UNITED NATIONS PROGRAMME OF DISARMAMENT FELLOWSHIPS 2005 BEGINS FOUR-WEEK SEGMENT IN NEW YORK

UNITED NATIONS PROGRAMME OF DISARMAMENT FELLOWSHIPS 2005

BEGINS FOUR-WEEK SEGMENT IN NEW YORK

NEW YORK, 6 October (Department for Disarmament Affairs) -- The third segment of the 2005 United Nations Programme of Fellowships on Disarmament begins today at United Nations Headquarters, for a period of four weeks, with young diplomats from 30 Member States of the Organization taking part.

The New York segment is meant primarily to expose the Fellows to the work of the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) of the General Assembly.  The Fellows will be briefed by members of delegations to that Committee and by United Nations officials, including the Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs, on items on the agenda of the Committee.  They will attend meetings of the Committee.  In addition, the Fellows will be engaged in the practical exercise on the preparation and introduction of draft resolutions and action upon them, as carried out in the First Committee.  They will also be attending a seminar organized by the Center for Non-proliferation Studies of the Monterey Institute of International Studies, and they will finalize the individual research papers 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 these countries are participating in the 2005 Disarmament Fellowship Programme:   Algeria, Armenia, Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Burundi, Chad, China, Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, Eritrea, France, Gabon, Ghana, Guatemala, Jamaica, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Maldives, Mongolia, Mozambique, Pakistan, Peru, Republic of the Congo, Russian Federation, Samoa, Serbia and Montenegro, Viet Nam and Yemen.

An earlier segment of the Programme, in Geneva from 29 August to 14 September, was primarily aimed at exposing the Fellows to issues on the agenda of the Conference on Disarmament.  It included a cycle of lectures by senior representatives of States members of the Conference on Disarmament, by the Deputy-Secretary-General of the Conference, and by staff members of the Geneva Branch of the Department for Disarmament Affairs, the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), and the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces.  The Fellows also attended meetings of the Conference on Disarmament and followed a seminar organized by UNIDIR.

Between 15 September and 5 October, the Fellows participated in study visits 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 first special session of the General Assembly devoted to disarmament in 1978.  It aims at (a) the training and specialization in the field of disarmament of national officials in Member States, particularly in developing countries, and
(b) enabling them to participate more effectively in international deliberating and negotiating forums.  Implemented by the Department for Disarmament Affairs, the Programme has trained, in the 27 years of its existence, 674 officials from 156 countries.  A large number of the participants 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 2005 Programme will end at United Nations Headquarters on 2 November.  The Fellows will be awarded certificates of participation by the Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs, Nobuyasu Abe.

For further information, please contact Jerzy Zaleski, c/o Jenny Fuchs, Department for Disarmament Affairs, United Nations Headquarters, Room S-3150, tel. (212) 963 2386.

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For information media • not an official record