Disarmament

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s statement on the nuclear test announced by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, in New York today:

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Elbio Rosselli (Uruguay):

NEW YORK, 21 December 2015 (Joint Investigative Mechanism) — The three-member leadership panel of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons-United Nations Joint Investigative Mechanism, led by its Head, Virginia Gamba, was in Damascus on 17 December for meetings with the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic.

NEW YORK, 11 December 2015 (Joint Investigative Mechanism) — The United Nations and the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic signed the status of mission agreement of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons-United Nations Joint Investigative Mechanism in New York this morning.  With the status of mission agreement, the Syrian Government agreed to provide support to the Mechanism to conduct its activities in accordance with Security Council resolution 2235 (2015).

NEW YORK, 4 December 2015 (Office for Disarmament Affairs) — The fourteenth United Nations–Republic of Korea Joint Conference on Disarmament and Non‑Proliferation Issues will take place in Seoul, Republic of Korea, from 7 to 8 December.

NEW YORK, 24 November (Office for Disarmament Affairs) — The Government of the Philippines and the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific, with the financial support of the Government of Germany, are jointly organizing a workshop on capacity-building for the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects, to be held in Manila, 25-26 November.

On 20 November a two-day conference ended in Wiesbaden, Germany, that engaged representatives of various sectors of industry from around the world, along with Government regulators, to consult on ways to enhance the implementation of United Nations Security Council resolution 1540 (2004).  Industry has a vital role to play, particularly in supporting the implementation of strategic trade controls and the physical protection of materials that might be diverted for use in the illicit development and production of such weapons and their delivery means.

NEW YORK, 19 November (Office for Disarmament Affairs) — The “Wiesbaden Conference 2015: Private Sector Engagement in Strategic Trade Controls — Industry Recommendations for New Approaches on United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540 Implementation” will be held from 19 to 20 November in Wiesbaden, Germany.

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message, delivered by Kim Won-soo, Under-Secretary General and Acting High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, to the sixty-first Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs — “Nagasaki’s Voice:  Remember Your Humanity”, in Nagasaki, Japan, today: