GROUP PREPARING UN STUDY ON DISARMAMENT AND NON-PROLIFERATION EDUCATION TO FINALIZE STUDY FROM 22 TO 26 JULY

Note to Correspondents

GROUP PREPARING UN STUDY ON DISARMAMENT AND NON-PROLIFERATION EDUCATION

TO FINALIZE STUDY FROM 22 TO 26 JULY

The Group of Governmental Experts preparing a United Nations Study on Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Education begins its fourth session at Headquarters this week, with a view to finalizing the study by Friday, 26 July. The study is to be submitted to the General Assembly at its fifty-seventh session this fall.

The General Assembly created the Group in 2001 at the prompting of the Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters, underlining the urgency of promoting concerted international efforts at disarmament and non-proliferation, especially in the field of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems.

The Group’s Chairman, Ambassador Miguel Marín Bosch of Mexico, is a renowned diplomat and proponent of nuclear disarmament.  He has taught international studies at the university level, including courses on United Nations efforts towards disarmament over the years.

The Group is dealing with changes in the perception of disarmament education over the last 20 years.  For example, the Group will make recommendations on ways to introduce disarmament and non-proliferation education into post-conflict situations such as disarmament, demobilization and reintegration efforts, as well as weapons collection and destruction programmes.

Unprecedented for multilateral disarmament studies, the Group consulted widely during its sessions with disarmament, non-proliferation and education experts and educators, peace-related institutes and non-governmental organizations.  At the current session, on Tuesday, 23 July in the afternoon, it will hear from peace educator, Cora Weiss, President of the International Peace Bureau; Colleen Driscoll (Director of the Kurtz Institute), on the introduction of the issue of outer space into the disarmament education agenda; Kathleen Sullivan (Educators for Social Responsibility, Metro), on training students at the high school level about nuclear disarmament and nuclear energy issues; and Natalie Goldring (Programme on Global Security and Disarmament, University of Maryland), on ways that academic institutions can cooperate to teach disarmament.

                                    - 2 -                   Note No. 5742

                                                            23 July 2002

Background

The Group is composed of 10 experts, representing various regions and education systems from around the world (Egypt, Japan, Hungary, India, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Poland, Senegal and Sweden).  United Nations offices and agencies involved in disarmament and non-proliferation education, such as the Department of Public Information, the Department for Disarmament Affairs, the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), are working closely with the experts.  In addition, disarmament implementation agencies are also closely engaged in the effort, such as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, and the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization.  Also, the United Nations University and the United Nations-associated University for Peace are participating in the work of the Group.

For further information, see Web site <http://disarmament.un.org/education/> or contact:  Michael Cassandra, Secretary of the Group of Experts, Department for Disarmament Affairs, United Nations, New York, NY 10017; tel:  (212) 963-7714; fax:  (212) 963-1121; e-mail:  cassandra@un.org.

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