1998 UNITED NATIONS DISARMAMENT FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMME STARTS ITS THIRD SEGMENT TODAY IN NEW YORK
Press Release
DC/2616
1998 UNITED NATIONS DISARMAMENT FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMME STARTS ITS THIRD SEGMENT TODAY IN NEW YORK
19981019 NEW YORK, 19 October (Department for Disarmament Affairs) -- The third segment of the 1998 Disarmament Fellowship Programme starts today at United Nations Headquarters, for a period of two weeks, with the participation of young diplomats from 24 Member States of the Organization. The Programme started on 7 September in Geneva.Diplomats from the following 24 Member States are 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, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Zambia.
The New York portion of the 1998 Disarmament Fellowship Programme is meant primarily to expose the Fellows to the work of the First Committee of the General Assembly. The Fellows will be briefed by members of delegations to the First Committee and United Nations officials, including the Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs, Jayantha Dhanapala, on items on the agenda of the Committee, and will attend meetings of the Committee. In addition, the Fellows will be concluding the individual research papers that they are required to prepare in the course of the Programme, on a topic of their choice relating to disarmament and security.
The Geneva segment of the Programme, carried out from 7 to 29 September, was aimed at exposing the Fellows to the multilateral negotiations on disarmament undertaken by the Conference on Disarmament. The segment included a cycle of lectures by senior representatives of States members of the Conference on Disarmament and its Deputy Secretary-General, on issues under negotiation in the Conference, and by delegates to the twelfth session of the Ad Hoc Group of States Parties to the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) on the work of that body. The Fellows also attended meetings of both the Conference on Disarmament and the BWC Ad Hoc Group. Between 30 September and 18 October, the Fellows participated in 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 Japan, at the invitation of the Government.
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 of Disarmament Affairs, the Programme has trained, in the 20 years of its existence, close to 500 officials from over 150 countries, a large number of whom are now in positions of responsibility in the field of disarmament with their own Governments. The Programme has enabled former Fellows to participate more effectively in regional and global efforts in the field of disarmament and, by creating an informal network spanning the various regions of the world, to work cooperatively and constructively in the pursuance of disarmament and arms limitation goals.
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, Mr. Dhanapala.
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