleged Use of Chemical and Biological Weapons (UNSGM…
Cambodia is one step closer to creating a National Implementation Action Plan for Security Council resolution 1540 —a first for the ASEAN Region
From 23 to 25 April, the Government of Cambodia partnered with the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) to host a workshop on strengthening the implementation of United Nations Security Council resolution 1540 (2004). The event in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, brought together over 60 representatives from various ministries and agencies, as well as partner States, and international and regional organizations, to develop what could become the first voluntary National Implementation Action Plan for resolution 1540 (2004) to be adopted in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations…
UNODA Supports Nigeria in Validating its UNSCR 1540 National Implementation Action Plan and Supplementary Report
With the support of United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA), the Office of the National Security Adviser to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria hosted a workshop in Abuja on 7-8 April 2025, which brought together fifty representatives of twenty-seven government ministries, departments and agencies. Also in attendance were subject-matter experts from the United Nations Security Council Committee established pursuant to Security Council Resolution 1540 (1540 Committee), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the European Union Partner-to-Partner…
UNODA organizes the first national workshop to strengthen the implementation of the Biological Weapons Convention in Congo
From 26 to 27 March 2025 in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo, the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) and the Ministries of Health, Foreign Affairs and Justice of Congo organized a national workshop on strengthening the implementation of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC). This was the first BWC capacity-building workshop in Congo since it deposited its instrument of accession to the Convention in 1978. The Republic of the Congo has made significant progress towards BWC implementation prior to the event, in particular with the nomination of a BWC National…
Commemorating 50 Years of the Biological Weapons Convention
On 26 March 2025, the global disarmament community marked a historic milestone – the fiftieth anniversary of the entry into force of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC). To commemorate the occasion, the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) Geneva Branch and the BWC Implementation Support Unit (ISU), with financial support from the European Union, hosted a series of panel discussions with international experts. The event brought together diplomats, academics, civil society representatives and young scientists to exchange…
Government officials from all regions join workshop about reporting on military expenditures
On 2 April 2025, the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) partnered with the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) to organize a training workshop for Diplomatic Missions in New York and Geneva as well as national focal points on preparing submissions to the UN Report on Military Expenditures (UNMilEx). The UNMilEx instrument was established by the United Nations General Assembly resolution 35/142 B, adopted in 1980. It was born out of a desire to at reduce excessive military spending; however, when…