Disarmament in Review
On 3 October 2016, ODA officially opened an exhibit to commemorate the 30th anniversary of UNODA’s Regional Centres for Peace and Disarmament. The exhibit can be viewed in front of the Vienna Café in the New York City Headquarters until 14 October 2016.
The exhibition presents pictures as well as a video highlighting the work and achievements made by the Centres in the past 30 years. The Regional Centres support Members States in their initiatives on disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation. The video features the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and High Representative Michael Douglas and Permanent Representatives of China, Germany, Jamaica and Nigeria in regard of the 30 years achievement by the 3 Regional Centres.
Below is an introduction by the Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament, Mr. Kim Won-soo:
30 Years of supporting Member States in addressing Disarmament Challenges
“Thirty years ago, the General Assembly established the three Regional Centres for Peace and Disarmament in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean. Regional and global approaches to disarmament complement each other. They must be pursued simultaneously to promote international peace.
Over the past three decades, with the support of Member States, Regional Organizations, civil society and other stakeholders, the Regional Centres have undertaken a large number of programmes. They cover a wide spectrum of disarmament issues, from small arms and light weapons, to weapons of mass destruction, as well as mainstreaming gender perspectives in disarmament.
The Regional Centres provide capacity-building, legal and technical assistance as well as outreach programmes. They inform, educate and advocate for disarmament and non-proliferation.
In the past decade alone, the Regional Centres trained more than 20,000 personnel in arms control. The Centres helped States destroy over 176,000 small arms and light weapons and 132 tons of ammunition. Furthermore, the Centres marked over 13,000 weapons. More than 500 seminars, workshops and conferences are organized every year. The Centres have also reached over 400,000 children and adolescents through disarmament education activities.
The pictures in this exhibition tell their stories. I congratulate the Regional Centres for their remarkable achievements. Moving forward, the Regional Centres will also contribute to attaining the Sustainable Development Goals, addressing the link between security, disarmament and development.”
Examples of some of the exhibition pictures :
Text by Julia Bhattacharjee
