United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs
Abbreviation | UNODA |
---|---|
Formation | 1998 |
Type | Department of the Secretariat |
Legal status | Active |
Head | High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu[1] |
Parent organization | United Nations Secretariat |
Subsidiaries | UNLIREC, UNREC, UNRCPD |
Website | www |
The UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) (
Its goal is to promote
It is led by an Under-Secretary-General (USG) and High Representative (HR), Izumi Nakamitsu of Japan, who took office on 1 May 2017.
History
In its landmark resolution 1653 of 1961, "Declaration on the prohibition of the use of nuclear and thermo-nuclear weapons", the UN General Assembly stated that the use of nuclear weaponry "would exceed even the scope of war and cause indiscriminate suffering and destruction to mankind and civilization and, as such, is contrary to the rules of international law and to the laws of humanity".[3]
The United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) had originally been established as a department in 1982 upon the recommendation of the General Assembly's second special session on disarmament (SSOD II).
Mission
UNODA provides substantive and organizational support for norm-setting in the area of disarmament through the work of the UN General Assembly and
UNODA supports the development and implementation of practical disarmament measures after a conflict, such as disarming and demobilizing former combatants and helping them to reintegrate in civil society.
Structure
The United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs comprises five branches: Conference on Disarmament Secretariat and Conference Support Branch (Geneva), Weapons of Mass Destruction Branch (WMD), Conventional Arms (including Practical Disarmament) Branch (CAB), the Information and Outreach Branch (IOB) and, Regional Disarmament Branch (RDB). RDB further manages three regional centers.
Branches and centers are organized as follows:
Activities
Conference on Disarmament Secretariat and Conference Support Branch
The Conference on Disarmament Secretariat and Conference Support Branch, based in Geneva, provides organizational and substantive servicing to the Conference on Disarmament (CD), the single multilateral disarmament negotiating forum of the international community.
Weapons of Mass Destruction Branch
The WMD Branch provides substantive support in the area of the disarmament of weapons of mass destruction (nuclear, chemical and biological weapons). It supports and participates in multilateral efforts to strengthen the non-proliferation of WMD and in this connection cooperates with the relevant intergovernmental organizations and specialized agencies of the United Nations system, in particular the IAEA, the OPCW and the CTBTO PrepCom.
Conventional Arms (including Practical Disarmament Measures) Branch
The CAB focuses its efforts in the conventional field (all weapons not considered WMDs, including small arms and light weapons) of promoting transparency and confidence-building, curbing the flow of small arms in regions of tension, and developing measures of practical disarmament. It is responsible for substantive conference support on the UN Programme of Action on small arms, the Arms Trade Treaty process, and the UN transparency registers. CAB chairs the UN-internal coordination mechanism on small arms, CASA.
Information and Outreach Branch
The IO Branch organizes a wide variety of special events and programmes in the field of disarmament, produces ODA publications such as the Disarmament Yearbook and occasional papers, and maintains the databases for specialized areas such as Register of Conventional Arms, Status of Treaties and Article 7 - Mine-Ban Convention.
Regional Disarmament Branch
The Regional Disarmament Branch (RDB) provides substantive support, including advisory services, to Member States, regional and subregional organizations on disarmament measures and related security matters.
RDB oversees and coordinates the activities of the three regional centres:
- - UN Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa (UNREC)
- - UN Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific (UNRCPD)
- - UN Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC)
High Representatives for Disarmament Affairs
Former heads of UNODA and UNODA predecessors[5] | |||
---|---|---|---|
Under-Secretary-General | Country of nationality | Years served | UN Secretary-General |
Jan Mårtenson | Sweden | 1982–1987 | Javier Pérez de Cuéllar |
Yasushi Akashi | Japan | 1987–1991 | |
Prvoslav Davinić | Yugoslavia | 1992-1997 | Boutros Boutros-Ghali |
Jayantha Dhanapala | Sri Lanka | 1998–2003 | Kofi Annan |
Nobuyasu Abe | Japan | 2003–2006 | |
Nobuaki Tanaka | Japan | 2006–2007 | |
Sérgio de Queiroz Duarte | Brazil | 2007–2012 | Ban Ki-moon |
Angela Kane | Germany | 2012–2015 | |
Kim Won-soo | South Korea | 2015–2017 | Ban Ki-moon |
Izumi Nakamitsu | Japan | 2017–present | António Guterres |
See also
- Conference on Disarmament
- Disarmament Insight
- International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
- International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons
- United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR)
References
- ^ "Secretary-General Appoints Izumi Nakamitsu of Japan High Representative for Disarmament Affairs – Meetings Coverage and Press Releases". United Nations. 29 March 2017.
- ^ Kofi Annan (14 July 1997). "Renewing the United Nations: A Programme for Reform (A/51/950)". United Nations. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
- ^ John Burroughs (2012). "Humanitarian Law or Nuclear Weapons: Choose One" (PDF). Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 August 2014.
- ^ "Report of the Ad Hoc Committee of the Twelfth Special Session". undocs.org. A/S-12/32. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
- ^ "A/66/380 - E - A/66/380". undocs.org. p. 42. Retrieved 2019-05-13.
External links
- UN - Office for Disarmament Affairs
- UN Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa
- UN Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific
- UN Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean
- UN Programme of Action Implementation (PoA)
- Coordinating Action on Small Arms (CASA)
- Disarmament Treaties Detabase
- UNODA Publication