ADVISORY BOARD ON DISARMAMENT MATTERS TO HOLD THIRTY-EIGHTH SESSION

FROM 30 JANUARY TO 1 FEBRUARY

Public Symposium on Biological Weapons to Be Held at 11:30 a.m., 30 January

NEW YORK, 29 January (Department for Disarmament Affairs) -- The Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters will meet for a three-day closed session in New York from 30 January to 1 February. Its last session was held in Geneva from 25 to 27 July 2001.  The Board meets twice a year.

The Board is tasked with advising the Secretary-General on matters within the area of arms limitation and disarmament, including on studies and research under the auspices of the United Nations or institutions within the United Nations system.   At its thirty-eighth session, the Board will discuss, among other things, issues related to biological weapons and the Biological Weapons Convention, weapons of mass destruction and terrorism, and the implementation of the Programme of Action adopted at the 2001 United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects.

In order to assist the Board in its deliberations on biological weapons issues, the Department for Disarmament Affairs will organize a public symposium on the same subject from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on 30 January in Conference Room 5, to which the media and press are cordially invited.

The Board will also sit as the Board of Trustees of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR).  Located in Geneva, UNIDIR is an autonomous institution within the framework of the United Nations, undertaking independent research on disarmament and international security issues.  In that capacity, the Board will review the activities of the Institute from July to December 2001 and approve the work programme for 2002.

Arundhati Ghose of India will chair the session.  The Board is composed of a group of 22 eminent persons, appointed by the Secretary-General on the basis of their expertise in the field of disarmament and/or the wider field of international security, taking into account the principle of equitable geographical representation.  (see list attached.) Patricia Lewis, Director of UNIDIR, will participate as ex officio member of the Board.

The Chairperson of the Board will submit a private report to the Secretary-General on the work of the session.  The Secretary-General, as requested by the Assembly in 1983 (resolution 38/183 O), will submit a report on the work of the Board to the General Assembly at its fifty-seventh session.  The latest report is contained in A/56/418, dated 27 September 2001. The Secretary-General will also submit a note to the Assembly transmitting the report of the Director of UNIDIR

and the report of the Board of Trustees of the Institute. The note from the last session is contained in A/56/359 of 13 September 2001.

Background

The Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters was established in 1978 pursuant to paragraph 124 of the Final Document of the Tenth Special Session of the General Assembly, and received its current mandate pursuant to General Assembly decision 54/418 of 1 December 1999.  The Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters has the following functions:  to advise the Secretary-General on matters within the area of arms limitation and disarmament, including on studies and research under the auspices of the United Nations or institutions within the United Nations system; to serve as the Board of Trustees of UNIDIR; to advise the Secretary-General on the implementation of the United Nations Disarmament Information Programme.

For information, please contact:  Secretary of the Advisory Board: Xiaoyu Wang; (212) 963-9440; wangxy@un.org.

List of Members

H.E. Ms. Arundhati GHOSE (Chair)

Ambassador and Member, Union Public Service

  Commission

New Delhi, India

H.E. Mr. Vicente BERASATEGUI

Ambassador of the Argentine Republic to the

   United Kingdom of Great Britain and

  Northern Ireland

London, United Kingdom

Mr. Pascal BONIFACE

Director

Institute of International and Strategic Relations

  (IRIS)

Paris, France

Mr. Rolf EKÉUS

High Commissioner on National Minorities

Organization for Security and Co-operation

  in Europe (OSCE)

The Hague, Netherlands

H.E. Mr. Nabil FAHMY

Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt to  

  the United States

Washington, D.C., USA

Mr. Shai FELDMAN

Head, The Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies

Tel Aviv University

Tel Aviv, Israel

H.E. Mr. Gelson FONSECA, Jr.

Permanent Representative of Branzil

  to the United Nations

New York, USA

Mrs. Mariama BAYARD GAMATIÉ

Consultant

Niamey, Niger

H.E. Mr. Raimundo GONZÁLEZ

Ambassador of Chile to Austria

Vienna, Austria

H.E. Mr. Kostyantyn I. GRYSHCHENKO

Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States

Washington, D.C., USA

H.E. Mr. HU Xiaodi

Ambassador of China for Disarmament Affairs

Geneva, Switzerland

H.E. Dr. Maleeha LODHI

Ambassador of Pakistan to the United States

Washington, D.C., USA

Mr. Miguel MARÍN BOSCH

Under Secretary for Asia, Africa, Europe

  and Multilateral Affairs

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Mexico D.F., Mexico

Mr. Abdul S. MINTY

Deputy Director General:  Multilateral

Department of Foreign Affairs

Pretoria, South Africa

Dr. Harald MÜLLER

Director, Peace Research Institute Frankfurt

Frankfurt, Germany

Dr. William C. POTTER

Director, Center for Nonproliferation Studies

  And Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies

Institute Professor

Monterey Institute of International Studies

Monterey, CA

USA

H.E. Mr. Boris D. PYADYSHEV

Ambassador

Editor-in-Chief, International Affairs

Moscow, Russia

Ms. Jane SHARP               

Senior Research Fellow             

Centre for Defence Studies         

Kings College

London, UK

Ms. Jill SINCLAIR

Director General, International Security

  Bureau (IDD)

Department of Foreign Affairs and International

  Trade

Ottawa, Canada

H.E. Ms. Kongit SINEGIORGIS

Director-General for African Affairs

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

H.E. Mr. Yoshitomo TANAKA

Ambassador             

President, Radio Press, Inc.

Tokyo, Japan

H.E. Mr. Nugroho WISNUMURTI

Permanent Representative of the Republic

  of Indonesia to the United Nations and other

  International Organizations

Geneva, Switzerland

Ms. Patricia LEWIS [ex officio member]

Director of UNIDIR

Geneva, Switzerland