DISARMAMENT FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMME FOR 1998 STARTS IN GENEVA
Press Release
DC/2612
DISARMAMENT FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMME FOR 1998 STARTS IN GENEVA
19980908 GENEVA, 7 September (UN Information Service) -- The 1998 Disarmament Fellowship Programme started today at the Palais des Nations in Geneva with the participation of young diplomats from 24 Member States of the United Nations. The programme will last for a period of eight weeks.The 1998 Disarmament Fellowship Programme will include lectures by senior representatives of Member States to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva and delegations to the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) of the General Assembly, and by staff members of the Department for Disarmament Affairs. In addition, the Fellows will have the opportunity to observe sessions of both the Conference on Disarmament and the First Committee.
The Fellowship Programme will also include study trips to the Organization on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague, to the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty Organization in Vienna, as well as to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, at the invitation of the Government of Japan.
Diplomats from the following 24 Member States will be participating in the 1998 Disarmament Fellowship Programme: Argentina, Burkina Faso, Croatia, Egypt, El Salvador, Gambia, Ghana, Iran, Jamaica, Jordan, Republic of Korea, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Poland, St. Kitts and Nevis, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Zambia.
The United Nations Disarmament Fellowship Programme is celebrating its twentieth anniversary in 1998. The Programme was launched by the General Assembly in 1978 with the aim of promoting expertise in disarmament in more Member States, particularly in the developing countries. Implemented by the Department for Disarmament Affairs, the Programme has trained hundreds of public officials from Member States, a large number of whom are now in positions of responsibility in the field of disarmament within their own Governments.
The Programme will conclude at United Nations Headquarters on 29 October, when the Fellows will be awarded certificates of participation by the Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs, Jayantha Dhanapala. * *** *