UNITED NATIONS PROGRAMME OF FELLOWSHIPS ON DISARMAMENT STARTS THIRD SEGMENT ON 15 OCTOBER

UNITED NATIONS PROGRAMME OF FELLOWSHIPS ON DISARMAMENT

STARTS THIRD SEGMENT ON 15 OCTOBER

(Reissued as received.)

NEW YORK, 11 October (Department for Disarmament Affairs) -- The third segment of the 2001 Disarmament Fellowship Programme begins on Monday, 15 October at United Nations Headquarters, for a period of four weeks, with the participation of young diplomats from 28 Member States of the Organization.  The Programme started on 3 September in Geneva.

The New York Segment is meant primarily to expose the Fellows to the work of the Disarmament and International Security Committee (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, on items on the agenda of the Committee, and will attend meetings of the Committee.  In addition, the Fellows will continue the practical exercise that was started in Geneva on the drafting, introduction and debate on draft resolutions as carried out in the First Committee.  They will also 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 international security.

Diplomats from the following 28 Member States are participating in the 2001 Disarmament Fellowship Programme:  Argentina, Belarus, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Egypt, Georgia, Guinea, India, Islamic Republic of Iran, Israel, Japan, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Lithuania, Mauritania, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Oman, Peru, Poland, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sweden, Togo, Viet Nam and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

The Geneva segment of the Programme, which was carried out from 3 to 21 September, was primarily aimed at exposing the Fellows to multilateral negotiations undertaken by the Conference on Disarmament.  This year's 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 staff members of the Geneva Branch of the Department for Disarmament Affairs and the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research.  The Fellows also attended meetings of the Conference on Disarmament.

Between 24 September and 13 October, the Fellows participated in study trips to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague and to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Preparatory Commission for

the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization in Vienna.  They also visited Germany and Japan, at the invitation of the respective Governments.

The United Nations Disarmament Fellowship Programme was launched by the General Assembly in 1978 and aims at:  the training and specialization in the field of disarmament of national officials in more Member States, particularly in the developing countries; and enabling them to participate more effectively in international deliberating and negotiating fora.  Implemented by the Department for Disarmament Affairs, the Programme has trained, in the 23 years of its existence, more than 550 officials from some 150 countries.  A large number of them are now in positions of responsibility in the field of disarmament within 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 9 November.  The Fellows will be awarded certificates of participation by the Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs, Jayantha Dhanapala.

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