Disarmament in Review
On 14 and 15 March 2023, the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA), the Republic of Kenya and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Security Sector Program co-hosted a subregional workshop to promote and advance the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1540 (2004) (UNSCR 1540), which aims to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction to non-State actors, among IGAD Member States.
IGAD Member States face complex security challenges, ranging from protracted violent conflict, recurrent humanitarian crises, and pressing security and development concerns. States in the subregion also face an array of risks posed by non-State actors, including terrorism, piracy, money laundering and terrorist financing, as well as arms and wildlife trafficking. The illicit proliferation of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons and materials, and their means of delivery, has therefore remained a concern in the subregion.
Against this background, the workshop provided participants with a platform to discuss proliferation risks in the subregion posed by non-State actors and how UNSCR 1540 implementation mitigates these risks. Participants also acquired a deeper understanding of the resolution’s obligations and how it interrelates with other international and regional legally binding instruments and regimes related to disarmament and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
Thirty officials from regulatory authorities, law enforcement agencies, public health institutions, parliament, and ministries of defence and foreign affairs gathered in Nairobi, Kenya, to attend the workshop, in addition to the Chairperson of the Security Council Committee (1540 Committee) that was established pursuant to the resolution, and two members of the Group of Experts.
A notable group of regional and international organizations provided substantive briefings, namely the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the African Commission on Nuclear Energy (AFCONE), the Eastern African Police Chiefs Cooperation Organization, the Implementation Support Unit of the Biological Weapons Convention, the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the World Customs Organization (WCO), the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Center (UNCCT), as well as civil society actors the African Center for Science and International Security (AFRICSIS), the Global Emerging Pathogens Treatment Consortium and the Verification Research, Training and Information Center (VERTIC).
