disarmament

File photo of UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu (centre) meeting young people in Japan at an event focused on the 75th anniversary of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and the establishment of the UN.
UN Office for Disarmament Affairs

Youth must be included in disarmament and non-proliferation

12 August 2021
Peace and Security

With 40 per cent of the global population under 25, the international community has a special responsibility to ensure young people can share their perspectives and concerns about existential threats to current and future generations, UN disarmament chief Izumi Nakamitsu said on Thursday.

The Hypocenter Monument at Nagasaki Peace Park, Japan.
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

UN pledges full support to Nagasaki voices fuelling ‘powerful global movement’ against nuclear arms

8 August 2021
Peace and Security

António Guterres has reaffirmed the full support of the United Nations to amplifying the powerful testimony of the survivors of the atomic bomb that was dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki, 76 years ago, which has helped build a “powerful global movement against nuclear arms”.

Dateline Geneva Podcast (Cover)
United Nations

UN Catch-Up Dateline Geneva – ‘Smart’ killer drones, drought and domestic workers’ worsening plight

17 June 2021
UN Catch-Up Dateline Geneva

In this week’s 15-minute podcast, we enter the murky world of so-called intelligent drone strike technology and concerns about their proliferation in an interview with the UN Institute for Disarmament Research. Also, an alert over Africa’s third COVID wave, a new UN report likening drought to a new pandemic and a warning over the plight of millions of domestic workers, from the UN labour agency ILO. Also, we’ll have closing comments from regular guest, Solange Behoteguy Cortes.

Audio -
15'36"
A child living in an IDP camp in northwestern Syria.
© UNICEF/Khaled Akacha

‘Limited’ progress in closing Syria chemical weapons file, UN Disarmament Chief tells Security Council

4 March 2021
Peace and Security

Seven years after the Security Council mandated the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons programme, there have been only “limited developments” in the implementation of resolution 2118, passed unanimously in 2013 to bring the country into compliance with its global obligations, the UN disarmament chief said on Thursday. 

A street in Douma, Eastern Ghouta, Syria. The OPCW Fact-Finding Mission said there were "reasonable grounds" to believe chlorine gas had been used in a chemical weapons attack in April 2018.
UNICEF/Amer Al Shami

Given gaps, inconsistencies, Syria’s declarations on chemical weapons programme not considered ‘accurate and complete’

11 December 2020
Peace and Security

Outstanding issues related to Syria’s initial declaration of its chemical weapons stockpile and programme cannot be considered “accurate and complete”, the head of the world body monitoring States’ implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention told the Security Council on Friday.

Landmines are cleared in Lebanon.
MAG Lebanon

Alert over growing use of cluster munitions, despite stockpile reductions

25 November 2020
Peace and Security

Lethal cluster munitions are still being used in old and new conflicts around the world, from Syria to Libya, to Nagorno-Karabakh, a UN-backed civil society report said on Wednesday.

A visual search for landmines takes place in Mehaires, Western Sahara.
UN Photo/Martine Perret

Landmine toll still high amid concerns over COVID-19 impact on clearance efforts

12 November 2020
Law and Crime Prevention

Thousands of people continue to be killed and injured every year by landmines and explosive weapons in conflicts around the world, while the COVID-19 pandemic has forced mine-clearance efforts to be scaled back, a  UN-backed civil society report on the issue said on Thursday.

In a camp in northern Syria, a young girl wears a mask to protect her from COVID-19.
© UNICEF/Omar Albam

Syria: No justification for chemical weapon use ‘under any circumstances’ – UN disarmament chief

5 November 2020
Peace and Security

The top UN disarmament official on Thursday briefed the Security Council on progress made by Syria towards eliminating its chemicals weapons programme, complicated by the coronavirus pandemic.

An atmospheric nuclear test conducted by the United States at Enewetak Atoll, Marshall Islands, on 1 November 1952.
US Government

UN treaty banning nuclear weapons set to enter into force in January

25 October 2020
Peace and Security

In what leading campaigners are describing as “a new chapter for nuclear disarmament”, the ratification of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons will now come into force on 22 January, after Honduras became the 50th Member State to ratify on Saturday.

Euratom inspectors conduct safeguards inspections at URENCO in the Netherlands.
IAEA/Dean Calma

‘Reverse course’ towards full nuclear disarmament – UN chief

25 September 2020
Peace and Security

On the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons marked on Saturday, the UN chief has underscored the need to “reverse course and return to a common path to nuclear disarmament”.