2010 United Nations Disarmament Fellowship Programme Starts Third Segment

 

with Focus on First Committee (Disarmament and International Security)

 

The 2010 Disarmament Fellowship Programme will commence its third and final segment at United Nations Headquarters, today, in New York.

Diplomats from the following 25 Member States are participating in the 2010 Disarmament Fellowship Programme:   Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Bhutan, Cameroon, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Georgia, Ghana, Guinea, Iraq, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Lithuania, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mongolia, Montenegro, Romania, Russian Federation, Thailand, Uruguay and Viet Nam.

The New York segment is meant primarily to expose the participating Fellows to the work of the General Assembly’s First Committee (Disarmament and International Security).  Participants will be briefed by members of delegations to the First Committee and United Nations officials, including the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Sergio Duarte, on items on the Committee’s agenda, and will attend meetings of the Committee.

In addition, the Fellows will be engaged in practical exercises, including on the drafting, introduction of and action on draft resolutions in the First Committee, roundtable discussions on various security- and disarmament-related issues and a nuclear simulation exercise organized by the Center for Non-Proliferation Studies, Monterey, California.  They will also be finalizing 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.

The New York segment follows an initial segment of two weeks in Geneva, which began on 23 August, and which is aimed particularly at exposing the Fellows to issues on the agenda of the Conference on Disarmament.  It also includes a traditional study visit to Bern, Switzerland organized by the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs there.  The initial segment was followed by study visits to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization in Vienna, and to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague.  Subsequently, the Fellows visited Germany, China and Japan, at the invitation of the respective Governments.

The United Nations Disarmament Fellowship Programme was launched by the General Assembly in 1978 with the aim of promoting expertise in disarmament in more Member States, particularly in developing countries.  Implemented by the Office for Disarmament Affairs, the Programme has trained, in its 32-year history, some 808 public officials from 160 Member States, a large number of whom 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 non-proliferation goals.

The 2010 Fellows will conclude the nine-week Programme at United Nations Headquarters in New York on 22 October and will be awarded certificates of participation by the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs.

For further information, please contact the coordinator of the Programme, Valère Mantels at the Office for Disarmament Affairs, Room DN-2507, tel.:  212 963 2386.

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For information media • not an official record