2019 UNITED NATIONS PROGRAMME OF FELLOWSHIPS ON DISARMAMENT STARTS IN GENEVA

The 2019 United Nations Programme of Fellowships on Disarmament started on Monday, 19 August at the United Nations Office at Geneva with the participation of young diplomats and other government officials from 25 States.

Officials from the following States are participating in the 2019 Disarmament Fellowship Programme: Argentina, Armenia, Bahrain, Benin, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Dominican Republic, Egypt, France, Gabon, Germany, India, Iraq, Panama, Republic of Korea, Romania, Serbia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, State of Palestine, Switzerland, Timor-Leste, Trinidad and Tobago, and United Republic of Tanzania.

The 2019 Disarmament Fellowship Programme will last for a period of 10 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 Nuclear Non-Proliferation TreatyTreaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons., Biological Weapons Convention Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction., Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons 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., Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, 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, The International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice 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 study visits to Bern (Switzerland) organized by the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland as well as country specific study visits hosted by the governments of China, Brazil, Germany, Japan, Kazakhstan, and the Republic of Korea.

The Programme will conclude at United Nations Headquarters on 25 October. The Fellows will be awarded certificates of participation by the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Ms. Izumi Nakamitsu.

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 1,030 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: www.unog.ch/disarmament/fellowship

For use of the information media; not an official record

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