Disarmament

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesperson for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message for the International Day against Nuclear Tests, observed on 29 August:

In the Occupied Palestinian Territory, an elementary school was demolished days before the start of the new school year. It served pupils from the few Palestinian families remaining in the herding community of Ein Samiya, following the displacement of most amid settler violence and diminishing grazing land.

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message to the Nagasaki Peace Memorial on the seventy-eighth anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, held today:

In Lebanon, after a week-long suspension of services in Ein el Hilweh camp due to armed clashes, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has resumed operations. Health Centre II reopened today. UNRWA is also preparing to assess and clear remnants of war from affected zones.

The Technical Secretariat of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons’ (OPCW) efforts to organize the next round of consultations with Syria continue to be unsuccessful, a senior official of the United Nations for Disarmament Affairs told the Security Council today, stressing that full cooperation by Damascus is essential to closing its chemical weapons file.

The United Nations Children’s Fund says that three in four children in South Asia — 460 million boys and girls — are exposed to extreme high temperature, compared to only one in three children globally, with toddlers, malnourished children and pregnant women most vulnerable to heat stroke and other serious effects.

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message, delivered by Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu, at the seventy-eighth anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, in Hiroshima, Japan, today:

More than 40,000 young people from around the world are gathering in SaeManGeum, Jeollabuk-do, Republic of Korea, this week for the adventure of a lifetime during the twenty-fifth World Scout Jamboree.

The United Nations Disarmament Yearbook, a comprehensive reference guide on global disarmament, non-proliferation and arms-control efforts, is now available in a new, graphically enhanced preview edition.