EXPERT GROUP ON DISARMAMENT AND NON-PROLIFERATION EDUCATION TO MEET FROM 8-10 AUGUST IN CALIFORNIA

EXPERT GROUP ON DISARMAMENT AND NON-PROLIFERATION EDUCATION

TO MEET FROM 8-10 AUGUST IN CALIFORNIA

NEW YORK, 7 August (Department for Disarmament Affairs) -- A group of governmental experts undertaking a United Nations study on disarmament and non-proliferation education will hold its second session from 8 to 10 August 2001, at the Center for Non-proliferation Studies of the Monterey Institute of International Studies.

The meeting will examine ways to use new educational tools and emerging research on effective teaching methods in disarmament and non-proliferation education.  The Group will hear from a range of university and high school peace and disarmament educators, as well as representatives of academic institutes and non-governmental organizations working in the field.  These practitioners of disarmament education will be sharing their expertise and best practices for teaching and training disarmament and non-proliferation at all levels of education.

The expert group will also examine the preliminary results of a survey of contemporary disarmament and non-proliferation education.  A questionnaire was sent to governments, United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations, academic institutions and individuals, around the world.  The results of the survey and links to the Web sites of institutes and organizations working in the field are available on the United Nations Web site under the Department of Disarmament Affairs.

The group will discuss contemporary disarmament and non-proliferation education, placing particular emphasis on nuclear disarmament, but will also take into account the need to promote a culture of non-violence and peace.  It will consider ways to promote disarmament and non-proliferation at all levels of formal and informal education, in particular the training of educators, parliamentarians, civic leaders, military officers and government officials.    

The group will devise ways to introduce disarmament and non-proliferation education into post-conflict situations as a contribution to peace-building.  Former combatants, for example, especially child soldiers, who are more familiar with an M-16 than a pencil, need education and training for reintegration into civilian life.  Such education could include non-violent alternatives to problem solving.

The expert study will be submitted to the General Assembly at its fifty-seventh session in the autumn of 2002.  The Chairman of the Group of Experts is

Ambassador Miguel Marín Bosch, Under Secretary for Asia, Africa, Europe and Multilateral Affairs of the Foreign Ministry of Mexico.  The 10 experts come from diverse geographic, educational and social traditions (Egypt, Hungary, India, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Poland, Senegal and Sweden).  

Also participating are United Nations offices and related agencies (International Atomic Energy Agency, the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research and the University for Peace).   

Materials are available at www.un.org/Depts/dda.

For further information, contact: Michael Cassandra, Department for Disarmament Affairs, tel: (212) 963-7714, fax: (212) 963-1121,

e-mail:  Cassandra@un.org or Mary Beth Nikitin, Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Monterey Institute of International Studies, tel: (831) 647-4639,

fax (831) 647-6522, e-mail: Mary.beth.nikitin@miis.edu

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