On 24 April, the International Day of Multilateralism and Diplomacy for Peace, the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean celebrated a year of youth commitment to building a Latin America region free of armed violence through hosting a dedicated webinar on its “GenerAccion Paz” initiative.
In progress at UNHQ
Disarmament
After three weeks of discussions, the Disarmament Commission concluded its 2025 substantive session today, with the approval of its draft report to the General Assembly, as well as the reports of its two working groups — all by consensus.
On 23 and 24 April, States from Middle East and North Africa will gather in Geneva, Switzerland, to discuss the implementation of the Global Framework for Through-life Conventional Ammunition Management to counter illicit trafficking and diversion of ammunition and reduce the risk of unplanned explosions at munition sites.
A senior United Nations official called for renewed action to fortify the international disarmament architecture, as the 2025 session of the Disarmament Commission opened today amid the highest risk of nuclear weapon use since the cold war.
In South Sudan, the head of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) continues to be engaged in intensive high-level political efforts to de-escalate the current tensions and convince the parties to preserve the peace deal they all agreed to.
Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message to the sixth meeting of the International Group of Eminent Persons for a World without Nuclear Weapons, held in Tokyo today:
Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message on the fiftieth anniversary of the Biological Weapons Convention, today:
The International Renewable Energy Agency, IRENA, today released new figures showing that renewables accounted for over 90 per cent of total power expansion globally in 2024. As in previous years, most of the increase occurred in Asia, with the greatest share being contributed by China.
To comprehensively tackle the devastating impact of the illicit flow of small arms and light weapons on sustainable development, the President of the seventy-ninth session of the UN General Assembly, Philemon Yang, and the President of the UN Economic and Social Council, Bob Rae, in collaboration with the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs, will convene a meeting on Monday, 17 March, at UN Headquarters in New York.
The new political reality in Syria presents an opportunity to obtain long-overdue clarifications on the Syrian chemical weapons programme, rid the country of all such weapons and ensure long-term compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council today.