ADVISORY BOARD ON DISARMAMENT MATTERS TO ADDRESS NUCLEAR MATERIAL CONTROL,

SMALL ARMS THREAT AT FORTHCOMING SESSION IN NEW YORK

NEW YORK, 22 February (DDA) -- The Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters will meet for a three-day closed session in New York from 23 to 25 February.  The last session of the Board was held in Geneva from 30 June to 2 July 2004.  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.

In 2004, the Advisory Board contributed to the work of the High-Level Panel in the form of a document containing in-depth analysis of and a set of comprehensive recommendations on major issues in the field of disarmament and non-proliferation (published as DDA’s Occasional Paper No. 8 of October 2004, available online at http://disarmament.un.org/ddapublications/index.html).

At this session, the Board will address nuclear fuel cycle and fissile material control, a pivotal issue in the framework of the nuclear non-proliferation regime.  It will also tackle the issue of regional security and global norms:  small arms and light weapons, an important focus of the implementation of the United Nations Programme of Action on small arms.  The Board is expected to make concrete recommendations to the Secretary-General on those issues.  The Secretary-General will meet with the Board during the session.

The session will be chaired by Ambassador Vicente Berasategui of Argentina.  Currently, the Board has 22 members, appointed by the Secretary-General and serving in their personal capacities.  The Director of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), Patricia Lewis, will participate in the meeting as an ex officio member.

Board of Trustees of UNIDIR

The Board also serves 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 2004 and approve the work programme for 2005.

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 the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR); and to advise the Secretary-General on the implementation of the United Nations Disarmament Information Programme.

Members of the Board are 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.)  The Director of UNIDIR, participates as ex officio member of the Board.

The Chairman of the Board submits a private report to the Secretary-General on the work of each session.  The Secretary-General, as requested by the Assembly in 1983 (resolution 38/183 O), submits a report on the work of the Board to the General Assembly.  The latest report is contained in document A/59/361, dated 14 September 2004.  The Secretary-General also submits 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 document A/59/168.

Over the years, the Advisory Board has made practical recommendations to the Secretary-General on a number of important issues in the field of disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation.  Most recently, it examined terrorism and weapons of mass destruction; export controls; compliance, verification and enforcement of multilateral disarmament treaties; revolution in military affairs; disarmament and human security; disarmament and development; prevention of the weaponization of outer space; and curbing the proliferation of small arms and light weapons, among others.  It also initiated the United Nations Study on Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Education, adopted by the General Assembly in 2002.

Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters:  Vicente Berasategui (Chair), Ambassador, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Christiane Isabelle Agboton-Johnson, President, Movement against Small Arms in West Africa, Dakar, Senegal; Anatoly I. Antonov, Director, Department for Security and Disarmament, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation; Pascal Boniface, Director, Institute of International and Strategic Relations (IRIS), Paris, France; Elisabeth Borsiin Bonnier, Permanent Representative of Sweden to the United Nations Office at Geneva; Perla Carvalho Soto, Ambassador of Mexico to Uruguay; Michael Clarke, Director, International Policy Institute, School of Social Science and Public Policy, King's College, London; Gelson Fonseca, Jr., Ambassador of Brazil to Chile; Hasmy Agam, Ambassador-at-Large, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia; Kuniko Inoguchi, Special Assistant to the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan; Jeremy Issacharoff, Deputy Director-General for Strategic Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel; Mahmoud Karem, Ambassador of Egypt to Belgium, Luxembourg and Permanent Representative to the European Union; Ho-Jin Lee, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Hungary; Liu Jieyi, Director-General, Department of Arms Control, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China; Maleeha Lodhi, High Commissioner of Pakistan to the United Kingdom; Harald Müller, Director, Frankfurt Peace Research Institute, Germany; U. Joy Ogwu, Director-General, Nigerian Institute of International Affairs; Stephen G. Rademaker, Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, United States Department of State; Jill Sinclair, Special Coordinator, Middle East Peace Process, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade of Canada; Kongit Sinegiorgis, Director-General for African Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia; Rakesh Sood, Ambassador of India to Afghanistan (designate); Tibor Tóth, Permanent Representative of Hungary to the United Nations Office and Other International Organizations at Geneva; and Patricia Lewis (ex officio member), Director, United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, Geneva.

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

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