disarmament

Annan names senior UN official Secretary-General of Conference on Disarmament

19 March 2002
The head of the United Nations headquarters in Geneva, Sergei Ordzhonikidze, has been appointed Secretary-General of the UN’s main multilateral forum for disarmament negotiations, a UN spokesperson announced today in New York.

As Conference on Disarmament opens, Annan urges break with recent inactivity

22 January 2002
As the Conference on Disarmament opened its 2002 session today in Geneva, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that the threat of terrorism called for a "complete break" with the recent prolonged inactivity of the forum -- the single multilateral negotiating venue for disarmament agreements.

Countries extend treaty on conventional weapons to cover internal wars

24 December 2001
Concluding a ten-day negotiating session at the United Nations Office in Geneva, States parties to a treaty prohibiting certain conventional arms have agreed to extend the ban to cover internal as well as international conflicts.

US tells disarmament conference that missile treaty has become obsolete

4 September 2001
A representative of the United States this morning told the Geneva-based Conference on Disarmament that the Anti-Ballistic Missiles (ABM) Treaty had become obsolete.

Outgoing president of UN Disarmament Conference sees no early accord on work plan

16 August 2001
The outgoing President of the Conference on Disarmament today told the Geneva-based body that he saw no minimal conditions for agreement among its members on a programme of work - an obstacle which has held up substantial discussions for several years in succession.

Disarmament won't work without addressing causes of poverty, UNDP head says

13 July 2001
Efforts at lasting disarmament will not be successful without addressing the root causes of poverty and providing real opportunities to the poor, the head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) told a UN conference on the illegal trade of small arms and weapons today.

Conference on Disarmament to name three coordinators in bid to break stalemate

14 June 2001
Aiming to break the continuing stalemate at the Conference on Disarmament, the Geneva-based multilateral negotiating body today decided to name three coordinators to lead consultations on specific issues.

Agreement on work programme eludes disarmament conference

23 May 2001
The outgoing President of the Conference on Disarmament said today that the prevailing international security environment was unfavourable for the work of the Geneva-based body, and reported that consensus on its work programme was still out of reach.

At disarmament forum, Turkey and Greece announce plans to join landmine ban

17 May 2001
Turkey and Greece have jointly decided to initiate procedures for ratifying an international convention banning landmines, a representative of Ankara today told the Geneva-based Conference on Disarmament as it opened the second part of its annual session.

UN official urges concrete steps to achieve nuclear disarmament

30 April 2001
The top United Nations disarmament official today urged concrete action in the area of nuclear disarmament - a key challenge to global security.