2023 UNITED NATIONS PROGRAMME OF FELLOWSHIPS ON DISARMAMENT STARTS IN GENEVA
The 2023 United Nations Programme of Fellowships on Disarmament started on 21 August at the United Nations Office at Geneva with the participation of young diplomats and other government officials from 24 States of the United Nations.
Officials from the following States are participating in the 2023 Disarmament Fellowship Programme: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Chile, China, Cote D’Ivoire, Czech Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Germany, Japan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malawi, Maldives, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, North Macedonia, Peru, Philippines, Romania, South Africa, Sudan, and Switzerland.
The 2023 Disarmament Fellowship Programme will last for a period of over ten weeks and will include exchanges with representatives of Member States, senior officials of international organizations and members of the academic community and civil society on a wide range of disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation issues. The Fellows will be introduced to various aspects of multilateral negotiations and the disarmament machinery, including the work of the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva and First Committee of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the operation of different treaty regimes, such as the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty[1], Biological Weapons Convention[2], Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons[3], Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention[4], Convention on Cluster Munitions, or Arms Trade Treaty, and the role and functioning of several international organizations and structures, such as the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and The International Criminal Court in The Hague, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization in Vienna and others. Furthermore, the Fellowship Programme will include country study visits hosted by the governments of Argentina, China, Brazil, Germany, Japan, Kazakhstan, Switzerland, and the Republic of Korea, as well as the European Union.
The Programme will conclude at United Nations Headquarters on 31 October. The Fellows will be awarded certificates of participation by the United Nations High Representative for Disarmament Affairs and the Chairperson of 1st Committee of the General Assembly.
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The United Nations Programme of Fellowships on Disarmament was launched by the General Assembly at its first special session devoted to disarmament in 1978 with the aim of promoting expertise in disarmament in more States, particularly in the developing countries. Implemented by the Office for Disarmament Affairs, the Programme has trained over one thousand and seventy public officials from 170 States, a large number of whom are now in positions of responsibility in the field of disarmament within their own Governments or in international organizations.
For more information: https://disarmament.unoda.org/disarmament-fellowship
[1] Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
[2] Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction.
[3] Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects.
[4] Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction.
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